The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-01-17
Frederick Haskin's Letter
An American-Russian Refugee.

! she and her household are all SCI,
supporting and content now
Other refugees are adsnti-.
! themselves to circumstances 'v-i-i
i the same cheerfulness. An asf-s-
omer Went to work cutting ~
Army officers found Jobs waab5--
dishes A prince, once powerful i
selling sausages in d store III
are said to prefer the hardest ~.
to charity. The princess .rer;rs-
I us that no Russian has cnn,.
this country to tell what Prs,.
, has done in the allied cause az
that no Russian, except herself 6,- h..
come to beg. A-S
Because the Russians are preya
tie American central conr,;+..-'
for Russian relief, as the prirc,.-,
committee is called, tries TO s,s
them work when possible ratr--
than send money and necessities ~
help support them.
In some European cities there ~,
shops and factories where nons b..
Russian refugees are emplove5 u.
Paris, some OF the dressmakersi a..
sistants, and the saIesgirls sr5
models in the big establlshmFn.,
are refugees. -''
Starting Refugees in Business
How the committee puts refuge,
to work is shown in the story nj
group in Berlin. Germany Is NJ,
sympathetic to the Russian who ~
anti-bolshevik, and many refuce.s
there have had difficulty fndin-
employment. One woman in Re-,
lin wrote to the committee aski5g
for $1,000 to start a workshop fos
some Russians there. The none
was sent. In three months a cas-
of toys, carved boxes. and emhroi5
cred articles was sent to the com
mittee. The articles sold in Nan
York and Chicago department
stores. and another 81, 900 was mail.
ed to the shop. Then word cana
back not to send any more money
as the shop had sold goods amount
ing to 100000 marks and was self.
supporting.
Comparatively little Of the com.
mites work has been done among
refugees in this country hmm
grants are not admitted if they are
destitute, and OF those who have
come from Russia, practically All
have been able to shift for them
selves. A number have applied 10
the committee for help in finding
employment. And several hundred
dollars has been spent by the com
mittee in dental and medical work
for refugees. But only AZ appli-
cations for financial relief in this
country have been received. and the
amount loaned or given comes TO
only $4,000.
The amount that the committee
has been collecting and sending TO
destitute Russians seems small 10
some of US, accustomed as We are
to thinking Of relief in millions Of
dollars. Fifty thousand dollars. to
ConstantinOple, is the largest sum
sent by the committee TO one place
during the two years OF its work
Poland has received the next Iarg-
est. $35, goo. Besides $50 cases u
clothes, tools and food. the entire
amount Of cash distributed By tie
committee has been around $500.
coo. Yet relief workers find that an
American dollar can be stretched
surprisingly in countries where
the currency has Deprecated in
value.
Princess Cantacuzene explains
thatcher work is urgent because no
other organization is especially
concerned with the scattered and
needy Russians. There is no dup
LEGATION of work in this field. Tie
recent congressional appropriation
of $40 100000 for Russian relief was
limited TO Russian territory Since
the bill expressly authorizes The
money to be used for those in Rus
STA, none of it can be spent to a.
Russians who have left the C0G1-
try.
One fact which this committee
points out is of interest to Amert-
cans who have been besIeged so
often by relief organizations. Tina,
is, every cent of the money thar is
being donated goes to some Rus
sian family. There IS no deduction
for upkeep of headquarters, as this
overhead is paid by members OF the
board Of directors of the committee
The new headquarters Of the
committee is in an old building
across the street from the war de-
PaCtment General Gran. bad E.s
headquarters here during the Ei'..
war, and the hay window wns't
Cantacuzeao now works
every day Wa Grants faV3Tt.a COZ
ner when he was ,le secretary Ot
war.