629 
 
 . 
 
 8 P5 
 
 
 18 
 
 
 py 1 
 
 
 
 REPORT 
 
 
 OF 
 
 
 THE RED GROSS 
 
 
 COMMISSION TO 
 
 
 FRANCE 
 
 
 JULY-DECEMBER 
 
 
 1918 
 
 • 
 
 THE AMERICAN RED CROSS 
 
 
 National Headquarters 
 
 
 Washington, D. C. 
 
*. *t B. 
 
 • U L ' 28 ,9,3 
 
y 
 
 REPORT 
 
 of the 
 
 RED CROSS COMMISSION TO FRANCE 
 
 - 
 
 July-December, 1918, inclusive 
 
 During the period covered by this report the organ- 
 ization and activities of the American Red Cross in 
 France took on an entirely new aspect. Red Cross 
 affairs were administered by Col. Harvey D. Gibson, 
 who became Commissioner in July, succeeding Major 
 James H. Perkins. 
 
 Arriving in France at a time of tremendous stress, 
 with a small personnel hastily gathered together and 
 hastily augmented as time went on; with little trans- 
 portation; with no established system of warehousing 
 and supply; and operating under the difficulties en- 
 countered in a country of which the only business was 
 war, the factor that had controlled the operations of 
 the American Red Cross Commission was expediency. 
 There were definite things that must be done, must 
 be accomplished. The main thing was the accom- 
 plishment. The method was relatively unimportant. 
 The effort was, of course, to accomplish these things 
 efficiently, economically and in an orderly way, and 
 to a very great extent this aim was achieved. 
 
 When Colonel Gibson arrived in France late in 
 June, 1918, the organization had grown from eigh- 
 teen men, who composed the entire working force a 
 
4 REPORT OF THE RED CROSS 
 
 year before, to an organization of several thousand 
 men and women, with millions of dollars' worth of 
 supplies to be handled and some twenty odd separate 
 activities to administer. The American Army was 
 here. The time had come for the Red Cross to exert 
 itself to the utmost in service to the American troops, 
 whereas up to this time the emphasis had properly and 
 necessarily been upon service to the French soldier 
 and French civilian, giving at the same time such aid 
 and comfort as our relatively small Army, not yet in 
 active service at the front, required. 
 
 Colonel Gibson's term as Commissioner began at 
 the time when it had become known that the rate at 
 which American soldiers were coming to France was 
 vastly greater than anyone had believed possible. 
 Furthermore, these soldiers, arriving by hundreds of 
 thousands monthly, were immediately to be thrown 
 into the fighting — as indeed they were. 
 
 This made it imperative to reorganize the Red Cross 
 so as to meet a new situation. There were 2,000,000 
 men to be served — not half a million. 
 
 Up to this time Paris had not only been Red Cross 
 headquarters; it was practically the only source of 
 supply and direction. Colonel Gibson's energies were 
 first directed toward changing this condition. 
 
 Ignoring the possibility that certain things might 
 be done immediately with greater speed under the old 
 plan, he bent every energy toward the setting up of a 
 decentralized system consisting of nine zones of which 
 the headquarters were Paris, Boulogne, Brest, St. 
 Nazaire, Bordeaux, Marseilles, Lyons, Tours and 
 
COMMISSION TO FRANCE 5 
 
 Neufchateau. The managers of these zones instead 
 of being dependent upon Paris for everything had 
 supreme power within their territories, controlled, of 
 course, by the policies laid down in Paris, to which 
 they must apply for personnel and where supplies were 
 allocated ; there was no longer the concentration at 
 Paris either of direction or supplies. 
 
 The following departments were organized with 
 the bureaus as stated under each department head : 
 Department of Requirements, including the Bureaus 
 of Supplies, Transportation, Manufactures, Personnel, 
 Permits and Passes, and Construction; Medical and 
 Surgical Department, including the Bureaus of Hos- 
 pital Administration, Tuberculosis and Public Health. 
 Children's Bureau, Reconstruction and Reeducation, 
 and Nurses ; Medical Research and Intelligence De- 
 partment, including the Bureaus of Research, Medical 
 Information, Library, and Publication ; Department 
 of Army and Navy Service, including the Bureaus of 
 Canteens, Home and Hospital Service, Outpost Serv- 
 ice, and Army Field Service; Department of French 
 Hospitals, including the Bureau of Requisitions and 
 Supply and Bureau of Visiting; Department of Gen- 
 eral Relief, including the Bureaus of Refugees, Sol- 
 diers' Families, War Orphans, and Agriculture; Dc- 
 parment of Public Information, including the Bureaus 
 of News and Public Information, Reports and Pam- 
 phlets, Photography and Moving Pictures. 
 
