Evening star., 1941-04-22
Red Cross Will Seek
50 Pei. Increase in
Roll Call This Fall
Campaign Will 'Agoin
Smash Quotes Official
Assures Convention

With the race for total defense
IN America added to the cry of
stricken countries abroad for succor,
the American Red Cross will seek
an increase in membership of at
least so per cent at the Roll Call in
the fall, its annual convention in
session at Memorial Continental
Hall was told today by James l.
F1eser, vice chairman in charge of
domestic operations.
Mr.. Fieser predicted that the
campaign again will smash quotas"
and 100000 Roll Call workers will
be another rallying point for VOL
unteers."
The speaker addressed an en-
enthusiastic throng of delegates at
the second of four days of sessions.
Reciting briefly the swift expan-
sion of the Red Cross work in foreign
countries as the war spread, Mr.
Fieser added:
Now we shift from talk of pre-
paredness to conservation of our
very lives, if need be, to the require
ments of national defense. Manu-
facture, transportation, agriculture,
taxation, research and our whole
economic structure take new shape
on the basis of prioritieS. The tempo
of living is stepped up to a breath
less race toward defense strength,
The comforts and essentials to
which we accustomed ourselves to
date are, in many instances, sec
ondary as we manufacture new
things in wholesale in their place.
In the process, however, the Red
Cross looms anew as first line of
defense where the humanities are
concerned" b"
Difficult to Sustain Morale.
Mr.. Fieser conceded that working
with and for people and sustaining
their morale is often most difficult"
He added: "It is easier to repair an
automobile than a person or fam
lily. Something with red wheels and
sirens is more obvious. We need
both, in balance"
Pointing to an amazing" re-
sponse of volunteers as the need
for Red Cross work spread, abroad
and at home, Mr.. Fieser added:
1--WE begin to see that disaster
preparation and civil defense are
much the same thing. The fires of
Coventry and wrecked buildings in
London are part of huge disaster,
with problems of food, shelter,
medical care and every other dis
aster work detail aggravated many
fold. First-aid becomes wholesale
need where family life is subjected
to new risks and where transpor-
tation and manufacture are speeded
up.
Home service work in military
and naval welfare service is multi
piled by the increase in our Army
and Navy and by their increased
mobility. We are just awakening
to the adjustment involved in lift
ing two or more million young men
from their homes and Jobs and put
ting them in training camps. and |
in the movement of troops and fleets |.
from this place to that. New So
cial and health problems crowd for |
attention in camp communities and !!
in hundreds of places where war
industries are Transforming farm
land into industrial centers."
Civilian Relief Growing.
Mr. Fieser pointed out that |
Civilian relief looms bigger every |
minute" reminding the delegates
that again volunteers are needed |
everywhere.
He mentioned the wholesale crop
of remediable defects among our
young men and women" adding:
When one out of three prospec-
tive enrollees is turned down with |
some physical defect, some based |
on faulty nutrition, others for a
variety of reasons, we realize that !
we have not even made a start in
this field of human conservation. |
Making these young men fit is some
ones job in this national defense !
picture.
Similarly the influenza of the
past winter was a gentle reminder
of the devastating effect of infiu-
enza in 1918 when $4,000 of us died !
with it. We must be alert to this
type of disaster where even COM
canteen service be-
comes necessary and emergency
hospitals are the order of the day"
Asserting that "the people of
America believe in their Red Cross
and will support it" Mr.. Fieser
said: "As we see things now we
will go after at least a so per cent
increase in membership this au-
tr1nn and again we will smash
quotas. A million roll-call workers
this fall will be another rallying
point for volunteers this year. We
must begin to organize them now.
More than ever they are the minute
men and women calling upon Aper-
lea to line up for patriotic service,
service in behalf of mankind.
Nation Senses the Need.
"It Is one way to help chec'l the
drift back into the dark ages. 1t is
one way to preserve the idea Of
mercy. The Red Cross is builder,
IlOb d ucSJlOyCIs All ElllCl lIdllo UC-
gin to sense the need. They will be
glad to have a part In meeting it
their membership. We
have a new ladder to climb in the
national defense picture. Let us all
climb it together"
James B. Forgan, chairman of
the Chicago chapter, spoke on The
Chapter in Action in
the Present Emergency"
at is obvious" he said, that the
stronger We make our disaster pre-
paredness organizations the stronger
we make our national defense"
Pointing to the training program
of the Red Cross, Mr.. Forgan said:
"While the saving of lives and the
administering of emergency treat
ment to the injured is dramatic and
spectacular the greatest value of
first aid, life saving and accident