I
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RED CROSS EAGER TO
|> SHOULDER SOLDIERS'
? DOMESTIC WORRIES
No soldter or sailor need worry,
.daring Mm absence in camp or in the
trenches about the folks back home,
It he will but refer his troubles or '
r- anxieties to the Red Cross. He has 1
only to apply to the Field Director of 1
Red Cross Supplies Service In his ,
s; camp, or, In the absence of such a,
director, write to the Home Service
Bureau at any one of the thirteen i
i,' Division Headquarters of the Red
Cross In the United States?for example,
the Potomac Division, 930- i
33?14th Street, N. W., Washington, i
D. C.?or else to the Civilian Relief
Department at National headquarters <
of the American Red Cross at Wash- :
lngton. 1
No matter how he does it, the word i
will be forwarded to the Red Cross I
Chapter wherever his family may be, i
with the request that a Home Service <
worker visit the home and report i
_ back to him In due time.
Is there sickness in the family? Is
a mortgage on his house coming due? .
V"*^Za his wife or mother Inexperienced (
In handling money? Is he uneasy '
about one of the children who was
not doing well In school, or was inclined
to be wayVard? Has he not
been hearing from home? Does he .
4 wish to send n reassuring personal
message to a mother, or wife, or lit- ;
I tie children, or any one else near
and dear?
Letters and communications of this (
kind are now beginning to pour
I through the Red Croat national, divisional
and chapter offices; and
I thousands of Home Service workers
| are going daily on these personal er?
rands of service and good will.
1 Nobody knows better than does the
| Hed Cross, that even though "Uncle
hSam". is a good paymaster, sending
his checks, as he does, for allotments
and allowances and Indemnities and :
| Insurance, nevertheless he and his
I money cannot make up for the absence
of hnsband, father, son, broth- 1
er; and, for the very good reason ;
that the soldier in camp or at the
W front is and was more than a paymaster
Or.breadwinner or a bank deposit,
He was the .companion,- the <
; advisor, the general factotum .of the
family.
The whole Idea of the Red Cross
' Is to serve as a go-between when and
fc wherever "needed; but, along with
' . this, to be everything possible in the
; absence of-the man of the household
to supply his place; carrying good
cheer, heading off trouble, helping to
maintain a proper standard of living,
and looking forward to a family reunion
when the home-coming soldier ;
returns to find his loved ones no
worse off. If not indeed better off
tnan at me ume wi u?? ?-?m? ? "
colon'
ff U. S. A. E?tabli?he? '
School for 10,000
Soldiers Abroad !
West Point excited tfce admiration J
{ every foreign visitor who was
privileged to Inspect it. The moat l
frequent comment was "* great
school." The word "great" meant In
f&i quality; for Weet Point relatively la i
not large.
But "Somewhere in France" J
. America is erecting a school which
In a double sense will be "great"? <
, In fact It will be the largest school 1
/ of war ever conceived, unless the <
* whole theatre of war Is considered as '
. 1
- It is estimated that 10,000 stu- 1
; dents will be trained In this school i
one time. Situated In the vicinity i
- of a town whose Roman walls still 1
stand, the school will command a
Jleld-glasa view of all parts of the In- 1
(, tftution. ]
' Already the work of Instruction >
has been begun, and the school will i
be extended to its full scope as rap- j
W?.Id3y as poesible. j
Classes have been established in i
trench mortar work; anti-aircraft ar- i
V _tillery; anti-aircraft,machine gun op- <
orations and sanitary work; Com- i
plete divisional nnits train at one 1
r-. time. <
Classes for the training of enlisted :
men for commissions are also being i
conducted now. Prom this school of- 1
fleer casualties will be replaced. i
Soon classes In automatic weapon (
;' operation and other phases of In- 1
fan try fighting will be opened. In 1
these classes officers will be taught i
so ihat they may return to their com- t
?v-.: ntniti qr wall eauloDed instructors, i
With the arrival of some tanks i
that are expected toon, a School of i
task warfare will be opened. t
Most of the instructor* are French i
Md British, bat a tew Americans are 1
members of the faculty.