 In each zone there were departments corresponding 
 precisely to the headquarters departments, that is to 
 say, there was a chief of each service represented at 
 
6 REPORT OF THE RED CROSS 
 
 headquarters unless conditions in a zone were such 
 as to make this unnecessary. For instance, Outpost 
 Service was only operated at the front and naturally 
 there was not a chief of this service in the zones remote 
 from the fighting areas. 
 
 The effect of this organization, in the planning of 
 which Colonel Gibson was ably assisted by the Deputy 
 Commissioner, Major George Murnane, was to bring 
 American Red Cross representatives closer to those 
 they were serving, to enable these representatives 
 better to realize and meet the demands of the Army, 
 and to make Paris the high administrative rather than 
 the actual operating center of Red Cross activities. 
 The chart that accompanies this report presents in 
 graphic form the outlines of the relief organization 
 which was devised to meet the situation. 
 
 While the results of this organization were not fully 
 realized because of the signing of the armistice in 
 November, the strain put upon the system was suffi- 
 ciently great to prove not only that it was admirable, 
 but that it was indispensable to the achievement of the 
 mission of the Red Cross in France. When the armis- 
 tice was signed the American Red Cross had a 
 perfect functioning machine. It could act quickly 
 anywhere in France in an emergency. Its workers 
 and supplies were distributed at strategic points. Zone 
 managers had sufficient liberty, authority and resources 
 to meet emergencies without consultation with head- 
 quarters. The American Red Cross had been trans- 
 formed from a loosely knit organization, in which the 
 principal factor of efficiency was the enthusiasm and 
 
COMMISSION TO FRANCE / 
 
 devotion of its workers, into a scientifically organized 
 body of some 6,000 men and women, each with a 
 specific duty, under specific direction, and working 
 under conditions which left no doubt as to responsi- 
 bilities or method of accomplishment. 
 
 In the following pages are given in the order set up 
 in the chart of organization accounts of the various 
 services which together comprehend the work accom- 
 plished by the Red Cross in France in the last six 
 months of 1918. 
 
 Daniel T. Pierce, 
 Director, Department Public Information. 
 
8 
 
 REPORT OF THE RED CROSS 
 
 Of 
 I 
 
 LiJ 
 
 U 
 
 TL 
 CI 
 
 
 *i % 
 
 M 
 
 U. 
 
 ?3 
 S 3 
 
 
 u 
 
 
 
 
 "? * 
 
 -< • 
 
 i e 
 
 
 
 
 1 ■ 
 
 H 
 
 
 ifr 
 
 
 
 4- 
 
 
 <8 4 
 
 
 si 
 
 
 
 f 
 
 
 
 
 
 « 
 
 • 
 
 
 ^1 
 
 
 • i 
 
 
 0^ 
 
 2. £ 
 
 
 y 
 
 
 t 6 
 
 
 i A 
 
 (0 y 
 > i 1 
 
 
 a) $ 
 
 
 — n 
 
 
 14<J 
 
 * o 
 
 ax 
 
 if 
 
 "5* 
 
COMMISSION TO FRANCE \) 
 
 THE "S. O. S." OF THE RED CROSS 
 Department of Requirements 
 
 The operations of the Department of Require- 
 ments of the Red Cross do not make an exciting story 
 but they are nevertheless vital and necessarily 
 precedent to performance by any other department. 
 All warehousing, shipping and purchasing come under 
 this heading, as well as transportation, personnel and 
 construction. 
 
 Transportation 
 
 The transportation equipment in France consisted 
 at the end of December of 496 touring cars, 399 
 camionettes, 279 camions, 171 ambulances and 29 
 motor cycles. In spite of the scarcity of labor and 
 supplies and progressive deterioration of equipment 
 under hard service, the transportation section made 
 an enviable record under Major C. Glidden Osborne, 
 who was from its beginning director of this depart- 
 ment. 
 
 Whether in the prosaic business of moving freight, 
 or the more exciting duty of evacuating wounded, 
 rushing supplies to the front or to hospitals, aiding 
 refugees to escape the invader, or answering air-raid 
 emergency calls, the transportation men of the Red 
 Cross, within the limits of the means at their disposal, 
 responded to every call capably and often heroically. 
 
