Webster City freeman. [volume] (Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa) 1884-1946, 1919-03-31
SNYDER WRITES
OF RED CROSS
Jewell Man Writes Halnil-
ton County Red Cross
Ladies Of His Work
In France.
A s5,ooo,ooo.oo STOCK
Tells How Sick and Dying
Soldiers are Treated in
Hospitals.
s5,Ooo,oOO.OO STOCK

Hospitals.
Captain Frank G.. Snyder of Jewell,
Hamilton county's only representative
in the Red Cross personnel in France,
has written a wonderfully interesting
letter here "To the Women of the Red
Cross" from Gievres, Loir ct Cher,
France
The letter is directed to Mrs. w. J.
Zitterell, chairman of the Webster City
chapter, and is brim full of informa-
ton concerning his personal expert
ences in the work of distributing sup
plies from the second largest Ameri-
can Red Cross. warehouse in France.
It is especially interesting to know
THAT Hamilton county man is UNI
Idoubtediy engaged in placing the arti-
cles being made day by day by the wo-
men of his own home county. The
letter follows:
IF you had said to me year ago
when was bringing packages from
the Red Cross ladies Of Jewell to you
at Webster City that j would now be
handling similar packages in France,
or perhaps many Of the same ones, ]
would not have believed you and said
nothing was farther from my thoughts.
said to Mrs, Snyder one day l Won
der where in the world the Red Cross
lis getting its personnel in France for
the other end OF the job. don't know
| of single man from Hamilton county
who has volunteered to go across.
Guess I'll offer my services for year,
and she said. Why don't You? re-
piled, Do you mean it? And she said.
| If you wish to 60, it will be alright
with me, and I said, I'm for it and
here / am, with the first half of my
year gone.
A Monster Stock.
"The Red Cross have seen fit to en-
trust me with their largest warehouse
outside of Paris and our stock at all
times represents $5,OOO,0OO or more
We are in an army camp; live with
the army and are under military rule,
are regularly commissioned officers
| and the only difference in our dress OF
| markings is the Red Cross on our col
| lar along with the regular army in.
sigma Of the United States. We dc
not wear shoulder insignia showing
our rank, but use the French bars on
our sleeyes---0ne for second lieutenant
two for first, three for captain (yOul
humble servant) and four for major
as high as we can go. The stripes are
gold and black.
| I'VE live in hut, summer style
owned by the Red Cross, next to the
warehouses. furnished us by the Unit.
ed States army. We have two sheet
iron buildings which total 1,4OO feet
long by fifty WIDE There is no floor
but everything is safe from the wealth
| er. Our labor is furnished by the
army, twenty-five, fifty or hundred
or 500 men as our needs require. Also
| nv Office and warehouse force is made
up of boys from the army. who are de-
tailed to us permanently, hut the labor.
! ers are liable to be a different set OF
men each day. am the only Red
Cross man here, but have a colored sol.
der to look after the hut, one Office
man and a foreman in each ware
house. This is the full force to handle
the immense quantities of material
passing through our hands. For in
stance, one day last week we broke
the record by shipping over Sl,OOO,OOO
worth of goods in the one
day. This was easy in the right Kind
of yalues-it was in sweaters, socks
and sheets.
How Goods Are Handled.
"Perhaps you have wondered many
times, as you sat there working on the
goods you are so nobly making, how
they were handled overseas and what
was being done with them? They are
boxed somewhere on your side of the
pond in uniform sized boxes-two by
two by three feet--and a code number
I is used entirely for the box markings.
This is for the reason any one breaking
into a car or warehouse might hunt
a long time before he found bow con-
tanning the articles he wished to steal.
These cases come to the United States
ports in haphazard manner, as far
as sorting is concerned, are put on
board ship and come to'the French
ports In the same way, loaded on cars
and come to us. and here we sort them,
getting each code number by itself.
I'm our warehouses we have $50
bays or stalls into which we sort these
ca ses, one for each bay and showing
Just what each bay contains. When
we receive orders to ship, the order
Is made out in the Office, giving code
number and in which bay found. In
e., I, ts,,sy ~