The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, November 11, 1918, Page 5

Rébu’ild‘/ing Human Wreckage of War L] v 3 B &4 > R de “© < " \ A A R i R Y £ E ‘Recent Bullqtifi Tells What Red Cross Bureau of Civilian Relief Is Doing . 1n»F rance—A Great Work, but Only a Beginning IS an international adventure,” says a recent Red Cross report, “upon which the American Red Cross has: entered in its work is a chapter in the history of the war different from any chapter in the history of any ! previous war, It is an expres- sion of alliedship in a new language. y “Armies have crossed oceans before this to fight beside other armies; but never before, in war time or in peace time/ have battalions of doctors and nurses and social workers, of business men and professional women, crossed the sea to aid in fight- ing tuberculosis and infant mortality, in recon- structing shattered villages and shattered hearts Mrs. Anna Coleman Ladd painting one of her portrait masks to.insure the proper coloring. These masks are cast in. very thin 'copper to resemble the part of the face missing and are then covered with a thin deposit of silver. The next step, the one shown here, is to give the mask the tints of the natural face. The masks are held in place by spectacle bows over the ears. and hopes. The civilian work of the American Red Cross in France is unique; it opens new vistas in international relations; it starts new hopes of the " world that will be after the war. “Quick emergency work has characterized- the ‘Red Cross contribution after dozens of disasters, when it sheltered victims of air raids in Paris, went to the aid of families dispossessed by the munition blast at La ‘Courneuve, spread a great net of relief and friendship and sympathetic energy over all France for the thousands of refugees forced to . leave their homes and their all by the German of- fensive. any peace-loving nation, and it creates constant and continuing emergencies. THE MORE THAN ‘A MILLION REFUGEES SCATTERED THROUGH- OUT FRANCE ARE NEVER PERMANENTLY SETTLED AND: WILL NOT BE UNTIL THE WAR IS OVER AND A GREAT PROPORTION OF THEM CAN RETURN TO THEIR: HOMES. Some of them were given.new hope and courage in being helped out of the crowded cities and-back to their farmland. ~Driven out a second.time by the Germans, they kept their faith and hope, and so expressed themselyes to the Americans who worked with them through the winter that there is mo doubt left. that whatever may have been lost through the German offensive in the way of physi- cal reconstruction, the achievement in moral and spiritual- reconstruction remains in undiminished value.” : & : CARING FOR REFUGEES The bulletin describes the task of trying to care for the old men, women and children as they fled - before the German invasion in 1914; how many of them were, taken back to their homes and rehabili-- ‘tated “as the Germans retreated; and then how . again these people fled back to Paris and Southern - France:before the last German advance in 1918. - “All these hundreds of thousands ‘of people had to ~ be fed, sheltered and clothed. ’Separated families’ for the civilians of France. It, But the war itself is an emergency for . “farm industries will be - encourage them to en- - lectures, 'moving ' pie- ‘had to be brought together if possible. Work had . to be found for the able-bodied. One of the big problems has been the care of the refugees coming back to French soil through Swifzerland. Few people are probably aware that great numbers of women and children have poured back into France from the-occupied sections of France and Belgium by way of Germany and Switzerland. Up to February of this year, when the frontier was closed, 350,000 had passed through the little frontier town of Evian. Large numbers of these were, of course, entirely destitute and help- less. In co-operation with other relief agencies our Red Cross helped to find temporary places of refuge for these people, provided food and clothing and in- stituted medical care for those suffering from tuberculosis and other diseases. It is also trying to - d provide some education- al facilities for the nec- essarily mneglected chil- dren. DERELICTS OF THE WAR The bulletin gives the following description of the work for soldiers discharged from further service because of their wounds: return fronf the front- line hospitals of men mutilated in battle so that they are unable to return to their former occupations. France has inaugurated a series of re-educational centers where these men are taught trades which will enable them to sup- port - themselves. A study of these remark- able schools, made by the chief of the ‘Red Cross bureau for the for use in America as well" as . guidance of Red Cross work in “France, revealed the fact that hitherto a small pro- portion of this re-educational training- has been agricultural, though nearly two-thirds of the mu- tiles were farmers before the war. “A model farm, where the use of motor tractors and other machinery adapted to ‘the ability of the mutile is taught, is, therefore, the contribution of the American Red Cross. An estate of 500 acres near Chenonceaux has been obtained and is being fitted to train 100 men at a time in a four months’ course. - Shops for the teaching of harness-mending, basket - making, ma- chine repair and allied, installed. “A model electrical shop is being equipped at another re-education- al center which in peace time is used for men. crippled in industrial accidents, and other schools are ‘assisted by gifts .of goods —and money. “After the long months of hospital treatment many mutiles: are unwilling to take the time or make the effort to learn a new trade. They are dis- couraged; they feel that they have done their bit and that the country owes them a living. To ter the schools and to take a new interest in life, the Red Cross has: organized a series of SR e PAGE FIVE “Every week sees the” re-education of mutiles - all mutilations are able to take their places in the world again without at- The discovery of the portrait method is, of course, ade the great sacrifice, but hardly less to the tures:and posters to tell general public, who could hardly endure looking at the undisguised unfortunates. ‘tracting special attention. ‘a great boon to the men who have m the men in the therapeutical centers what re-educa- tion really means; recreational tours are to be or- ganized through the training centers to lighten the drab monotony which sometimes settles there. “The remarkable work originated in England by Captain Derwent Wood for men whose faces are badly mutilated has been introduced into France for the first time by the Red Cross. The process of surgical regencration of the tis- sues requires months or years; to enable the unfortunate mutile to go about a normal busi- ness and social life Mrs. Anna Coleman Ladd, an American sculptor, is engaged ¢in making portrait masks, cast in very thin copper, cover- ed with a silver deposit, and painted to resem- ble flesh. These masks are attached by specta- cle bows; at the small cost to the Red Cross of 100 francs each they make it possible for the worst facial mutiles to go about the streets without attracting attention, to return to their former occupations, and in other ways to re- sume the normal way of living which their marred faces had ciosed to them. “In the capital another group of war derelicts is benefiting by a work which is less spectacular but no less important—the effort to provide suitable housing for some of the thousands of refugees who crowd Paris. At the beginning of the war the moratorium suspended payments of rent on the part of families who had sent a man to the front; those who rented lodgings after the moratorium was declared did not profit by the rule, and the landlords tried to make up by overcharging. The result has been that the refugee, coming to a city - where building has been at a standstill while the population has been increasing by leaps and bounds, found few lodgings available, and those exorbi- tantly expensive. .Usually he has net sufficient capital to buy household goods, and must take a furnished apartment. In many cases a family of four or five is obliged to live for months in one squalid -room. 3 “In war time there obviously can be no question of erecting new buildings. Even those which were .under construction in August, 1914, stand just as the workmen left them when the mobilization order came. The Red Cross obtained a list of these build- ings from the police authorities; some would have required a very large investment to make them habitable, others were practically complete. cause of the legal complications of an organization in a foreign country the Red Cross itself did not lease the houses, but advanced to French refugee and housing organizations money for completing those which were suitable. The French organiza- tions undertook the supervision and management, and the funds advanced by the Red Cross eventually will be repaid from rentals. In all cases the Red Cross has supplied furnishings. Dwellings have al- ready been provided, or are almost ready, for near- ly 7,000 persons.” By means of this Red Cross wok, ‘those who have suffered the most tragic o < T R R A AT eSS S Pl T R S Be- ! & ¥ f AN TR A o e s et RSN SRR S S S LT TN N T