 The limited number of ambulance drivers remain- 
 
10 REPORT OF THE RED CROSS 
 
 ing in Red Cross service continued up to the end to 
 maintain the best traditions of this branch. In the 
 last allied drives on the British front, the American 
 Red Cross ambulance men worked day and night with 
 gas masks on and under constant shell fires. Holes 
 shot through cars, their chassis rent by shell, and 
 damage generally, gave evidence that the men were 
 in the thick of it. In one instance a chauffeur found 
 himself holding aloft the wheel of his steering ap- 
 paratus. A shell had scattered the remainder of his 
 car to the four winds. 
 
 Manufacturing 
 
 The manufacturing .activities of the Red Cross, in 
 addition to surgical dressings, included special foods 
 for the wounded, splints, 200,000 cookies per day for 
 hospitals and canteens, artificial limbs and nitrous 
 oxide gas. 
 
 The American Army hospitals were entirely sup- 
 plied by the Red Cross with splints, the orders for 
 which in July and August totaled from 15,000 to 
 20,000 splints and accessories weekly. For the entire 
 year the output was 294,583 splints, the factories often 
 working 18 and 20 hours per day to keep up with the 
 requisitions upon them. 
 
 The Red Cross also supplied all the nitrous oxide 
 used by the A. E. F. and other military hospitals. 
 The plant arrived in France in July, and, in spite of 
 many difficulties in securing containers, achieved an 
 output of 3,832,986 gallons of nitrous oxide and 368,- 
 110 gallons of oxygen. The value of this service is, 
 
COMMISSION TO FRANCE 11 
 
 of course, impossible of over-estimation if viewed 
 from the standpoint of the lives and suffering saved. 
 In November the manufacture of surgical dressings 
 was centralized at one point and two other large work- 
 rooms were closed for the reason that the stocks on 
 hand, made in Paris and received from America, were 
 more than ample for all needs. At the height of their 
 operations the surgical dressings workrooms in Paris 
 employed 700 women and men. 
 
 Construction. 
 
 The Construction Bureau of the Red Cross was 
 called upon to build anything from a "hut," 150 feet 
 by 80 feet, to a rabbit hutch. It erected barracks and 
 tents for hospitals, rest houses for nurses and canteen 
 buildings. It installed plumbing, telephones, and, in 
 one instance, a photographic laboratory. It drew its 
 own plans, and either let contracts or, as was often the 
 case, acted as builder as well as designing and super- 
 vising architect. While much of its work was done 
 in the field, its accomplishments are in no small meas- 
 ure due to the efficient direction of the Chief of the 
 Bureau, Major W. Emerson. 
 
 At the head of all the activities coming under the 
 Department of Requirements was Major A. B. Jones 
 who was recently made Deputy Commissioner and 
 was succeeded by Major George T. Rice. Of their 
 work it need only be said that it corresponded closely 
 to that of the commanding general of the Service of 
 Supplies of the Army. 
 
 A salvage bureau was added to the activities of this 
 
12 REPORT OF THE RED CROSS 
 
 department when, following the armistice, there arose 
 the problem of economically disposing of the equip- 
 ment and materials constituting the "plant" of the 
 Red Cross in France. 
 
 Medical and Surgical Department 
 
 The Medical and Surgical Department, including 
 the Bureaus of Hospital Administration, Tuberculosis. 
 Reconstruction and Reeducation, and the Children's 
 Bureau was headed by Col. Fred T. Murphy. 
 
 Hospital A dm inistration 
 
 During the last six months of 1918 the American 
 Red Cross furnished more than 1,110,000 days of 
 hospital care to military patients and in the last month 
 before the armistice was signed admitted 37,000 mili- 
 tary cases. Hospitalization for American troops in- 
 creased steadily up to the signing of the armistice. 
 In September it was double that of August, and hos- 
 pital care in October doubled that of September. The 
 maximum of 303,000 days of hospital care was 
 reached during October with more than 279,000 days 
 of care devoted to men of the American Expeditionary 
 Force. 
 
