and altogether sixteen chemicals. This is a model chemical factory. Up to this time they have been able to obtain in Russia large quantities of surgical gauze and other cotton fabrics. Professor Ordin, chief of the Red Cross supplies, informed the Mission when an inspection was made of their supply house, that they had in stock 50 million metres of gauze and surgical dressings and 5 million suits of cotton underclothing for the soldiers. The All Union of Zemstvos and Towns, the best public relief organization of Russia, is maintained by an enormous membership chiefly of peasants and workmen and has given an enormous amount of relief to the army since the war began. In addition to furnishing ambulance and field service at the front, base and evacuation hospitals and hospital trains to the rear, the peasants have made surgical instruments, tanned 500,000 raw hides of cattle slaughtered at the front, from which they have made boots and shoes, and they have furnished 500,000 beds for the hospitals. The Zemstvos have also aided in the manufacture of munitions and of guns. The Zemstvos Union doctors at the front have charge of the immunization of the soldiers against typhoid, paratyphoid, fevers and cholera. Owing to the lack of laboratory supplies, they have finally reached the point where they cannot make vaccines in sufficient amount. COÖPERATION FOR RELIEF The three relief organizations coöperate fairly well in the operation of the evacuation of the sick and wounded soldiers. For this purpose they operate approximately 100 sanitary trains from the front to the seven districts into which Russia is divided for this work. The district, of which Moscow is the centre, is the largest evacuation region. This evacuation district operates fifty-five sanitary trains and 200,000 hospital beds of which 20,000 are in Moscow. The beds in Moscow are used for the sick and wounded soldiers who are too ill to be evacuated beyond Moscow. The evacuation train service and the evacuation hospitals in Moscow are models in type and the administration of the work is admirable. At the evacuation hospitals the sick and wounded are examined. The very badly injured and very sick are kept in Moscow, the slightly wounded and moderately sick are evacuated after two or three days to hospitals in the rear as far back as Siberia and as far south as the Crimea. When possible the sick or wounded soldier is sent to a hospital near his home. In the evacuation hospital the soldier is given a bath, a hair cut and his clothing properly numbered, is disinfected by the steam-formalin process in a most thorough way. The amount of relief which the three war relief organizations of Russia have done since the war began, the admirable way in which it has been accomplished, the great technical skill shown by the medical and surgical officers and the maintenance of all of this work, in spite of the economic depression and the natural confusion dependent upon the long war and the revolution, aroused the admiration and commendation of every member of the Mission. The Zemstvos Union has charge of the reeducation of the crippled and blind and of their reëmployment. The organization and administration of this work too is most excellent. Apparently nothing is left undone. Prof. Vreden of the Sanitary Department of the army conducts a very large orthopedic hospital in Petrograd. Here the crippled are cared for with artificial limbs, are reeducated and many of them employed in factories connected with the institution. Sanatoria for tuberculous soldiers are maintained in the Crimea. From the officers of the relief organizations it was learned that approximately 30,000 tuberculous soldiers have been discovered among the sick and wounded evacuated from the front and these were being cared for in the sanatoria. THE FOOD SUPPLY OF RUSSIA During the winter of 1916-17 bread riots occurred in Petrograd and Moscow because of the scarcity of food. A survey of the food conditions of Russia was made by Major Harold H. Swift and Major Henry C. Sherman of the Mission. It was found that the crop of 1917 with the surplus carried over from previous years was sufficient in quantity to supply Russia with all needed food until another crop shall have been grown. As far as could be estimated from statistics, more or less unreliable because of war conditions, there seems to be more cattle, sheep and swine in Russia than there were in 1914. There is food scarcity in two of the northern provinces where lack of rain has resulted in a poor crop this year. Lack of transportation prevents a . proper distribution of food supplies of the grain districts of Russia and of Siberia to the famine provinces and to large cities like Petrograd and Moscow. There is food scarcity in the large cities chiefly of wheat bread, sugar, milk, cream, butter, cheese and animal fats. There is usually a sufficient supply of fish, fowl, beef, horse meat, mutton and vegetables. Fruits Fruits of rather poor quality may be obtained. Black whole rye bread can usually be obtained, but it often is delayed in its delivery until late in the day. In short, there is sufficient food material in Russia. The lack of distribution due to faulty transportation is the cause of food shortage in certain places. It would be impossible to obtain these food supplies from overseas to make up this shortage in the famine provinces and in the large cities. Relief must come from within and that by the reëstablishment of law and order and afterward improvement in transportation which will afford adequate distribution of sufficient food for all the people of Russia. This cannot be done immediately and consequently there will be greater food shortage in Petrograd, Moscow and certain northern provinces because of the long distance of these points from the sources of food supply. THE NEEDS OF THE MOTHERS AND CHILDREN The Mission made a survey of the needs of the children and mothers in Petrograd and Moscow. From governmental and other sources it was found that there are approximately 400,000 children from one to