THE NEEDS ABROAD 



427 



ing debt to the people of our sister re- 

 public. 



THE VITAL IMPORTANCE OF RED CROSS AID 

 TO RUSSIA 



We should do something and do it im- 

 mediately to hearten afflicted Russia. On 

 the Russian line of 1,000 miles there are 

 only 6,000 ambulances, while on the 

 French front of 400 miles there are 

 64,000 ambulances fully equipped. 



Behind the lines in Russia are millions 

 of refugees from Poland, Lithuania, and 

 western Russia — driven from their homes 

 by the German and Austrian armies — 

 wandering from city to city, crowded into 

 unfit habitations, huddled in stables, cel- 

 lars, outhouses, and dying from disease 

 due to exposure and insufficient food. 



Russia needs our trained women to in- 

 struct hers in the art of nursing ; she 

 needs enormous quantities of the ele- 

 mentary articles necessary to relieve the 

 very worst cases of pain and suffering. 



Probably nothing that can be done im- 

 mediately will do more to win this war 

 than to strengthen Russia. The oppor- 

 tunity and the duty here alone are almost 

 without limit in extent. Our Red Cross 

 is the one agency which can exert itself 

 effectively in this terrible emergency. 



The foregoing are but the greater and 

 more urgent needs of the moment. Other 

 work of great magnitude must be done. 

 Our Red Cross must maintain a supply 

 service, whereby all the contributions in 

 kind which our people make can be effi- 

 ciently distributed. We must organize 



comprehensive plans to keep the families 

 and friends of our soldiers and sailors 

 informed as to the wounded and miss- 

 ing. 



Indeed, the duties and the opportuni- 

 ties which confront our Red Cross have 

 no precedent in history and are not 

 within human estimate today. The War 

 Council, however, can make definite plan 

 and budgets only to the extent to which 

 it is supported by the generosity of the 

 American people. 



EVEN THE CHILD CAN HELP 



If each individual American now con- 

 tributes his "bit" there can be no failure. 

 America will, we feel sure in this, again 

 demonstrate her ability to handle a big 

 task in a big way. 



If, in making a survey of the obliga- 

 tions and opportunities of our Red Cross 

 a gloomy picture is drawn, we must not 

 be discouraged, but rather rejoice in this 

 undertaking and in the confidence that 

 we can by our voluntary action render a 

 service to our afflicted allies which will 

 for all time be a source of pride and sat- 

 isfaction in a good deed well done. 



As President Wilson has said: "But a 

 small proportion of our people can have 

 the opportunity to serve upon the actual 

 field of battle, but all men, women and 

 children alike, may serve, and serve 

 effectively." 



We must and will all immediately con- 

 centrate our energies and efforts, and by 

 contributing freely to this supreme cause 

 help win the war. 



THE NEEDS ABROAD 



By Ian Malcolm 

 Member of the British Red Cross and of the House of Commons 



IT IS difficult, nay, almost impossible, 

 to imagine or to describe the damna- 

 ble devastation of modern war. 

 It is one thing to glance at long lists of 

 casualties in the morning papers, to read 

 the descriptions of villages and townships 

 ruined by artillery fire. It is quite an- 

 other thing to sense, as I have had to 

 do, the true inwardness of the vast hu- 



man tragedy that is being enacted across 

 the sea. 



The silence of London and Paris, and 

 of our great cities in France and Eng- 

 land ; the prevalence of black as the color 

 in which most of our women are dressed, 

 an eloquent testimony to the mourning 

 that is in the hearts and homes of nearly 

 every family in the land ; the streets full 



