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Show WILSON MAKES RED GROSS PLEA Calls Upon Every Ameri- can to Join During ' Christmas Week. WASHINGTON, Dec. 8. President Wilson, in a proclamation made public today, calls on every American to join the American Red Cross during Christmas Christ-mas roll call week. December 16 to 23, and thus send forth to the whole human hu-man family the Christmas greeting for which it waits and for which it stands in greatest need. The proclamation, prepared pre-pared before tho president departed for Europe, follows: "To the American people: "One year ago twenty-two million Americans, by enrolling as members of the Red Cross at Christmas time, sent to the men who were fighting our battles overseas a stimulating message of cheer and good will. They made it clear that our people were of their own free choice united with their government in the determination de-termination not oply to wage war with the instruments of destruction, but also by every means In their power to repay the ravages of the invader and sustain and renew the spirit of the army and of the homes which they represented. The friends of the American Red Cross in Italy. Belgium and France have told and will tell again the story of how the Red Cross workers restored morale In the hospitals, in the camps and at the cantonments, can-tonments, and we ought to be very proud i that we have been permitted- -to be of 1 service to those whose sufferings and whose glory are the heritage of humanity. human-ity. 'Now, by God's grace, the Red Cross Christmas message of 1918 is to be a message of peace as well as a message of good will. But peace does not mean that we can fold our hands. It means further sacrifice. We must prove conclusively con-clusively to an attentive world that America is permanently aroused to the needs of the now era, our old indifference indiffer-ence gone forver. "The exact nature of the future service of the Red Cross will depend upon the program of the associated governments, but there is immediate need today for every heartening word and for every helpful service. We must not forget that our soldiers and our sailors are still under un-der orders and still have duties to perform per-form of the highest consequence and that the Red Cross Christmas membership member-ship means a great deal to them. The people of the saddened lands, moreover, returning home today where there are no i homes must have the Assurance that the hearts of our people are with them in the dark and doubtful days ahead. Let us, so far as we can, help them back to faith In mercy and in future happiness. "As president of the Red Cross, conscious con-scious In this great hour of the value of such a message from the American people. peo-ple. I should be glad if every American would join the Red Cross for 1919, and thus send forth, to the whole human family fam-ily the Christmas greeting for which it waits and for which it stands in greatest need. "(Signed) WOODROW WILSON." |