The Problem o
A Graphic Story of Life in Pri
phere of Heartache*" Told
tered to the Captio<
By Marshall M. Bartholomew
He was only about nineteen. He
iras cheerful and he looked so well
that as I went to his bedside I remarked:
"You don't seem to have much the
matter with you."
"I haven't," he replied.
"Why don't you, then, come out
ind enjoy the sunshine?"
"I can't." he said quietly.
In answer to my "Why not?" he
turned down the bed covering and
showed me that he had no feet
He was a prisoner of war in one
of the camps abroad and he personified
the problem that confronts welrare
workers. There was something
of the spirit of Nathan Hale in the
boy?for he was nothing more than
a boy?as he said, "I offered my
country my life and they have taken
only my feet"
A Humanitarian Task
Helping men like that who are
helpless themselves is one of the
great humanitarian tasks of the war.
Unless one sees at first hand, he
finds it difficult to comprehend the
problem of the prisoners. We read
In news reports of 100,000 captured
In a single battle. We admire the
genius oi uiu military icouur ?uu
accomplished the feat?and then we
forget . I
One day I was In a railroad accident.
'A moment before I had been
Bating a quiet meal in the dining car.
Without any warning I was plunged
Into a chaos of dead, dying and terror-stricken
people. That night has
left upon my memory an unforgettable
picture?the mangled corpses
lying In the snow, the cries of the
wounded from under the wreckage;
the black, endless forest that
stretched on both sides of the wreck.
I dream of it sometimes at night and
wake in a cold perspiration; every
detail of that night has burned Itself
into my memory in such a way that
I shall carry the picture vividly real
as long as I live. And yet,. In all,
there were-only about eighty people
accident. A. few days
later I was reading the newspaper
report on an action on the western
front, where it was estimated that
during a. few days fighting 60,000
men had been killed or badly
wounded. It came to me with a pe-|
cullar shock that this loss of 50.0C0
people meant infinitely less to me1
personally than the eighty or ninety
whom I had seen with my own eyes.
In it lies a problem for all of us.i
it is almost impossible even partially
to visualize the meaning, and share
in the facts of what is going on in1
Europe. Occasionally something happens
of such staggering- importance
or such vivid intensity that it
refuses to be pigeonholed and remains
in the front of our minds,
M. ?,? th.t It
achieves a permanent place in our
memories and sways a real influence
bver oar thought lives. And how
shall we visualize the statement that!
there are somewhere in the neighborhood
of 6,00.0,000 prisoners of war
In the prison camps of Europe today?
The Unending Line
Have you ever watched columns of
marching men? Have yon felt the
thrill In your throat as line after line
jf strong men tramped rhythmically
by to the music of drum and
trumpet? I remember the Dewey
parade in New York in celebration
>f the battle of Manila in 1899. That
pas the first great parade that I had
sver seen. From eight in the morning
until late in the afternoon regiment
after regiment marched past,
tnd yet 'ess than 100,000 men participated
in that parade.
But if the prisoners of war could
>e mustered together and marched
>ast a given point and you had to
itand and watch this weary procealion,
how your eyea would ache and
rour heart, too, before It had passed.
?io music this time; no Joy; no excite
reterans, muddy, ragged, wounded,
liscouraged. Watch them from the
rindowt of your Imagination, marchng,
marching. All day today un:easingly
they appear, boys and
ronng men In great number;
niddle aged men In great num>er;
old men, a few ? Frenchnen,
Belgians, English, Russians,
Jermans. Anatrians, Hungarians.
Purka, Africans, Indiana, Australians,
talians. The march continues tonorrow,
and the next day, and on
hrough the week, and through the
lAxt wRflk. night and day. day and
light, for OTer a month before this
rast army has passed yon by. What
i vast amount of man power is represented
In this mass of human bongs?
To the task of conserving this man
AND CAMP
f the Prisoners
son Camps and Their "Atmoshy
a Man Who Has Minis'
MS of Meaty Nations N
| power, of keeping these men up to a
[point, at lea8t above deterioration,
an/1 naphkne awan In Katfap (hafp
stand. Is the gigantic task to which
the Young Men's Christian Association
has dedicated itself. For the
problem Is not one primarily of looking
out for physical needs. Even If
many of the prisoners of war today
are sufficiently well fed and clothed,
and housed to maintain life in a
healthy condition under ordinary circumstances,
they are in captivity,
suddenly deprived of their freedom
and of the chance to serve their country
in the time of greatest need.