 Red Cross hospitalization has been primarily an 
 emergency feature which is shown by the dropping of 
 days of hospital care in December to less than 90,000. 
 The closing of hospitals has progressed rapidly as 
 this emergency need disappeared. The signing of the 
 armistice found us operating 22 military hospitals 
 
COMMISSION TO FRANCE 13 
 
 with 14,326 occupied beds. The American Red Cross 
 Military Hospital No. 5, which was established in 
 three weeks, was the first of our hospitals to close its 
 career and had developed to 2,500 beds. Official 
 records credit this hospital with 8,315 admissions and 
 additional cases received and immediately evacuated 
 bring the total number of American patients received 
 to approximately 12,000 different cases. 
 
 American Red Cross Hospital No. 114, which was 
 established as an emergency at Toul and later moved 
 to Fleury, has 14,097 admissions to its credit. This 
 did not finish the career of this formation, as it was 
 taken over by the Army and continued. 
 
 American Red Cross Hospital No. 110, which was 
 established in less than one week at Coincy, has a 
 most remarkable record with 17,446 admissions to it's 
 credit. This hospital was built on the spur of the 
 moment, around a pump found in the middle of a 
 town almost entirely destroyed. Red Cross officials 
 and the future Commanding Officer visited Coincy 
 and on the spot decided an organization must be 
 effected. With a burnt piece of wood the words 
 "A. R. C. Hospital No. 110" were marked upon a 
 piece of wall, and a representative left to guard the 
 water supply. Materials were assembled from five 
 different points and the formation was in operation 
 in less than a week. This became one of the biggest 
 contributions of the American Red Cross to the U. S. 
 Army, serving first as the most advanced hospital in 
 the Vesle sector, and then being moved, at the request 
 of the Army, to assist as an advanced evacuation hos- 
 
14 REPORT OF THE RED CROSS 
 
 pital in the Argonne battles. This formation was dis- 
 tinctly an emergency proposition and was one of the 
 first to be discontinued. The entire career of this 
 hospital was one of the most spectacular of Red Cross 
 activities. 
 
 American Red Cross Hospital No. 107, which was 
 established at Jouy-sur Morin, and served during the 
 second Battle of the Marne, became inactive after the 
 line receded to the Vesle, but during its career it re- 
 ceived 5,562 different battle casualties directly from 
 the front line. 
 
 During the last six months the aid given to the 
 Army in the nature of supplies continued to be on an 
 enormously increased scale. For example, in a single 
 month from one warehouse alone, the following ship- 
 ments were made to formations operated entirely by 
 the Army : 
 
 Surgical instruments 77,101 
 
 Beds and cots 2,820 
 
 Surgical dressings 24,733,126 
 
 Drugs 15,300 lbs. 
 
 This is entirely independent of equipment and ma- 
 terials issued to the 22 military formations supplied 
 and operated by the Red Cross itself. The armistice 
 did not mean the end of emergency work. When the 
 Chief Surgeon called upon us for 600,000 epidemic 
 masks for protection against Spanish "Flu," within 
 two weeks the entire order had been completed. 
 
 Nine American Red Cross infirmaries were oper- 
 ated at ports and along lines of communications for 
 
COMMISSION TO FRANCE 15 
 
 American troops. These served men taken sick on 
 trains or casuals passing through. During the month 
 of October a single infirmary treated 659 cases; while 
 another in three weeks had 850. With the deportation 
 of sick and wounded, work at base ports increased 
 considerably. November saw 5,670 cases pass through 
 Infirmary No. 7 at Brest, and 6,549 passed through 
 Infirmary No. 8 at Bordeaux in the month of 
 
 December. 
 
 In addition to infirmaries, seven military dispen- 
 saries were operated. Dispensary No. 2 at Brest cared 
 for 1,751 cases in the first four months of its 
 
 operation. 
 
 The efficiency of the Bureau of Hospital Adminis- 
 tration was in large part due to the energy and wisdom 
 of Dr. C. C. Burlinghame, its chief, who has since re- 
 ceived well-deserved promotion to a majority in the 
 Medical Corps of the Army. 
 
 Bureau of Tuberculosis 
 
 The Bureau of Tuberculosis of the American Red 
 Cross was created in August, 1917. It increased from 
 a single member and his secretary to a personnel of 
 153. This Bureau has worked in cooperation with 
 the Commission for the Prevention of Tuberculosis 
 in France, which has a personnel of 96, making a total 
 operating personnel of 249 in the coordinated tubercu- 
 losis activities. 
 
