The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1920-06-26
HOW EUROPE GAN
ESCAPE COLLAPSE
We Must Aid by Extending
Credit, Says Dawson.
GRAVE MENACE TO u. S. A.
European Ruin Would Involve
America.-Starvation and
Disease Rampant.

Dies Moines, Iowa.-Speaking before
the General Conference of the Metho,
dist Episcopal church, Henry p. Dav.
ison. chairman Of the board of govern.
ors of the League Of Red Cross So
~cieties. said:
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
Europe.
One Of the most terrible tragedies in
the history of the human race is be-
ing enacted in 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
1t clear that in these ~war-ravaged
lands civilization has broken down.
Disease. bereavment and suffering are
present in practically every house
hold, while food and clothing are i'll
sufficient TO make life tolerable.
Men, women and children are dying
by thousands, and over vast once civil
lized areas there are to be found
neither medical appliances nor medical
skill sufficient to cope with the devas-
tating plaques.
Wholesale starvation is threatened
in Poland this summer unless she can
procure food supplies in large guam
titles. There are now approximately
250,0o0 cases of tyFhus in Poland and
In the area occupied by Polish troops.
Worst Typhus Epidemic in History.
This is one of the worst typhus epi-
denies in the worlds history. In
Gallcia whole towns are crippled and
business suspended. In some districts
there is but one doctor to each 10000
people.
In the Ukraines. we are told. typhus
and Influenza have affected most of
the population.
A report from Vienna, dated Feb
ruarv L. said: "There are rations for
three weeks; death stalks through the
streets of Vienna and takes u%nhinder-
ed toll"
Budapest, according to our informa-
ton. is one vast city of misery and
suffering. The number of deaths is
double that of births. OF the 100
600 children in the schools, 100000
are dependent on public charity. There
are 10000 workers idle.
Typhus and smallpox have invaded
the four countries composing Czecho-
Slovakia. and there is lack of medi-
cines, soap and physicians.
In Serbia typhus has broken out
again and there are but 200 physicians
TO minister to the needs of that en-
tire country.
In Montenegro. where food is run
ming short, there are but five ply
sicians for a population of 100000.
Returning TO the United States a
few weeks & Win all THESE norrofs
ringing in my ears, l found myself
once more in a land whose granaries
were overflowing, where health and
plenty abounded and where life &C
tivity and eager enterprise were in the
full flood.
| ask myself: "what if the 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 65,oOO,Oo0
of our own people condemned to idle
ness by lack of raw material and
whose fields had been devastated by
invasion and rapine were racked by