More-than food, clothing and Bhelter
is necessary. Idleness, the greatest
foe to personality, gets in its most
deadly work in the prison camp. Men
worn out with months in the trenches
and the excitement and strain of warfare
are suddenly plunged into inactivity,
are cut off from the world.
The result is one of mental and
spiritual, and often moral degeneration.
And how a city Association secretary
would chortle with Joy to find
among the members of his Association
men of the talents and capacities
that one finds within the barbed wire
of a prison camp settlement Professors,
journalists, lawyers, engineers,
skilled artisans, musicians,
and so on throughout the range of
talents, are at the war-prisoner secretary's
hand to help in the establishment
of work in the prison camps. I
recall a camp of somewhere over 5,-j
000, where, with a school which In-1
eluded an equipment of only fifteen
text books, throe blackboards and
about forty benches and tables, we
had within a month enrolled 1,700
students in thirty-five courses of
study, including five languages, with
courses in general science, mathematics.up
to and including plane and
solid geometry, and lectures in
various subjects. Prom eight in the
morning until six at night one class
after another came into this little
school building and forgot their captivity
and their homesickness by accupying
their mindB with one study
or another. In the prison camps, j
things which at home we have taken
for granted and neglected, suddenly
assume tremendous value. Think of
a library of 250 books in which every
aay every dook is arawn oui. mciuaing
the dictionary?
It is so easy to think that the man
who has been removed from the conflict
and placed in a prison camp is
out of the fight. From a moral point
of view, however, his fight has really
only just begun. The battle field
calls for heroism, but the prison
camp call a heroism even greater because
it calls for that courage patiently
to endure monotony, to hold
one's spirit high through weeks of
waiting, to suffer and perhaps to
die far off from one's own country,
out of touch with home, and alone.
Prisoners Steadily Increase
The Association has it in its power
to save the lives of many, the sanity
of many others, and preserve the man
power of countless thousands by the
work that it is now carrying on in
the prison camps. Is it strange that
landing in America, after many
months in the atmosphere of heartache,
stupendous sacrifice and such
magnificent heroism, I felt with
a little pang the strain of self
complacency, the willingness on the
part of so many to forget what
I is going on on the other side
?and their duty? It is impossible
at a time like this for Christian men
to divide themselves up into Nations
when it comes to working for those
who are helpless and destitute.
Many have given their lives that
the whole world might be spiritually
aulckened. I wish that I might be
one of the many workers who could
bring; home to as oar duty and oar
responsibility at this time, who could
rouse the last phlegmatic heart of
every man in America out of any
smug complacency which still dwells
there. The work is well begun. It
must be carried on. The war goes
onward, the number of prisoners of
war increases; their needs increase.
It Is indeed a challenge to the Christian
students of America such as has
never faced them before. This is our
greatest opportunity to step in and
with helpful service and a heart full
of the Christian spirit re-kindle and
brighten the flame of Christian brotherhood
which alone can heal up the
wounds and bind together the shat
tered world. Jesus said, "Thou shalt
love thy neighbor."
He dare not speak of loving who
can bear that his brothers suffer-and
die. If by any sacrifice, no matter how
great, he may. be the means of saving
them.
'i - ' ' ''
Page 7
YOU CANT BEAT US g~l
By ELLIS PARKER BUTLER i|| |
I knew the United States for forty ==2 ?
the beet country on earth, but I had == ?
to see It at war to know what a chunk EE j=j
of "all right" thla land of ours Is. I ;= ==
never believed, with some good peo- == ?==
, pie, that war was a thing of the past ?EE ?=
and as dead as the two-toed Tlttican- == S
ens of the Silurian Age, which never S
did exist. I have always said war EE ;=
would come?and I have written It ? ==
again and again?but I was afraid rr ?
our nation and our people were get- ? ^
ting a little soft?like, ripe, old Cam- = rr
embert cheese. I take Is all back. We =
are about as soft and mushy as a ? ~
piece of case-hardened steel. There : ?
was quite a bit of peace mould on the x ^ ~
outside of us, but it wiped off right 5 E =
There Is a young fellow from across S ? :
my street who was drafted and went 5 - - ;
to a Selective Service cantonment, ^ S ~
and as he was an engineer by profes- S = 2 =
slon they put hlm^n charge of a gang == = ?=
to build rifle ranges. He had lived ^."=11=^
on velvet, but when I asked him how -w~*
he liked army life he said "Fine." ' f.