 All existing facilities in France in times of peace 
 for the treatment of tuberculosis were requisitioned 
 for the tuberculous soldier. The American Red Cross, 
 
16 REPORT OF THE RED CROSS 
 
 by taking over the responsibility for the following- 
 activities, hoped to help France to avoid a startling in- 
 crease in the death rate for tuberculosis, and to prevent 
 further increase of new and preventable cases among 
 the 5,000,000 people of France who were displaced as 
 refugees, scattered through the various departments, 
 or as population in the invaded regions, later to be 
 repatriated through Evian les Bains. The death rate 
 in France had been alarmingly high before the war, 
 and there was no doubt that under the stress of war 
 conditions this rate would rise still higher, unless pre- 
 ventive measures were taken. 
 
 The Tuberculosis Bureau of the American Red 
 Cross became responsible for the following activities : 
 
 Amelioration of conditions in existing tuberculosis 
 hospitals. 
 
 A departmental survey of all tuberculosis activities 
 —those operating; those in immediate prospect, and 
 those in prospective. 
 
 Subvention of dispensary, hospital and sanatorium 
 construction and operation. 
 
 Subvention of popular educational propaganda. 
 
 Operation of tuberculosis hospitals and sanatoria. 
 
 Assistance to special fields of work among Belgians, 
 Serbians and Poles. 
 
 Cooperation with the American Expeditionary 
 Forces. 
 
 In the development of the work of the Bureau in 
 the latter half of the year 1918, more stress has been 
 laid upon the development of French resources, and 
 less upon American endeavor. The hospitals of the 
 
COMMISSION TO FRANCE 17 
 
 Bureau will be closed on April 1, 1919. The encour- 
 agement of French interests in the activities estab- 
 lished or assisted by the Bureau gives promise of per- 
 manency. The financial budget of the Bureau only 
 provides for its existence until June, 1919. 
 
 Departmental survey and relief have been continued 
 but with more care and deliberation than previously. 
 Subventions for dispensary and sanatorium construc- 
 tion have been augmented. The hospitals of the 
 Bureau have operated 675 beds. Propaganda against 
 tuberculosis and technical assistance have been fur- 
 nished to the United States Army. Barrack relief has 
 been extended in Paris, and the tuberculosis demon- 
 stration in the Department of the Eure-et-Loir has 
 been almost completed as far as hospital plans and 
 finances are concerned. Provision for the construction 
 of a departmental sanatorium has been placed in the 
 budget. The work in the Eure-et-Loir has been done 
 as previously planned in conjunction with the Com- 
 mission for the Prevention of Tuberculosis in France. 
 
 Hopitaux Set nit aires in France having a bed capacity 
 of 1143 have received 17,396 francs for assistance. 
 Stations Sanitaircs have received 89,328 francs. The 
 total number of beds assisted by the Bureau of Tuber- 
 culosis amounted to 24,185. They were aided to the 
 extent of 3,287,417 francs. Relief was supplied to the 
 extent of 794,447 francs. 
 
 An appropriation for a Serbian hospital near Paris 
 has been made. The reconstruction of an existing 
 hospital for the purpose has been completed. Of the 
 five hospitals being operated by the Bureau, the 
 
18 R E PORT OF T II E RED CROSS 
 
 Trudeau Sanitarium and the hospital at Yerres will 
 be presented to the Department of the Seine on April 
 1. Hospital Benevole will be closed and Champigny 
 will be turned over to the city of Blois for operation. 
 Saint-Genis Laval was closed on January 1. 
 
 The tuberculosis relief work in Paris will be con- 
 tinued by the Department of Hygiene of Paris. The 
 Hospital Admission Bureau has placed 1,458 patients. 
 This Bureau ceases to function on April 1. 
 
 It is reasonable to assume that the majority of the 
 activities assisted by cash subventions would not have 
 functioned for a long period of time if they had not 
 been assisted by the Bureau. 
 
 Children of France 
 
 In June, 1918, the work of the Children's Bureau 
 was approaching its point of largest usefulness, first, 
 through its own institutions and activities, medical and 
 non-medical ; and second, through medical or other 
 assistance given to various departments of the Red 
 Cross, to American relief organizations other than the 
 Red Cross, and to French institutions. 
 
 The following schedule shows approximately all 
 institutions and activities of the Bureau, existing dur- 
 ing this period, without regard to dates of opening 
 and closing : 
 
 A. 14 HOSPITALS 
 
 1— BEAUVAIS— 35 beds. 
 2— BORDEAUX— 24 beds. 
 3— DIEPPE— 14 beds. 
 4— EVIAX— 200 beds. 
 
