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Show MERCY WORKERS IN WAR DOING GREAT SERVICES Ml Countries Striving to Improve Conditions Surrounding Wounded. fVORX OF AMERICANS LAUDED Motor Ambulance Service Does Invaluable Inval-uable Work in Transporting Wounded Wound-ed Soldiers French People Touched by Volunteer Work of Amerirans. London. To no one rai ? In this war belongs exclusively the w:rk of mercy. France, Russia, Euglai'd, Germany and Austria have each sll'iven hard to improve the conditions surrounding the wounded in their armies. In the Ottoman Ued Crescent, a Ma-homtnedan Ma-homtnedan equivalent of the Red Cross, even til e Turks hhve a corps of mercy workers, to render aid to thuse Injured In battle. Hut wot only the belligerent nations are occupied iu the field of mercy toward fallen fighters. America, with all the cheerful optimism optim-ism which characterizes her people, has worked vigorously t alleviate the sufferings of the wouo'ifd soldiers in France. Distant Abyssinia, too, was one of he first neutral couBt'les to establish a place of succor for, ihe injured near the firing line. Ifxleed, the Anglo-Ethiopian Anglo-Ethiopian hospltsJ nt Frevent, provided pro-vided with fundu supplied by the Abys-sian Abys-sian crown pr;im dUJ great service early in the vft. Japan, representing the far East, filso sent a wonderfully equipped anwdance corps which has since oceu('od the Hotel Astoria, Paris. Daf'ity women and intellectual intellectu-al men hare given their time and their services 'jigerly in the cause of humanity. hu-manity. The ,dies of the Russian court, self-a?.'rificing in the extreme, have beeD Iraiued for hospital work in the field. They have performed duties at which men might shudder and they have performed them well. So It is in France and England and in the other countries, both in and out of the war. That the majority of the workers have been volunteers is to the credit of civilization. civ-ilization. Mercy, so often beaten under un-der in the actual conflict of the belligerents, bellig-erents, has survived gloriously among those whose function has been to Relieve, Re-lieve, where possible, the victims of 6hot and shell. Automobile Great Help. Like the aeroplane, the automobile Is a new departure, a very Important one, in warfare. Since August, 1914, It has played many parts. Armored cars, transport lorrieo and other vehicles vehi-cles directly and indirectly contributing contribut-ing to the success of the different armies arm-ies in the field, have established a fresh reputation for the motor Industry. Indus-try. But it is largely owing to the motor ambulance that the noble work of mercy has been possible. So far as Great Britain Is concerned, the motor ambulance service owes Its existence and its triumph to Lord Derby's brother, Hon. Arthur Stanley, M. P., chairman of the British Red Cross society, and also to the Royal Automobile club. Soon after the outbreak out-break of war, in September, 1914, Mr. Stanley, quick to see the possibilities of the motor ambulance, was given a permit to send one or two out to the front by the late Lord Kitchener. "The actual permit," said Mr. Stanley, Stan-ley, "was in Lord Kitchener's own handwriting on half a sheet of note-paper. note-paper. It is now one of the most-treasured most-treasured possessions If not the most treasured, in the archives of the Red Cross society. "One of the first things I did on receiving re-ceiving the necessary permission," continued Mr. Stanley, "was to get together to-gether half a dozen volunteer motorists, motor-ists, all members of the Royal Automobile Auto-mobile club, to drive the ambulance cars which we were sending to France. Our position was curious. The motor-ambulance motor-ambulance was then practically an unknown un-known quantity so far as actual warfare war-fare went, and the military authorities authori-ties stipulated that our drivers were uot to wear uniform, nor, under any circumstances, to go near the firing line. There was to be no Red Cross on the cars. Truly, the mission of the motor ambulance was to be extremely limited. They were simply to go about ar behind the firing line and pick up ounded men who could not he fared far-ed to the field hospitals; men, foi sample, who had crawled for safety to abandoned cottuges and barns. Proves Its Worth. "With the possible exception of the American ambulance cars at Neuilly, lurs were the first motor ambulances used in France. But the value of u 'apld service for the transport of vouuded soldiers was quickly recognized, recog-nized, and dow, of course, wherever here Is fighting there are motor am-mlunces." am-mlunces." Here is a typical Instance, as told iy Mr. Stanley, how the motor ambu-unce