He said there were a lot of mighty
rough fellows, but that they were
dandy when you got to know them.
I get the same thing all through. If M&,
I wanted to pick out a name for our
drafted boys, I'd call them "The Men
Behind the Grins." This same young
engineer, when he had completed the
rifle ranges, was put to work on an / Ms*
embankment around the General's '
Headquarters, and his gang was cut j
down to three men. As nearly as I _ \ /!/%
can remember, one was a customs ^?\ ' jg
coatmaker. one a pants pressor, and *5=^3*
one a buttonhole maker. To take a
buttonhole maker and turn him overnight
into a soldier (and an engineer
with a pick and shovel, at that) and
(have anything left but a sad. explr- ZaQw
ing moan, is great stuff. When the I
mould is wiped off us we are as soft
hate to bo a German and have about
a thousand of those buttonhole makers
come over the top at me with 9w7M///Jk.
bayonets fixed. ySjyw/lmi
Wet Eyes Scarce
One day I saw a rew hundred draft- 'MUMMmt,
ed men leaving a railroad station in W/mwJmM
a large city for the trip to camp. The yMfflM/W,
wet eyes were not among the boys t/WMJm
who were going. There were not ~jSsBnjm,
many wet eyes anywhere; the boys
1 were shouting and chaffing each othI
er. The only really worried looking !(
j person was a negro who was carrying ij
a banner on a pole?"We are the WlMj/mm
th District Boys?We are going ifrmjj
to bite the Kaiser," or something like
! that. He was worried because he Wfj/fW///ji
could not find the contingent to which
the banner belonged. He wandered Wtjllllw//A
around the station and he was really
, distressed. He finally sat down on a wuJ.'sr/Mv.
bench. Probably someone had given ?/a
him fifty cents for carrying the ban- Wv/tJtM
ner and he was not earning It. Or mftfB&uaI
perhaps he had not been paid the fifty
cents and was afraid he never would
get It. At any rate, he was the sad- k
dest person In the station. A negro ^ fl
who feels in his bones he is losing Jflj
: fifty cents can look jpigbty sad. (29
There was one other person there -- -^38
who would have seemed sad if he had
not seemed such an admirable exam- pie
of complete sorrow. He was an
Italian, the father, no doutK; of a
drafted boy, and he was weeping with
all his face, both hands and one foot.
I never saw any one weep so thor- jf\ ^
onghly and wholeheartedly. He wept y t TJ
so completely, and put his soul and \ fLs)'//
body so entirely into the Job. that Y0j?j, jU
there was nothing sad about it. Poor lC/7
old duffei*! I suppose he may have Vk //
come to America so that his baby boy VW
might avoid Italian military service
and now the military had that very .
boy. But the boy?I saw him?was r a\\ J
not downhearted. "Aw. cheese! It lyM
cheerfully, and patted his dad on the
back, and the next moment he was ^?..
yelling across the station: "Hey. \
Tony! did you get that kiss?" Probably
Tony had bragged about a fare- T ~J
well kiaa he waa going to get. I hope
he got it. He looked so cheerful I am
sure he did get it, two of them,
maybe. 1
Well, there were glum fellows, too, /j r\
I suppose, I have heard of?although '/ \
I have never seen?fellows who went A'
to camp and cantonment with long, JS
miserably-drawn faces. There were v,
bound to be some' of them, but the %./&f**
great thing is that-their glumness was Mul/
not contagious and smiles and rough 0/ / a
cheerfulness were. M'J i?
We are sending abroad, and will 1/ jg j
continue to send, men with a grin. f| L
The army of the United States, at JM rk
home and abroad, is an army of good (
sports, taking things as thhy find *
them and making a Joke of the annoyances.
Y9U can beat the glum ~
man, and you can beat the sour-faced
quitter, but you can't beat the man- mEitSoesS
with-a-grin. Y.ou can't beat us; our
motto is "GRIN AND WIN!"