fifteen years of age in Petrograd and probably 250,000 in Moscow. Conferences were held with the Minister of Social Health, with private child relief organizations, with the officers of the All Russian Congress on Child Welfare and it was finally decided to ask the American Red Cross to aid in feeding and clothing as many of these children as possible during the coming winter. The War Council of the American Red Cross responded to the appeal and in October 1,200,000 cans of condensed milk were shipped to Russia and 1,000,000 pounds will be forwarded each month. THE NEED OF AMBULANCES Russia has occupied a front of about 1,200 miles. During the period of the war there have been numerous advances and masterly retreats. The public relief organizations have had to do an enormous work as has been described. There has been much fighting, there have been many wounded and many sick. During the whole war Russia has not had a sufficient number of ambulances. Horse-drawn ambulances have, as a rule, been chiefly employed at the front and of these a great number are used, but still in insufficient number. As a rule these are two wheeled carts capable of conveying two wounded men. The distance these carts travel varies from one to fifteen miles and the time consumed is necessarily long. The character of the terrain and the mode of conveyance causes increased suffering of the wounded soldiers. It is the opinion of well informed Russians and of the members of the Mission who visited the front, that the conveyance of the wounded would be very much improved by the use of a light motor ambulance of the Ford type. The Mission has, therefore, advised the War Council that if Russia continues in the war, an adequate number of Ford ambulances should be sent to Russia in time to be of service in the late spring of 1918. It is also believed that an American personnel of ambulance drivers and mechanicians commanded by medical officers, should also be sent to work on the Russian front, but a personnel should be sent only if certain conditions in Russia shall be modified to insure the health and life of the Americans. These modifications involve that Russia shall again become an effective fighting force; that living and food conditions shall be improved in a reasonable degree to meet American standards; that the American personnel shall consist of enlisted men of the U. S. Army and of medical officers of the Medical Officers Reserve Corps, assigned to this service by the Surgeon General. That the medical officers selected shall be qualified in sanitary science, or that there shall be added to the personnel non-medical men qualified as sanitary engineers; that the motor ambulances shall be so modified in construction that they may serve during a battle as ambulances and during other periods as sanitary units in the disinfection of clothing, the de-lousing, the bathing of soldiers and in the abatement of unsanitary conditions in the trenches and in the rear. If other motor ambulances are furnished to Russia but one heavier type of car should be chosen for longer hauls of the injured and sick. If one light and one heavy type of car are adopted for Russia, spare parts may be shipped and repairs made without loss of time and at much less expense than if many types of cars are used. An American personnel in Russia would be of enormous value as an object lesson to the Russian soldiers in the maintenance of discipline and effective work in the person of a citizen of a democratic republic. AN EXPERIMENT IN DEMOCRACY The members of American Red Cross Mission to Russia, without exception, are of the opinion that the first Provisional Government of revolutionary Russia founded and maintained by the most extreme Socialistic elements of Russia and the world will finally emerge from a condition of weakness to one of real stability. During the revolution the Provisional Government of Russia based upon the principles of extreme socialism has been in reality an experimental laboratory of Socialism. It has taught the thinking people of Russia that socialism cannot be the fundamental basis of a constitutional and free government. That a government cannot exist without law and order and that submission to discipline and leadership are fundamental to good government and to democratic liberty. Those members of the Provisional Cabinet who in the earlier days of the revolution were strong Socialists, have through responsibility learned a lesson and the people who have suffered, particularly the great mass of workmen and peasants have learned through bitter experience that they must have a stable government with law and order and that they must be industrious if they are to enjoy a real freedom. ren. The Russian people more or less isolated need the support, the friendship and the sympathy of her Allies. America is in a position to give material aid in the form of medical and surgical relief to her army and of material relief to her civilian people especially the childSuch relief as America may well give will be not great in amount, but the results will be many times the intrinsic value of the supplies given. It will hearten the Russian citizens, will teach the soldier that he must fight for the freedom he desires and it will cement the friendship between the two great peoples of the republics of America and Russia. TO SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENTS Thousands of schools are now using THE RED CROSS MAGAZINE for class room The absolute necessity of teaching our children American ideals, the principles "Such a plea is in no way foreign to the spirit of Amer- Study this matter-it is most important-write to the magazine, telling of your experiences, and give us your suggestions for this great work, helping the plan to universal adoption. -THE EDITORS, Garden City, L. I., N. Y. T ABOUT THE MAGAZINE HE past few months have been periods of great interest in the Magazine Department of the American Red Cross, and the record is one of astonishing development. In August, the first month of the enlarged magazine, the