ambu-unce proved its worth In the early lays of the war: "Late one evening one of our ambulances ambu-lances crept up close to the firing line. They met an officer, who turned them back 'because,' as he said, 'it is so dark. It is no use going further.' "They went buck to a farmhouse and to bed. In the middle of the night Minv were awakened by the sjinie olli- cer, who told them that a wounded soldier, shot through both legs, was lying almost In the German lines. It was so dangerous a mission that the officer wouldn't order the ambulance to go ! He Just told them where the man was, and left them to decide. They went. They crawled, without lights, along an unknown road in the darkness; got almost within the German Ger-man lines, where they found the man and brought him back to safety. That wounded soldier had lain there for days and would most certainly have died had he not been rescued that night. "In this modest and voluntary way the motor ambulance came into its own without one penny of cost to the government 1 "Today," went on Mr. Stanley, "there are about l.GOO motor ambulances and cars at the French front alone. Another An-other 1,000 are scattered about with the troops in Egypt, Mesopotamia, Salonika Sa-lonika Malta, East Africa, etc. We have three ambulance convoys each one consisting of some sixty cars and a radiographing convoy working in Italy. We have a number of cars in Petrograd and on the western Russian front, while we recently sent a small convoy as a present to Grand Duke Nicholas in the Caucasus." These motors and amuatt.f les have been provided, and their upkeep maintained, main-tained, entirely by volunteer subscriptions. subscrip-tions. "Up to the present," said Mr. Stanley, Stan-ley, "we have collected over $20,000,000 for the Red Cross and St. John's Ambulance Am-bulance society. The money comes in at the rate of about $5,000,000 every six months. This shows the, public appreciation of the work. Our support comes from all sections of society." "As an instance of the diversity of our work, It may be interesting to note that we arranged the other day to send motor boats to Mesopotamia and 'Charlie Chaplin' films to Malta, this latter for the amusement of the convalescent con-valescent soldiers 1 "One of the outstanding features of our organization has been the splendid work done by the women." Mr. Stanley mentioned, by the way, the excellent artificial limbs for maimed soldiers produced by Ameri-man Ameri-man manufacturers, both In the United Unit-ed States and especially at a factory established near London, where many disabled men are themselves employed. While the women of all nations at war have been working courageously in aid of their men, American women also have come out brilliantly In the labor of mercy. At the commencement, of the war a group of American women, wom-en, nearly all married to Englishmen, met together to consider how they might best render assistance to the soldiers of the king. The result was the birth of the American Woman's,, War Relief fund, of which Lady Paget became president, with Mrs. John As-tor As-tor as vice-president, the duchess of Marlborough as chairman and Lady Lowther and Mrs. Harcourt as honorary honor-ary secretary. Other women closely identified with the work were Lady Randolph Churchill, Mrs. Whitelaw Reid and Hon. Mrs. John Ward. Work of American Women. The American Women's War Relief fund began by sending a motor ambulance ambu-lance out to the front "Friends In Boston" subscribed for anotherIt was actually the seventh which was duly presented to the war office In London. Down In Devonshire, atj l'aighton, near Torquay, there is an American woman's war hospital, where thousands of woonded soldiers have been nursed back to health. Not contented con-tented with these activities the American Amer-ican women in question have opened workrooms in various parts of the British capital to enable girls thrown .ut ot work to learn other trades, and to become self-supporting, in spite of the war. Americans are busy helping In France as welt as In England, and the American Relief Clearing house. In Paris, is plso an institution of very considerable value and Importance. It represents the American Red Cross, and its distributing committee has already al-ready apportioned more than 4,000.000 parcels, from bales of cotton, clothes for men, women and children shoes, hospital accessories, surgical Instruments Instru-ments und countless other useful things. No less than 2.000 hospitals in France have been fitted from the American Relief Clearing house, which lias Joseph U. Choate for Its president presi-dent Modeled somewhat on the lines of the organization over which Mr. Stun-ley Stun-ley presides, is