The Cordova daily times., 1919-04-02

l.:l THIS pr
 
 Food and clothes! Just the bare necessities for keeping the flame of life burning in the human body. That is the appeal more than one million people in northern France and Bel gium are making to the more fortun- ate people of their allies.
 * * #
 Men, women and children of all ages raise their voices in the cry. Most of them are refugees-the people who were unfortunate enough to have set tied in the regions of Europe which were over-run by the invading army of the Germans. They were no more to blame for their misfortunes than the comfortable citizens of Alaska. Yet they have suffered untold miseries in this world upheaval.
 s * * #
 Hey QO llOC llldhC IAOlI oppCoA oPoA the ground that the people of the al. flied countries ought to share their burdens--although they may have every right to-rather as supplicants for favor do they cry for assistance. Once comfortable, contented and ln- ldustrious workers they now find them selves homeless and ruined through no individual fault of their own. # * #
 During hostilities they were driven from their homes by German bom- bardment, or if they attempted to re- main in the path of the Huns ad- vance, they were made civilian prison CTS and deported to Germany to work in the boche's fields and factories. With the armistice their thoughts and ambitions turned toward the places they once knew as home, and following the irresistible call of their hearts they came back to find nothing but desolation and ruin.
 # # #
 All over that immense waste of ter ritory known as the devasted and lib- erated areas, they can be found today living in dugouts that served as shell shelters for the contending armies, in rudely constructed shacks, and dark cellars. Why do they stay? Because it's the only place they call home.
 # # #
 Of food they have little, but by their Mown efforts and the help of various relief agencies they have so far been able to obtain sufficient nourishment to sustain life. But of clothes they have practically none. The head of the family wears cast-off soldiers tunic, pair of trousers patched in half dozen places with plain burlap; the mothers costume consists of trous- CTS in many instances, or a skirt made from pieces of cast-off garments, and in nine cases out of ten, a mans shirt.
 # # #
 Leather shoes are very scarce and underclothes a luxury. Children go about garbed in heterogeneous collec- tion of cloth that could not be graced with the name of clothes. Socks and stockings are articles that have be- come practically unknown as a cloth ing necessity in these regions.
 # , #
 Relief agencies, such as the Ameri- can Red Cross, have done their best to supply these people with clothing, but war necessities came first during the great conflict and the needs of these people had to wait upon the de- mands of the fighters. When the ma jority of these refugees were collect ed in the south of France the clothing question was not so important because of the mild climate.
 ! But now that they have returned to \ the cold climate of northern France, , clothing becomes almost as necessary as food, and especially when living conditions are such as exist today in the devastated areas.
 When they were driven from their homes before the oncoming German hordes they took with them only the clothes they had on their backs In returning to their homes many wear these same clothes, worn by many months and even years of weary wandering.
 A # * #
 N Don't forget that the present inten- tion of the American Red Cross is to \ have all refugee garment work com | pleted before the summer sets in. June 1st is the date for the local l chapter. One hundred children's gar