subscription list was even then large, and of that number 300,000 copies were printed, but the list grew so fast that for December 750,000 copies were printed to fill subscriptions already received. After the literary matter and pictures are ready, it takes an output of more than 75,000 a day to meet the schedule. A COMPLICATED TASK Probably no magazine subscription list in the world has grown so rapidly, and in the months of January and February we shall often have to handle twenty, or even thirty thousand magazine subscriptions in a single day. To cut the name plate and put it in its place, to proof-read and check it, to print the name on the magazine or wrapper, and to get the first number of the magazine in the mail-is quite a complicated task involving about a dozen separate operations and takes time. When a magazine membership expires your name is removed from the list and if you are anxious, as we hope, not to lose a number send your membership ($2.00 or more) to your branch or chapter with the request that your name be sent promptly to the magazine. There is no other way to get all the numbers. If your subscription comes after the edition is exhausted, we must wait for the next issue to be ready before we can send you your magazine, and although we deeply regret the delay, we are helpless to remedy it, as no one can possibly tell in advance how many subscriptions are coming to us-we only know when they arrive. Please be assured, however, that every effort is made to give you service; and urge your Branch or Chapter to send your subscription promptly. Often delays are traced to the fact that your name is held at the or Chapter-a trouble which is Branch beyond our power to help. WIDESPREAD INTEREST In The editorial correspondence of the magazine is so large and interesting, coming from all parts of the world, that one realizes how quickly the magazine is making its way. the September issue George Madden Martin told how the note of a poor Belgian refugee to her husband in the trenches had traveled thousands of miles, touching the hearts of the people wherever it went and bringing back a store of comforts for the Belgians. This story was called, "The Completed Circle," but a better title would have been "The Ever-Widen ing Circle," for, as a pebble is thrown into the water, so has this circle widened. The author has had scores of letters of cheer for the Belgians. Perhaps the most touching, though, came from far off Hawaii. Here is the letter: Last night Mother read to me out of THE RED CROSS MAGAZINE. She read me the letter of the poor peasant girl who lost her new baby, a little girl and the woman's mother. Besides that Mother read to us about the meeting of the women of the "Cabbage Patch," and the girls' school. That night after the story I made up my mind that I would send my money and Mother said I could. I am very happy that I can do something to help the poor Belgian babies. I am a little girl eight years old. I live on the remembered. Hugh Charging Bear We looked again and read it once more. No, everything was in due form. Then we The Lakota Chapter, South Dakota, of the Red Cross is composed almost entirely of Sioux Indians. These are the true Americans and throughout the width and breadth of the land there are no more loyal, no more hard working and no more zealous Red Cross members than they. It is a great honor to have them upon our island of Kauai which is the fourth largest island in subscription list. May they be the forerunners of many to come. the group of eight islands named the "Territory of Hawaii." My mother is Post Mistress and I stay down here with her. I have my lessons every day regularly. When the mail comes in I work right along. I wash and wipe the dishes every day and sometimes Mother or Father helps me. I hope that the little Belgian babies will get some milk some day that was bought with my money. Hoping I will help, your friend, ANITA BELLE BROWN. NO MORE DOGS, PLEASE In the November issue of THE RED CROSS MAGAZINE, Mr. Walter A. Dyer wrote of the great work of the Red Cross dogs in war, how they had come to be a recognized branch of the service and the need of them in America. Within a week no fewer than seven dogsranging from German police dogs to cocker spaniels were at our disposal. At the end of the second week later, the National Headquarters informed us that the dog situation was becoming serious and to stop the avalanche of dogs before they were snowed under. So word had to be hastily sent the chapters, "No Dogs Need Apply." But even now, an occasional one comes wandering in. REAL AMERICANS One day last month, among the lists of new subscribers, we came across the following: Nellie Red Shirt Horse Comes Out THE FUTURE The War Council will have in progress, about the time this magazine reaches you, a campaign for over 10,000,000 members. It is certain that before the winter ends THE RED CROSS MAGAZINE will have more direct subscribers than any other magazine in the world. We realize the great responsibility which goes with this great circulation, and the best authors and artists are helping us to give you the best magazine we can make. What proportion of these new members will be magazine members, no one can tell. The magazine is sent only to members who pay $2.00 or more. TO ADVERTISERS In a single year the income from advertisements printed has increased from a few hundred dollars a month to many thousands, and the advertising rate from less than a hundred dollars a page to a thousand dollars a page a month. In April the price will be $1,200 a page. In 1918 we feel certain that this source of income will be greatly increased, because the magazine goes to and interests the best people in the land. The November issue, notwithstanding the great initial expense of putting on the list more than a hundred thousand new names of subscribers, still yielded to the American Red Cross a handsome profit of many thousand dollars. Remember that this is your magazine. It is owned by the American Red Cross and the profits go into its funds. |