South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1919-05-25

But fields owned such small parcels French
fields owned tractors are hard to use They make
wel-but not VII as Americans home would sup
pose. Living in dugouts, i'm cellars. in ruins, even
living in little rabbit in trenches, with but
few feet of moving space about them and walking
miles their farms, the French villagers began their
spring work-only handful OF them. but enough TO
get i'm their little gardens and TO plant some crops
AMERICAN HELP
MUCH IN EVIDENCE.
Beside the mayor usually in the villages and in all
the big towns-towns Of three thOusand-the ref
ugees coming back found kind OF organized help.
The Union OF the Women of France greatly in
evidence OF the American Red Cross every
where 1t furnishing blankets and such clothing
might be impro'sed from the hospital garments left
ever from our war supplies, and he French woman
as handy Yankees in making something out Of
something else in cloth The American Red Cross also
furnished transportation less, for the re-
turning families to move the little goods they had
saved from the Germans, had accumulated since
leaving their homes The Red OF all
nished willing II and women TO help i'm "A thousand
little about the homes furnished doctors who
Went about caring for the sick in land despoed Of
doctors by the furnished after the
children and furnished IN every of % districts Of
France, kind. wise who during first
and friend to thousands Of people He the district
superintendent of all Red Cross activities If could
have had seeds and tools and O help him.
he would have done vastly more. But with what he
had he nearly improvsed Divine Providence
But the Red Cross not the only American agency
at work among the ruins TO bring life out OF civil
death. The American committee of relief the dew
astated did a splendid work so did the Smith
college and so did the Friends and many other
similar agencies Hundreds of helping hands from
America and Great Britain working with the
French people those DAYS o March and April and
May 1919, bringing order out of chaos They had pre-
pared the way during the winter.
AMERICAN COMMITTEE
WORK Is TYPICAL.
The work of the American committee is typical Is
picked out certain villages and literally mohered those
villages into life. During the coolest days the
ter. the Of this work abroad distributing
IN ctica1 way TO
make family comfortable Incubators bought:
little button sold i'm America Have Won chicken
in France? Melted 81 900 for chicken growing and
lot OF chickens may be incubated that sum.
and by early spring hundreds of thousands
were peeping under old shawls and in
old cotheschicks that never would have been better
than fried eggs except for the girls who worked this
button plan. And it was of dozen schemes to
alleviate the french life IN the long panorama or de-
spair that eashed across France and Belgium
the green got back in the trees this spring
The Friends built houses; they helped the French
men restore the crushed homes: they helped in the
fields as farm wOrkmen: they distributed aid where
charity needed and sold credit where people
desired credit, and for cash where they it, such
things as the people needed that could be supplied.
The matter of merchandising one OF the hardest
things the people helping in the devatated had
to do They quite willing things away.
But the self respect of the French that and
the next thing was the matter Of starting and
selling The women OF the American com
cost it kept store keepers who after
all should come in and establish themselves as soon
as possible. So the committee sellinG,
directly TO the people and encouraged store keepers
to keepers the mnlittee fur
nlshed goods-groceries, rough dry goods and simple
hardvare-at actual price in the
French ports And the committee required that the
village store keepers should mark the price and
the selling price in plain figures adding per
for handling the goods This gave the store keeper
his prOht and helped reestabsh in the com
munity; and it kept down prOfteering
HOUSE BUILDING
PROBLEM OF RECONSTRUCTION
one OF the serious problems of the reconstruction
was the matter Of house building Certainly there
was plenty Of good building material on every town
site. But If in negligee il Practically
every village had TO be completely down before
rebuilding could begin. And when in a town of 80 600
! this process required, Lille Rheims or