COMMISSION TO FRANCE 19 
 
 5— FOUG— 20 beds. 
 
 6— LIMOGES— 60 beds. 
 
 7— LYONS: Holtzman— 110 beds. 
 
 8— LYONS: Violet— 75 beds. 
 
 9— MARSEILLES— 35 beds. 
 10— NEUFCHATEAU— 40 beds. 
 11— PARIS— 40 beds. (Ran 1,000 tonsil and adenoid 
 
 operations; 4,000 dental consultations.) 
 12— ROUEN-40 beds. 
 
 13— TOUL: Children's Hospital— 160 beds. 
 14— TOUL: Matermte—66 beds. 
 
 B. 6o DISPENSARIES 
 
 1— BLOIS. 
 2-3— BORDEAUX. 
 4— CHALONS-SUR-MARNE (Vitry le Francois). 
 5— CHATEAU-THIERRY (Neuilly le Pont). 
 6-7-8— CORBEIL. 
 
 9— EVIAN. 
 10-11— LYONS. 
 12-15— MARSEILLES. 
 16-25— PARIS. 
 26-27— RENNES. 
 28— ROUEN. 
 29-30-31— SAINT-fiTIENNE. 
 
 32— SAINTE-FOY (Montramont). 
 33-58— TOUL.* 
 59— VALENCE. 
 60— VIENNE. 
 
 C. o CONVALESCENT HOMES AND PLACEMENT 
 CENTERS 
 
 1— BIDART— 30 beds. 
 
 2— CHITENAY— 22 beds. 
 
 3— DUN— 5 beds. 
 
 4— LA CHAUX— 600 beds. 
 
 5— MONTAUBAN— 20 beds. 
 
 6— SAINT-CYR: "Mont d'Or'— 35 beds. 
 
 7— SAINTE-FOY: "Chateau des Halles"— 200 beds. 
 
 8— ST. MEME: "Chateau de Vinade"— 40 beds. 
 
 * Run in cooperation with A. F. F. W. 
 
20 REPORT OF THE RED CROSS 
 
 9— TOUL: "Asile Caserne du Luxembourg"— 500 
 beds, 
 
 also placed by the Children's Bureau in 7 French 
 institutions. 
 
 D. 4 CRECHES 
 
 1-2— EPINAL* 
 
 3 — DIJON — "Camouflage Creche" (in the American 
 Camouflage Factory). 
 -VIENNE. 
 
 E. 2 POUPONNIERES 
 
 1— PORCHEFONTAINE— 200 beds. 
 2— VIENNE. 
 
 F. EDUCATIONAL SERVICE. 
 
 1 — Child Welfare Expositions given at: (a) Saint- 
 Etienne, Attendance 80,000, July 11-28; (b) Tou- 
 louse, Attendance 80,000, October 20 to Novem- 
 ber 10. 
 
 2 — Traveling Educational Service visiting 10 depart- 
 ments of France : Allier, Cher, C6tes-du-Nord, 
 Finistere, Haute-Garonne, Ille-et-Vilaine, Loire, 
 Loire-Inferieure, Morbihan, Nievre. 
 
 3 — Distribution of nearly 100,000 pieces of educa- 
 tional literature presenting principles of care and 
 of hygiene of childhood. 
 
 G. SCHOOL CANTEEN SERVICE IN PARIS. 
 
 This service was closed in July, 1918. At the close 
 of its work it was serving supplementary food 
 to over 32,000 children in the Paris schools. 
 
 H. TRAINING OF VISITING NURSES 
 
 Four courses, Paris and Lyons, graduating and placing 
 
 48 Visit euses d' En f ants. 
 I. "STARS AND STRIPES" 
 
 Executive and investigation work of allotting about 
 500 war orphans to American soldiers. 
 
 * Run in cooperation with A. F. F. W. 
 
COMMISSION TO FRANCE -1 
 
 J. Intensive pre- and post-natal work in limited districts of : 
 1 — Lyons. 
 2 — Paris. 
 3 — Rennes. 
 
 During the same period, June 1 to December 1, 1918, the 
 Bureau also rendered assistance, medical, nursing and in relief 
 materials to : 
 
 A. 300 French oeuvres through the Section Aide aux Oeuvres 
 
 and to the following: 
 
 B. Hospitals and Infirmaries 
 
 1— Angouleme— 20 beds— Refugee Department. 
 
 2— Chalons-sur-Marne— 99 beds— Friends. 
 
 3— