Fort Mill times. [volume] (Fort Mill, S.C.) 1892-current, 1920-05-27
AMERICA MUST SAVE
EUROPE FROM COLLAPSE

of the League Of Red Cross Societies,
said: s-as---
AS chairman Of the Convention Of
Red Cross Societies, composed Of rep
resentatives Of twenty-seven nations
that met recently In Geneva, am Gus
todian Of authoritative reports record
ing appalling conditions among mil
lions of people living In eastern Eu-
rope.
One Of the most terrible tragedies In
the history Of the human race is being
enacted within the broad belt of terri
tory lying between the Baltic and the
Black and 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
II clear that in these war-ravaged
lands civilization has broken down
Disease, 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 civil
lized areas there are to he found nei-
ther medicinal appliances nor medical
skill sufficient to cope with tile devas-
: tating plaques.
Wholesale starvation Is threatened
In Poland this summer unless she can
procure food supplies I'm large quanti-
ties. There are now approximately
100000 cases Of typhus In Poland and
iE the area occupied by Polish troops.
ri L.,
This Is already one Of the worst ty-
plus epidemlcs I'm the worlds history.
In Galicia whole towns are crippled
and business suspended. In some dis
trlcts there is but one doctor to each
10000 people
In the Ukraine, we were told, typhus
and influenza have affected most Of the
population.
report from Vienna, dated Febru.
ary -. said: There are rations for
three weeks. Death stalks through the
streets Of Vienna and takes unhinder-
ed toll.
Budapest, according to oE infOrma-
tion, Is one vast city OF misery and
suffering. The number OF deaths Is
double that of births. or the 100000
children in the schools, 10O,OO0 are de-
pendent on public charity. There are
10000 workers idle
Typhus and smallpox have invaded
the four countries composing Czecho.
Slovakia, and there Is lack OF metii.
cines. soap and physicians.
In Serbia typhus has broken out
again and there are but 200 physicians
t" minister to the needs of that entire
country.
In Montenegro, where food is run
ming short, there are but five physi-
clans for population OF $4,000.
America Overlooking With Riches.
Returning to the United States
few weeks ago with all these horrors
ringing In my ears, l found myself
once more In a land whose granaries
were overtiOwing, where health and
plenty abounded and where life and
activity and eager enterprise were In
the full flood
asked myself: "What II this plague
and famine were here in the great ter
ritory between the Atlantic seaboard
and the Mississippi valley, which
roughly parallels the extent of these
ravaged countries and that 5000, 900
ness by lack OF raw material and
whose fields had been devastated by
invasion and rapine were racked BY
starvation and pestilence and IL we
had lifted up our voices and invoked
the attention OF our brothers In han.
pier Europe to our own deep mseries
and our cries had fallen on deaf ears.
would we not in our despair exclaim
against their heartlessness -
Only Three Ways to Help Europe.
There are only three ways by which
these stricken lands can secure SUP
plies from the outside world One Is
by payment, one by credit, and the
third Is by exchange of commodities
II these peoples tried to buy materials
and supplies In America at the present
market value of their currencies Aus
tria would have to pay forty times the
original cost, Germany thirteen times
Greece just double, Czecho- Slovakia
fourteen times and Poland fifty times
These figures are official and are a
true index Of the economic plight OF
these countries
lt Is clear, therefore, that they can
not give us gold for the things the,
must have. nor have they either prod.
uctS or securities to offer In return for
credit II only they could obtain raw
material which these idle millions of
theirs could convert into manufactures
products they would have something to
tender the world In return for Its raw
material, food and medicine. But II
they have neither money nor credit
how are they to take this first great
step towards redemption
One-half the world may not eat
while the other half starves. How
long do You believe she plague Of ty.
thnt tS tat