the American Volun teer Motor Ambulance corps, yet aD-other aD-other body of mercy-workers. In September, Sep-tember, 1914, Prof. Richard Norton of Harvard university saw for hlmselt the plight of the wounded French soldiers, sol-diers, who suffered additionally through Inadequate mans of transportation. trans-portation. Consequently, with the cooperation co-operation of some of his friends, he started the American Volunteer Ambulance Am-bulance corps, which quickly widened its field from two enrs to seventy-fivu. Originally composed of American and British members, the corps has, while always working In conjunction with the French army, been placed undel the British Red Cross owing to questions ques-tions of American neutrality. The volunteers of the American Mo tor Ambulance corps have given thcli time and their services uncomplainingly uncomplaining-ly to the attainment of an excellent object Under the chairmanship of the late Henry James, ' the novelist, who directed matters from London, many young college graduates freely entered the corps to work strenuously, without pay or preferment. Professor Norton, Ridgely Carter, .Sir John Wolfe Berry, Jordan L. Nuft. John Dixon Morrison and many other well-known men are members of the London council. coun-cil. Mr. Norton and several of the men have been awarded the Croix de Guerre and the Croix d'At'mee, the former for-mer ranking high In the honors of warring war-ring and republican France. Working Work-ing close up to the firing line, the American Motor Ambulance men have brought relief to many thousands of wounded and sick soldiers. Sometimes Some-times dashing about In country exposed ex-posed to German artillery fire, the ears have not infrequently come through a hail of bursting shells, but, so far without the loss of a single life. Tin only member of the corps to die Is A. D. Louey who, while returning from n brief visit to America, was drowned in the sinking of the Lusltnnla. The American , Motor Ambulance-corps Ambulance-corps has been "mentioned" for its discipline as well as for the high standard stand-ard of Its members generally. Lieut. Col. Leonard Robinson, In the following follow-ing words narrates In a report to M.Stanley, M.-Stanley, some experiences he has had with the American volunteers: "Immediately "Im-mediately after our return from Llzy-sur-Oucq," states the colonel, "we called from the Service de Sante for an ambulance to proceed to Coulomlers to bring back General Snow, who had been seriously injured. Starting with an ambulnnce and a pilot car, and accompanied ac-companied by Dr. du Bouchet and Surgeon Sur-geon Major Langle of the French army, we left Paris at about 5 p. m., reaching reach-ing Coulomlers toward 8 p. m. The town had been but recently evacuated by the enemy, and, as the general was not in a condition to be moved, we spent the night there. The following morning an early start was marie and General Snow was brought safely to Neuilly, where he remained for several sev-eral weeks. "With the trip to Coulomlers the period pe-riod during which the service made expeditions to the front for the purpose pur-pose of bringing wounded back to the entrenched camp Paris came to a close and a new phase of duty was entered en-tered upon. "While the ambulance wns absent nt Lizy-sur-Ourcq, a call enme from the British authorities, asking that ambulances ambu-lances be sent to their clearing station nt Villeneuve-Tringe to bring wounded, wound-ed, taken from their sanitary trains, to Paris. No ambulance being available avail-able at the time, an emergency column of touring cars, headed by Doctor Davenport, Dav-enport, was sent out, bringing in a number of cases and Inaugurating n service which occupied all our time for several weeks. "The American Volunteer Motor Ambulnnce Am-bulnnce corps has certainly done Immense Im-mense service In creating a very favorable fa-vorable impression on the people of Frnnce, people, beyond all others, capable of appreciating kindness and sympathy. But it has not been alone in this resoect. The American Ambulance Ambu-lance at Neuiliy. known before the war as the American hospital, has also acquired ac-quired the reputation of performing miracles for the wounded." "I have visited most of the war hospitals hos-pitals in Frnnce," said a society woman wom-an who has gone through the war as a brancardiere of the French Red Cross, "and I have never seen such wonderful work many of the. cases are simply terrible, worse than acy-where acy-where else as that performed at the American Ambulance, Neuilly. There they treat daily the most critical surgical surgi-cal cases. Some of the wounded men poor fellows seem almost blown away, so little remains for treatment." |
