Show voluntary help can save europe s dying children by BAUKHAGE news analyst and commentator washington what to do until the doctor comee pretty important to know that pretty important to be willing and able to do it there are million children in this world today who need first aid the european recovery plan E C A will help a lot of these children who have the stamina to outlive the ugly interim per od when lirty almost naked they must roam the countryside or live in cellars and hovels hungry or starving but the E CA A Is a huge under aking and like all great bodies it noves slowly anyhow its chief purpose is to pro vide the means to restore norm normal al conditions to the stricken areas of europe it is large ly indirect aid not gauged to indi vidual cases meanwhile thou sands upon thou sands of these chil dren will die some will be saved by individual help your help to make that help effect live ave the many humanitarian lations which seek to save as many lives as possible have been berged into one great crusade tor for children local groups are organic tog ing in the cit cat es in the rural dis tracts the farm grange farm bu reau federation farmers union council oun cil for farm cooperatives U S department lepart ment of agriculture and other groups are furthering the movement to anyone who has seen this tor aured young generation the effect Is as staggering as the eight sight of a battlefield to a young soldier there is no shock like the sight of your first dead comrade that still form wearing the same uniform you wear lying crushed against the earth to me the shock of the sight of european children moving with the shadow of a living death upon them was a terrible thing too I 1 can remember getting off a train in what once had been one ot of the great railway stations of europe rubble ground into black mud the ghastly smell of those buried deep under linder the foundations of ru ned homes and shelters mil tary police hardened to the sights around them walked back and forth in the sin ister shadows of the ruins rums the ghost ly movement of little wraiths slipping in and out of sight bent on any mission no matter how fair or foul that would win some chocolate a piece of Kra ration tion a cigarette that might be traded for some bit of food no matter what the sins of the fathers they could not be great enough to justify the punishment inflicted on these children there Is only one way their bodies and their souls can be saved that Is through the groups which are supported by individual donations until economic I 1 fe is restored to a degree of normalcy when society can be rebuilt broken homes mended and the institutions which can care for the homeless put into operation as a part of a healthy community existence government aid like E C A can not establish direct contact with the individual it Is a matter of ar range ments drawn up between na lions it means dollar credits which make it possible for the receiving nations to buy supplies some of this money of course goes into food but it takes time for the machinery to get into operation end and even after it is in operation it is inadequate to satisfy the needs of the whole people much of the as Bi si stance goes into material tangs uch such as the reconstruction of tac fac tones tories replacement and modernize mod emiza niza hon klon of tools machinery and agn agri cultural supplies frequently supplies of such sim pie things as rabes rales rab es and shovels are this tiny child long in need of medical aid mid Is now in a hospital supported by the U N children s emergency fund funds are being raised through the crusade tor for children of american overseas aid united nations appeal tor for children to 0 o short that farms can t be worked until they are furnished later they will be manufactured but that means machinery for the factories comes first crusade for children Is a veil ivell organized private effort which has the backing and cooperation of the united nations and the sponsor ship and approval of the govern ment from the president down it provides direct citizen to citizen aid which is administered carefully with experienced personnel on the scene personnel which cuts red tape and is free from many of the rules regulations and restrictions which a government necessarily must employ As a matter ot of tact fact when the european recovery plan was first drawn up it was bontem plated that voluntary private aid would supplement it As an example of the type of thing crusade for children is designed to further in europe at present there are some 50 distributing points such as schools child clinics climes and hospitals serviced by the antema dional ch idren s emergency fund of the united nations at schools and child centers par ticul arly through dried milk ICE makes a supplementary con tribu con to the noon meal which costs the fund about three and a halt half cents per child the entire meal ax AJ I 1 an austrian orphan waits on snow covered steps for the daily neal rieal provided for it m n by the umed d nations international chil dren s emergency fand ile is ene one of millions who would starve with out this vital service costs only seven cents per child one hundred dollars provides 7 hun gry undernourished children one glass of milk each at every meal but because of limited funds is feeding only four million of eu rope s 30 million hungry children here are some of the sickening facts carefully c collected 0 I 1 I 1 e c t e d and checked by united nations authora authon ties infant mortality tn in europe and asia has jumped from 40 deaths per 1 COO live births to as high as deaths per I 1 COO compared with the united states rate of 0 38 3 per 1000 1 tuberculosis has doubled in many areas especially among chil dren lack of food has vastly in creased such diseases as rickets scurvy and pellagra physical examinations in one zone of europe showed that boys 11 years of age are three inches shorter than boys ol 01 the same age four years ago this Is the direct result of malnutrition in some areas half halt the physicians were killed teachers nurses and those trained in child care are lacking I 1 have sat in the office of a ger man physician ona one room left hv liv able in a bombed house windows boarded up to replace the smashed gla glass operating room consultation le off office bedroom living room all to gether with an endless line of pa with nothing to pay for the doctor s services which would buy anything tor for the doctor that doc tor told me that because of the hope less fate of children abortions were the rule rather than the exception with sickness and death as the re suit sult not the government but private voluntary agencies can alleviate these conditions one may feel that europe has brought much of its anguish upon itself but it is not the children who are to blame As I 1 secretary of state marshall said voluntary aid supplements the general relief which only govern ments can provide it affords the things and services including spir igual comfort needed by the weak est of the war victims secretary of it state marshall has warned south american countries that there will be no marshall plan for them it appears that they either must go out and obtain private financing or work up a good corn com eunist threat to share in uncle sam sams s largesse A modern president spends more effort trying to get what he wants into the papers and on the air than in finding out what s there already |