The Washington herald., 1922-10-13

Mail)-CourSSe, persistence and de-
rotion to their work of the Amer
ican personnel in the Ufa a-Crals dis
trict is related in a message of ap-
probation which w. L. Bell. dis
trict supervisor for the American
Relief Administrs tion In this famine
swept area. has addressed to his col
leagues. and a copy of which has
reached Col. william ~ Haskell, di-
rector OF A. r. A. activities in
Russia.
The strain that. has taxed the
young Americans who enlisted their
services to flsht famine and dis
ease with American food and nedi-
cines as weapons 10 brought out
when Mr.. Bell says:
I'm writing OF the famine relief
work of the Ufa-Urals District,
A. T. A, II Is impossible for me not
to refer to the cool courage and
absolute devotion to duty that has I
all times been shown by the Amer
cans assigned to this territory.
Already three serious cases OF ty-
phus. and the unfortunate death Of
BIsndy: Baird invalided to America
and Ruddell so used up by the nerv-
Gus strain that II was necessary 10
send him to Moscow for general
overlook and treatment show the
effects"
Tells of Dangers.
Mr.. Rell points out that the dis
trict was one Of the most dangerous
TO work in OF the famine belt. ex-
planning:
Probably a. concerns dangerous
diseases. banditry, murder and gem
eral crimes. this territory las the
worst record Of all the Russian op-
erations. There were more than
forty cases OF cholera in March In
Tfa City alone. Typhus continued
through the past spring and sum-
mer and commenced to increase. as
early as the first part OF August
Twelve people were murdered In
two nights within a stones throw
Of our ONCE. over sixty of our Rus
sian personnel suffered with typhus.
of which sixteen died. Entire lack
Of control by local authorities over
the criminal elements forced us TO
take Official notice of the prevalent
crimes and murders and demand
firearms and permits for carrying
same by each of tho American per-
sonnel here"
In spite Of all this" says Mr..
Bell, each one has not only car
ried on his own work. but AS wcll
has tried to the utmost to help each
other with a great spirit of sincere
frat.rnal feeling. The difhculies
have in reality been enormous. So
disorganized is the country, such
almost useless transport. both rail
and animal. and a people. so demon
allied by harsssing and suffering
that IL was hard to convince them
that our purpose here was to i'm
partially afford the utmost relief
and general assistance that the
means at our disposal would per
nit
Build Strong Organization.
Thanks to the tact and diplo-
macy each one of the Americans has
at all times displayed, the work
has been made as light as possible
and without this assistance II
would have been impossible for US
to have built up the efficient or
ganization finally secured. As we'll
the great spirit OF cooperation
was a great incentive to the MEM
bers Of the Russian stan.
"Hofstra, who carried on the en-
tire Job while I was i'll with the
typhus, November-Decem 1921,
shared the same fate early in April.
1879, and but for the great work OF
Drs. Sloan and Foucar would have
met the same fate as Blandy. 1t
was many days before we were sure
that he would pull through For
tunately their untiring services
were successful. but it will be some
time before Hofstra returns to the
same rugged health he enjoyed.
AS an example OF the unique
record of Ufa-Urals. DR.. Surber de-
veloped acute appendicitis in Au-
gust. 1929, and again Or. Slosn's
skill made a successful termination
Of this case. DR.. Surber's recovery
from the emergency operation was
remarkably rapid.
Physicians Prove Aid.
How Kelley got away, safely Is
beyond our understanding. He GER
tainly was under much exposure.
and hard work as any OF the rest OF
us. Ii was great relief tc learn
that he had safely arrived in New
York. Murphy is well in spite Of
the hard work at our headquarters
Land repeated trips in the districts.
and has so far gone safely through h