Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1919-01-01
CROSS AT
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B Fl IN TURNS J
none AWAY
Americans Aided Thousands
of Refugees Constantly
Reaching Switzerland.
BY Julian Grande in The New
York Times,

LUX 41AAASS.
Berne, Nov. 1S.-The noise of bat
tie is over, and the labors Of those
who fastened to succor the wounded
ers Of war will o be nj longer
needed. But before those labors
wholly cease I would like to record
what has been done. in Switzerland by
the American Red Cross. Its work
was not confined to relieving the ne
cessities Of American prisoners of
war, but was extended to alternating
the distress Of Russian. Serbians,
Italians and even Swiss.
A few days ago I visited the stores
and offices OF the American.Red Cross
in BeSne. and I must admit that l was
amazed by the perfection of the or
ganization. Everything vas carried
on with the regularity. of -clockwork.
The stores where the parcels were
made up for American prisoners Of
ness. and the provisions sent had, of
course, all been brought from the
United States. Many of them, indeed,
could not be bought in Switzerland
now. and some of them not at any
timc.J Many a Swiss householder
would have paid a handsom sun for
FIfew Of the fine cans Of salmon, for
example. or some Of the. corned beef
or biscuits or a few pounds of the
sugar ana coffee, wherewith to exc
out the scanty rations at present
doled out to him..
1 saw packages being made up to
be semitic American prisoners Of war
in Germany. They were all packed
in neatly made boxes. but the con
tents varied. The parcel which used
e. no ~~t a. r,esco~N. n e, soon ~. ~
was known that he had been captured
contained both food and. clothing.
Atterward the monthly ration allowed
for each prisoner was made up OF
everything that a man would need for
common comfort.
These monthly rations. however.
were varied. For instance, n week
chocolate was included, another week
candy, and so on. Cocoa, coffee and
a package of tea were sen every
month. With each box or parcel q
postcard was sent, or which was
printed a list of the articles it con-
tanned. and which the prisoner was
expected to send back saying whether
he had received the things or not. Or
an average 80 per cent of the post
cards SEN out were received again ir
Berne, duly signed by the recipients
Of the parcels OF boxes 1t must not
be inferred, however. that the re.
naming 10 per cent were necessarily
lost, for a certain number Of post
cards, may be assumed to nave gone
astray in the post, and some men GER
tainly either lost theirs. or neglected
or forgot to send them back.
Consignment of Shoes Lost.
The only occasion on which a large
consignment of goods sent to Ameri-
can prisoners did not reach them was
when ninety-four pairs of shoes were
sent, only n single shoe having ar
rived.
The American Red Cross in Swift
erland has done much for >evacues
and refugees. and also for the Swiss
Red Cross at Basic, a town through
which altogether about 100000
French and Belgian evacues have
passed. Then there were constantly
trains Of wounded and consumptive
Italian soldiers being taken from Aus
tria through switzerland to 1nly: and
at Buchs (Austro-Swiss frontier) the
Americans had a canteen and an or.
ganization for supplying refugees not
only with food, but with undercloth.
ing and shoes. These tuberculous
Italian soldiers Used to come from
Austria without any underwear. with
their shirts in rags, and half Of them
without any shoes or boots. their feet
being bound up with rags.
Russian prisoners Of war in Ger
many. who have suffered perhap.
more than those OF any other ma
tionality. have not been forgotten by
the American Red Cross in Berne
and much has also been done fol
Serbians. For instance, fifty Serbian
officers and medical students have
been enabled to continue their studies
in order to be able to return to theil
country fully qualified doctors o.
dentists.s Armenians loyal to the AL
lies have also been cared for ant
helped. Finally, as much as possibl,
has been done to put work in tn,
way Of needy Swiss women by giving
them clothing to make for evacuei
and refugees.
The American Red Cross began 1T
work in Switzerland in April, 1917
with a stan mostly volunteers from
the United States. The paid worker
we're typists and clerks.
The American Red Cross had, in
deed still has. stores in various parr
Of switzerland, particularly in Lau
same. and 1t usually kept food ant
clothing on hand for $4,000 men 70,
three months. As far as possible
everything was brought from tn,
United States. for Switzerland, o
course. has had neither food no
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