The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1932-01-07
TheRedCross>> Their
Oavn Picture and
the Real Story

The Red Gross Helped 2,Ts5 900 in Drought"
area was the headline Of an article In the New
York Times, Sunday, October 49, and probably
such headline appeared in thousands Of papers
throughout the country with the same story
under 1t OF how the Red Cross, capitalisms
angel Of "inercs' went into the drought area,
spent s10,8S4o00, how they helped 46024o fam
flies How they put through the constructive
rielY in the drought area" by promoting better
food habits and better health among the school
children in addition to the practical work Of
feeding and clothing the needy and otherwise
stsbilizng the farm house"
This is what the Red Cross says, this is what
the capitalists, the bankers and bosses want the
workers and farmers to believe 50 that when they
demand relief they are given the Red Cross type.
What kind Of relief is this Red Cross relief?
Is this 3 true picture they paint Of themselves?
Let the American Medical Journal, August
1881 answer "Contagion and nutrition def
ciencies have increased In the drought area Of
Missouri This Is particularly true Of typhoid.
Scurvey pellagra and ricketts, have been re-
ported prevalent. Nutrition disturbances may
lead to an increased prevalence OF Tuberculosis"
More information about the drought area
comes from two state health officials concerning
medical conditions in the drought stricken areas
and suffering from lack Of medical attention
and supplies" There Is evident already say,
health officers" undernourishment Of children
and the menace Of typhoid fever seems greater
than for number OF years" Hereafter when
the Red Cross or any capitalist agency speaks
OF better food habits and health" we will know
1t means the cultivation OF the habit to starve.
In some parts Of the country notably Arkansas
pellagra has increased" And Shis is the state
the Red Cross claimed to concentrate the most.
AS we read the report on what Is going on In
Arkansas where the Red Cross say they gave
the greatest attention, then we can draw con-
illusions as to what must be the condition in
the states where the Concentration" was less.
Pellagra in Arkansas What is penagra? The
report points out that G. "Dr. Goldberger ex-
planned the revelsnce Of pellagra to what he
called the M. M. M Diet that Is nothing TO
eat except nollasses. meal or meat (the meat
usually consisting Of pork, fat back This doc
tor in investigating pellsgrs in the United
States had found many people With the disease
in the farming sections OF the South, and he
attributed the increase OF the disease to the
Mississippi. flood few years ago Here, now we
have historic evidence OF what Red Cross
Hoover relief means, because, remember 1t was
during the Mississippi flood that the Red CroSs
greatest work as the saviors OF the American
people IN distress and remember this was played
UP heroicany for Hoover In the last election.
The results OF their relief in Mississippi, during
1928 or 1927 is that thousands have pellsgra.
Most Of these are among the Negroes, who didn't
even receive the nieasy relief OF the white
workers and farmers but we're rounded up into
concentration camps and made to do forced
labor.
And the conditions In the drought area, today
compared with the conditions that existed In
the Mississippi flood area us much the same
though perhaps exaggerated" says the report.
That is considerably worse. Matters have been
made worse by lack of food for animals and
there Is practically certainty Of depletion Of an
already deficient milk supply The citizens to
great extent are unable to help themselves
through loss Of crops, failure Of banks and
tying up OF public funds Trying up Of public
funds in simpler languages means the robbing
OF the farmers BY banks.
Quite different picture than the Red Cross
paints q itself. isn't &c? All over tAs country
fine SoaQt'ful stories aboY the Hoovers "n1er-
efYh angels" and sn apsF' ths scsrssy ssxesse