Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1920-11-19

The Fourth Roll Call is not cam
paign.
1t is merely, the yearly opportunity
for American men and women to pay
their annual dues and renew tnelr
membership in their Red Cross.
This Roll Call finds the Red Cross
as much at any time since it en-
tered the great war; in the midst OF
tremendous concerns. IL
The world is so full OF uncertainty
that which is called modern civlllza'
ton is SO utterly upset-that no sooner
is one duty ended than another looms
as large.
The present program Of the Amer
lean Red Cross is vastly important and
fundamentally essential.
It's primary obligation was TO the
service men Of the Army and Navy.
Of that obligation these things still
remain:
First, To stay with the Army OF Oc.
cupation, comprising about 1000 Of
fcars and men, and serve as their Rec
Cross:
Second, To continue in the hospitals
of the Army, the Navy and the Public
Health Service where there are more
than $4,000 men, many Of whom will be
retained there for months and some Il
them for years, and carry on their rec
reational and social work .@
! Third, To keep III touch as an adj
'visory organization with the dis
charged men of the Army and Navy
and be ready-not in the way OF
financial aid, but what Is worth far
more-to contribute kind advice and
friendly assistance.
Fourth, To continue the work that
has been going on in connection with
the families of soldiers and sailors,
and as growing out Of this a similar
work for the community at large.
The fact that the men have returned
does not by any means eliminate do
nestle problems. In many cases 1t
only intensifies them. This is part!c'
ularly true in the case of more than
$4,000 families whose men are in the
number of the dead, where there is
wealth of service that the Red Cross
can still render.
Fifth, While the Government itself
IS carrying on vocational training for
Egimed and crippled mon, it has turn
ed over to the Red Cross the care OF
those wing have been blinded in the
crash of war; No more sacred seFV,
ice can be imagined thaa this.
Work In Europe: d..
So far as the world at large Is con,
ccrned the American Red Cross must
still stand by to the limit of its pos,
sibility and the measure Of its ability.
On the Western Front its work is now
over. Belgium, France and Italy arc
slowly but surely making progress,
with their feet firmly set upon paths
of reconstruction.
The Eastern Belt of Horror still re-
mains-not only menace to civiliza-
ton, but a challenge to the Red Cross.
The enormity of its want is stag
gering.
The entire fabric Of civilization is
catering iRte ruin.
Pessilence and famine are stalking
in the midst Of calamity.
The Red Cross cannot, carry the bur.
den that only Western Civilization
united can bear. 1t cannot feed Pc.
land, the Baltic States, Czechoslovakia
and the Balkans. It cannot clothe and
shelter hundreds of millions of people.
were it so inclined.
No voluntary organization can any
longer face task of such dimensions.
But to the best Of its ability the
American Red Cross can do what it
did during the months before Amer.
ica's armies came to take their part
in the great conflict. s
It can, by its very presence, give
promise of assistance.
1t can carry on at least hopeful |
fight against pestilance and ep:Gem C.
1t can minister to the extreme of
1t can try to protect and care for TIC
children who are the ono hope for the
future.
More than this, in the present conGi-
ton of its funds and its personnel, it
dare net undertake.
Far more than this it is wiling to
if the American peo,le
choose again to make it the repository
Of their confidence <and to contribute
for the reAaf of suffering millions OF
fellow men.
What the American Red Cross does
for Europe depends upon what the
American people ask it TO do.
1t knows how. The experience OF
The past is Invaluable. The American
Red Cross isrcad'. 1t is up to the
American people to decide.
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