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Show AMERICAN AID IN GERMANY GIVEN FREELY, SAYS GERARD A little German child offered a prayer for peace. ill 111 j lliE 11 iiv Services of Y. M. C. A. Especially Praised; How German Women Help in War Time. By JAMES W. GERARD, American Ambassador to the German Imperial Court, July 28, 1913, to February Feb-ruary 4, 1917. Copyright, 1917, by the Public Ledger Company. THERE is no question that the sufferings suf-ferings of the people of Poland have been very great; when the history of Poland during this war comes to be written, the world will stand aghast at the story of her sufferings. suffer-ings. It is a great pity that these various va-rious schemes for relief did not succeed. The Rockefeller commission, however, up to the time I left Germany, did continue con-tinue to carry on some measure of relief, and succeeded in getting in condensed milk, to some extent, for the children of that unfortunate country. These negotiations ne-gotiations brought me in contact with a number of Poles resident in Berlin whom I found most eager to do what 1 they could to relieve the situation. I wish here to express my admiration for tho work of the Rockefeller commission com-mission in Europe. Not- only were the ideas of the commission excellent and businesslike, but tho men selected to carry them into effect were without exception men of high- character, possessed pos-sessed of rare executive ability. As I have said in a previous chapter, I was ridiculed in the American newspapers news-papers because I had suggested, in answer an-swer to a cable of the League of Mercy, that some work should be done for the prisoners of war. Great Work of Y. M. C. A. I do not know whether the great work undertaken by Dr. John K. Mott and his associates was suggested by my answer an-swer or not that does not matter. But this work, undertaken by the American Ameri-can Y. M. C. A., certainly mattered a great deal to tho prisoners of "war in Europe. Dr. Mott, after serving on the Mexican commission, has gone to Russia Rus-sia as a member of the commission to that country. The Y. M. C. A. organization, headed by Dr. Mott, who was most ably assisted as-sisted by the Rev. Archibald C. Harte, tqok up this work, which was financed, I have been told, by the McCormiek family of Chir-.nuo, Cleveland H. Dodge, John D. Rockefeller and others. Mr. Harte obtained permission from tho Ger- f Continued on Page Nine.) .j "My Poor Years in Germany" (Continued from Fags One.l j 1 ' I man authorities for the erection of meeting halls an.l for work in German camps. When he had obtained this authorization au-thorization from Germany he went to Russia, where he was able to get a similar simi-lar authorization. At first, in Russia, as I have heard, the prisoners of war were allowed great liberty and lived unguarded in Siberian villages, where they obtained milk, bread, butter, eggs and honey at very reasonable rates. As the war went on they were more and more confined to barracks, and there their situation was sad indeed. In the winter season it is dark at 3 in the afternoon and remains dark until 10 the following morning. Of course, I did not see the Russian prison camps. The work carried on there, was similar to that carried on in the German camps by Mr. Harte and his band of devoted assistants. Tried to Remove Hate. I was particularly interested in this wort, because I hoped that the aid given to the German prisoners of war in Russia would help to do away with the great hate and prejudice against Americans Ameri-cans in Germany. So I did all I could not only to forward Mr. Harte 's work, but to suggest and organize the sending of the expedition of nurses and doctors, which I have already described, to the Russian camps. Of course, Mr. Harte in this work 'did not attempt to cover all the prison camps in Germany. He did much to help the mental and physical conditions of the prisoners in Ruhleben, the English Eng-lish civilian camp near Berlin. The American Y. M. C. A. built a great hall where religious exercises were held, plays and lectures given, and where prisoners had a good place to read and write in during the day. A library was established in this building. The work carried on by the Y. M. C. A. may be briefly described as coming under the following heads: Religious activities, educational activities, workshops work-shops and gardens, physical exercises and outdoor sports, diet kitchens for convalescents, libraries and music, including in-cluding orchestras and the like. When I left Germany on the breaking of diplomatic relations a number of these Y. M. C. A. workers left with me. German Women's Qualities. The German women exhibited notable qualities in war. They engaged in the Red Cross work, including the preparation prepara-tion of supplies and bandages for the hospitals. The first day of mobilization mobiliza-tion saw a number of young girls at every railway station in the country with food and drink for the passing soldiers. At railway junctions and terminals ter-minals in the large cities stations were established where these Red Cross workers work-ers gave a warm meal to the soldiers passing through. In these terminal stations sta-tions there were also women workers possessed of sufficient skill to change the dressings of the slightly wounded. On the Bellvue strasse, Frau von Ihne, wife of the great architect, founded a home for blinded soldiers. In this home soldiers wore taught to make brooms, brushes, baskets and so on. German women who have country places turned these into homes for the convalescent wounded. But perhaps the most noteworthy was the National Frauendienst or Service for Women, organized or-ganized the first day of the war. The relief given by the state to the wives and children of soldiers was distributed from stations in Berlin, and in the neighborhood of each of these stations the Frauendienst established an office where women were always in attendance, attend-ance, ready to give help and advico to the soldiers' wives. There were card indexes of all the people within the district dis-trict and of their needs. At the time I left Germany I believe that there were upward of 7000 women engaged in Berlin in social service, in instructing the women in the art of cooking without with-out milk, eggs or fat, and seeing to it that the children had their fair share of milk. It is due to the efforts' of these social workers that the rate of infant mortality in Berlin decreased during the war. A war always causes a great unsettling unset-tling in business and trade; people no longer buy as many articles of luxury, and the workers engaged in the production pro-duction of these articles are thrown out of employment. In Germany the National Women's Service, acting with the labor exchanges, did its best to find new positions for those thrown out of work. Women were helped over a period of poverty until they could find new places, and were instructed in new trades. Manv women pntrfltrp iti f,o n.nV f sending packages containing food and comforts to the soldiers at the front and to the German prisoners of war in other countries. Through the efforts of the American Association of Commerce and Trade and the embassy a free restaurant was established es-tablished in Berlin in one of the poorer districts. About 200 persons were fed here daily in a hall decorated with flags and plants. This was, continued even after we left Germany. At Christmas, 191G, Mrs. Gerard and I visited this kitchen with Mr. and Mrs. Wolf and General von Kessel, commander com-mander of the Mark of Brandenburg, and one of his daughters. Presents, were distributed to the children and the mothers received an order for goods in one of the department stores. The German Ger-man Christmas songs were sung, and when a little German' child offered a prayer for peace, I do not think there was anyone present who could refrain from weeping. Many of the German women of title, princesses, etc., established base hospitals hospi-tals of their own and seemed to manage man-age these hospitals with success. |