Connecticut western news. [volume] (Salisbury, Litchfield Co., Conn.) 1871-1970, 1919-07-31
RELIEF SHIPS
PLYING ocean
TRADE ROUTES
Red Cross Transporting With
Despatch Supplies for War
Destitute Abroad.


are transporting American Red Cross
supplies for the relief of persons who
have suffered because of the war, prin-
cipally in the Balkan countries, which
practically were inaccessible while the
fighting was In progress.
Word recently was received of the
arrival of the Red Cross relief ship
Lake Elizabeth at Galatz with 100000
pounds Of supplies for the Rouma-
mans, the tenth Red Cross relief YES
sci to reach that country The vessel,
chartered from the United States Ship
ping Board, was accorded a welcome
that was both enthusiastic and pa
thetic.
Ninety per cent. of the exports of
Red Cross supplies for sufferers in Eu-
rope pass through the Red Cross Ma
tional Clearing House, situated at Pier
], North river, In New York city. From
every chapter in every division the
country over come the comforts and
necessities which the organization Is
shipping to the devastated regions of
Europe and the east-refugee gar
ments, condensed milk. canned fruits,
chocolate and textiles, the last named
serving the double purpose of clothing
the war sufferers and giving remuner-
alive work to women among them who
are employed in making up the ma
terial into garments.
For 30 large an enterprise there is
extraordinarily little confusion and an
amazingly small accumulation of boxes,
bundles and bales
Nothing LInsers.
Nothing ever accumulates here; II
comes in and 1t passes out" explained
| the Red Cross director at the clearing
| house. Nothing fingers. We are the
bottles neck, the bottle being the
United States, which contains the
thousands Of things the Red Cross is
constantly sending overseas. Being
the neck We are much smaller than the
bottle proper, and the one thing that
we must do, above all others, is to
keep a clear passage that there may
be no stoppage In the steady flow of
supplies"
A statement which was well borne
out by the condition OF the pier. Not
tenth Of the storage space was &C.
cupied. There were boxes of every
size and shape, boxes for Syria, for
Greece, for Russia and Siberia and
Palestine, as we'll as the chief French
! and italian ports, but there were not
many for any one place. At the mo.
| ment that you peer forward to note
| the address on some especially inter
esting box up comes a boy with a truck
and whisks the box off to the edge of
! the pier, where 1t is lightered to the
waiting transport, which in turn will
! take ii overseas.
Many Red Cross relief cargoes have
been handled by the government, being
! taken over on army transports that
were crossing, with comparatively
empty holds, for the purpose of bring
| ing back troops. In the instances in
which government transportation could
not be arranged shipments were made
| In the regular business way through
| steamship companies and paid for ac-
cordingly.
Increased Shipments.
After all is said and done, after one
/ has inspected every nook and corner
| and seen every export from a paper
| of pins to a motor truck, the outstand-
/ ing feature Of this extraordinary ware
house is that so much goes through and
so little is In 1t. During January and
February Of this year the Red Cross
shipped abroad more feedstuffs cloth
ing and miscellaneous articles than
| during any corresponding period since
the outbreak of the war in 1914.
After the signing of the arrnistice
ARRANGEMENTS were made for the ship
ment of more than S4,0O0,O0O worth of
textiles to be made into refugee gar
ments for the destitute women and
children Of Europe. Shipments of these
materials practically have been COM
pleted.
But you see little of this IL you
chance to look into the clearing house.
"Keep 1t moving" is the motto Of the
director and his assistants, and SO well
do they live up to their slogan tkst
nothing "stays put" 1t comes in and
1t goes out, but it doesn't linger.
(Which is obviously necessary" the
director explains. For every day that
q box lies here waiting somebody who
is hungry or ill-clad over there is kept
one day longer without the necessities
of existence The Red Cross believes
in keeping things going-nations, COM
munities, individuals. 1t couldn't very
consistently fall down in the matter of
its own exports, could it?'