The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1919-04-03
THE RED CROSS IN FRANCE

An officer of the A. r. c. who has
been working in the devastated dis
tricts of France writes the following
interesting letter to his friend, H. u.
Hauff. OF this city. II is we'll worth
perusal and shows what America has
done:
The American Red Cross drive for
used clothing is on. and | feel conf
dent that our people will respond in
the same splendid way they hereto
fore have answered each and every
call. The response from the people
throughout the United States to this
most urgent demand, will only be linn
tied by their ignorance of existing
conditions in these wal stricken coun-
tries, and it is with this thought | am
prompted to write briefly of conditions
| h& ge personally observed in those
countries so little known by those at
home.
Little has been written on the suf-
ferings and poverty existing in that
part Of Europe usually referred to as
the near east" This part of the
world embracing as it does, many mil
lions of people who have been our al
lies throughout the war, are IN immedi-
ate need less they perish. The Bal
kan peninsula which is comprised of
the states of Serbia, Roumania, Greek
Macedonia, Montenegro and Albania
u-arN oil n o1inS nnrnSnntin0 a ciN-
ilian population of approximately ff-
teen million. Add to this number, five
million north and east of the Danube,
which territory will los likely be
come the new Jugo-Slav state, An
American Red Cross commission has
recently been appointed TO Poland and
it's report will surely add this vast ter
ritory with its thickly settled popula-
ton.
The American Red Cross ably man
aged and now fully organized. has ac-
cepted the gigantic duty of dispens-
ing humanitarian service in a field
which today practically amounts to a
stricken world, wonderfully organized
! as IL ID, It's tlcCllNt VIII pS
measured by the degree Of enthusiast
tic assistance rendered by the people
at home, for this vast multitude of
people are practically dependent even
for the slightest necessities of life;
from personal experiences and obser-
vation, | consider the need for cloth
ing more vital at the present time,
than food-stuffs.
For the past year and a half the
American Red Cross has been more
vitality concerned in the shipment of
food-stuffs, hospital supplies and sur
gica! dressings. This was due to the
fact that we were more vitality con-
cerned and Red Cross was pledged
first to the care of our armies in
France, Belgium and Italy. That de
paTtment of A. Il. c. known as the
department of Military Affairs, deal
ing exclusively with the army, han
died up to the signing of the armistice,
practically eighty per cent of the OPP
erations of A. r. c. but now it is for
the other department of A. r. c.
known as Civil Affairs, to step for
ward and take up the important work
of administering to the civilians in
these foreign countries who have
through years of war become practic-
ally destitute.
Vast quantities of food-stuffs such
a. flour, rice, sugar and fats may now
be released from Military Affairs de-
partment for distribution 10 the civil
ian population, but clothing in any
near sufficient quantity is not at hand
a though the A. r. C. has promised to
relieve Immediately, this most acute
distress at least in part, until such
time as home governments may meet
these existing conditions. AS an illus
tration of the great need for clothing,
our people should know that the
thousands of factories destroyed in
devastated France with the machinery
either destroyed or carried off, for the
production of ninety per cent Of
Frances spun fax, seventy per cent
of her spun cotton and a like percent
age for wool. makes home production
out Of the question for at least anOth-
err year A like condition prevails in
Belgium and far worse is the cOndi-
ton in the near east" In these
countries there has been little or moth
ing produced or imported in the way