The Delta independent., 1920-05-28
HOW EUROPE GAN
ESCAPE COLLAPSE
Men, Women and Children Dying
BY Thousands Over Once
Civilized Areas.
6RAVE MENACE TO U. S. A.
European Ruin Would Involve
America-Stayyation and Dis
ease Rampant.
GRAVE MENACE TO U. S. A.

Ni'' i'l - PAL tliuItll, henry L. D1Nl-
son, Chairman of the board of govern
ors Of The League of Red Cross Socie-
ties. said:
AS chairman OF the convention OF
Red cross Societies, composed of rep
resen ,atiTes of twenty-seven nations
that met recently in Geneva, l am Gus
todi'h pf authoritative reports record
ing appaliing conditions among mil
lions Ut people living in eastern Eu-
rope.
One of the most terrible tragedies
In the history of the human race is be
,ng enacted within the broad belt of
rerritory lying between the Baltic and
the Back md Adriatic seas.
This area includes the new Baltic
stateS-Poland, Czecho- -Slovakia, the
Ukraine, Austria, Hungary. Roumania,
Montenegro, Albania and Serbia
The reports which come to us make
it clear that in these war-ravaged
LANDS civilization has broken down.
Diseuse, bereavement and suffering
| are present in practically every house
hold while food and clothing are in
sufficient TO make life tolerable.
Men, women and children are dying
by thousands and over vast once civ
| ilized areas there are to be found nei-
ther medicinal appliances nor medical
skill sufficient to cope with the dew
astatlng plaques.
Wholesale starvation is threatened
in Poland this summer unless she can
procure food supplies in large quanti-
ties There are now approximately
25OoOO cases of typhus in Poland and
in the area occupied by Polish troops
Worst Typhus Epidemic in History.
There is already one of the worst
typhuS epidemics in the worlds his
tory ln Galicia whole towns are Grip
pied and business suspended. In some
districts there is but one doctor tn
each 100000 people. In the Ukraine,
We We're told. typhus and influenza
have affected most of the population.
\ report from Vienna dated Febru-
airy 10Th. said: There are rat'ons
for three weeks. Death stalks through
the streets of Vienna and takes uuhin-
dered toll"
budapest, according TO our inforIna-
ton. is one vast city of misery and
suffering The number of deaths is
double that OF births. OF the 16o.0oo
children in the schools. 100000 are de-
pendent on public charity. There are
l5pooO workers idle
ryphus and smallpox have invaded
The four countries composing Czecho-
Slnvakia and there is lack of mcdi-
c!ne>. soap and physicians.
In Serbia typhus has broken out and
there are but 200 physicians in min
iS,cr to the needs of that entire coun-
try.
In Montenegro. where food is run
ming short. there are but five physi-
clans for population Of 10000
Returning To the United States Il
few weeks ago with all these horrors i
ringing in my ears, found myself |
once more in a land whose granarieS /
were overflowing. where health and /
plenty abounded. and where life and /
activity and eager enterprise were in /
The full flood
asked myself: What If this /
plague and faminc were here in the
great territory between the Atlantic
scaboard and the Mississippi valley.
which roughly parallels the extent of
these ravascd countries, and that 81.
0p,oOU of our own people condemned
Ia idiencss by lack of raw material
and whose fields had been devastated
by invasion and rap.ne. were racked
10y starvation and pcstilcncc. and If
we had lifted up our voices and in
Nnked the attention OF our brothers
In happier Europe 10 our own deep
miseries and our cries had fnllcu ou
leaf ears. would W. not in our despair
Only Three Ways to Help Europe.
There are only three ways by which
heSc stricken lands can secure sup
,iies from the outside world One is
~ payment, one by credit. and the
hisd is by exchange of commodities
these peoples tried To buy r-atcrial>
md supplies in America at the pres.
mt market value of their currencicS,
\ustria would have to pay forty times
he original cost, Germany thirteen
mes, Greece just double CEccho Slo
aka fourteen times and Poland fifty
n''>. These figures are official ana
n" ,rur index of the economic plight
Il these countries.
u Is clear sihcrcforc. that they can
~ give MS gold for The thugs they
u'>i have. nor have they either prod
cts nv securities to offer in return
az credit. it only rhcy could obtain
aw matcrial. which these Ids millions
4 theirs could convcr, into mnnufac
nr'd products. they would have some
hing I" tender the world ia return |
Z its raw material. Food and medi.