Evening star., 1927-05-18
HOOVER OPTIMISTIC
! over RELIEF WORK
Flood Emergency Program
Well in Hand, Secretary Re-
ports to President.

lY -OTOlDdIeu DdtlODdl, state ana TO-
cal organizations in charge of the pro
gram, Secretary Hoovers report to
President Coolidge yesterday discloses.
The optimistic tone of the flood die
tator's message drew from the White
House a reiteration of previous state
ments that a special session of Con
gress to work out flood problems will
not be necessary.
Outlines Red Cross Activity.
Secretary Hoovers telegram, sent
from Little Rock, said:
l. Following is a text of memoran-
dunn on principles of organization re-
ferred TO in previous message. Our
aCcumulating experience and the sue
cess of our appeal to the public makes
it reasonably safe now to say definite
ly that the funds in hand and prospec-
tive will enable the Red Cross to do its
work On an efficient basis The fol-
lowing outline is to guide Red Cross
action in all branches and define re-
lationship to State commissions:
''Q) The Red Cross is a national
organization: its operations are ire
spect!ve of State lines and directed
from central point and subdistricts
through its local county chapter com
mittees, all the members of whom
women. The governors of each of
the States have appointed commits
sions under able Craftsmanship to rep
resent the State in reconstruction
measures. which will naturally follow
State and county lines.
"(2) The measures of actual admin |
istration of the disaster divide them
selves into two periods-the first, the
measures during the flood stage; the |
second, reconstruction. The latter fall
into two groupS-the one is essentially |
emergency action, the second group |
being both emergency and long view |
measures under responsibility of State |
commissions.
Flood Relief Measures.
"a Flood stage measures - "a |
Rescue of families and live stock, (2) |
equipment of relief camps, (3) main |
tenance of disaster sufferers, either in |
camps or flooded homes with food,
clothing, medical supplies, food to |
rescued live stock, etc, and (4) trans
portation of sufferers and animals
home again.
"B. First group of wholly emer-
gency measures of reconstruction
ID seed, (2) temporary supply of food,
49, temporary supply of food for live
stock. "a farm implements for plant
ing purposes (5) necessary additional
live stock and poultry, (6) buildings
and repairs, (7) household furniture, tS)
assistance to State authorities in
medical and sanitary service.
&C. Second group of partly emer-
gency and partly long-view measure
of reconstruction-(A) sanitary meas
ures and maintenance of public
health, (B) financial credit to families
f1A ;x,A ,n1a fcsI |
and rebuilding of homes through the
new agricultural finance corporations,
(C) business construction, CD benev-
olent and other institutions, (E) recon
struction Of public schools, (F) recon
struction of public roads, bridges, etc,
tG) reconstruction of municipal prop
erty, QD reconstruction of public util-
tiles. and ID reconstruction of levees.
Organization I'm Field.
General Red Cross principals:
'"The established policies of the
American Red Cross define that the
principle of relief shall be based upon
need arising directly from the flood
and not upon loss: that it shall give
relief to the destitute only to the
State of self-support. and that this
shall be upon an individual and fam
fly basis.
Organization of flood stage:
''In administration of this stage the
Red Cross and Federal agencies work
a central staff Office at
Memphis, with area offices where
necessary. these again being GEN.
4ralized through staff representative
agents at concentration points, who,
in turn, work through local chapters
and committees. The national organ
ization co-ordinates with activities of
State committees and State agencies
in rescue, health, police, liaison with
their headquarters The financial re.
sponsibility for the flood stage meas
ures lA) rests with the Red Cross and
the cooperative Federal agencies.
Organization of first group OBJ OF
emergency measures Of reconstruc-
ton: Il
THE measures in the second part of
the emergency construction tB) re-
ouire a, more defined relation with
State agencies. In order that there
shall be complete coordination, IT has
Ibeen decided to make county commit
tees the center-point of joint action.
The intimate relations OF public healtn,
credit and the need of strong local
s advice and administration necessitate
that county committees Snould repre-
sent both agencies.
Therefore, the Red Cross will act
dointly with the State commission in
the selection of county and parish
Icomn1ittees, the chairman Of which
shall be appointed jointly by the rep
resentative of the Red Cross and the
chairman of the State commission.
lThe character of organization neces-
sarily varies in different localities as
lemergency requires. In some cases
where committees have already been
INDEPENDENTLY selected by the two
lagencies, when the committees are TO.
he at once consolidated and either
single chairman selected or where
local conditions make it desirable,
There should be separate chairman
representing, each, the Red Cross and
1.-THE State commission.
Will Maintain Coordination.
"To reinforce coordination the Red
Cross will maintain a representative
with each state commission to co-or-
dinate the directions of these commit |
tees at the top.
Programs on the measures enumer- |
sted In (B) above will be agreed upon |
and authorized by the Red Cross with |
the advice of the State commissions |
therefor, will be apportioned directly |
/ TO county committees and be account |
ed for in such form as the Red Cross |
will set up III order that it may fulfill |
its proper obligation to the contribut-
ing public. 1t may develop that some
mass purchasing must be made for
groups Of county committees in which
case will be furnished in kind. In
the main, however, it is desired TO
support local communities by conduct
of purchases by the county commit
tees. When once a program has been
authorized the county committee may
proceed at once to purchase and di-
rect the bills to be presented to the
/ Red Cross for payment.
! THE second part of reconstruction
measures Co should be organized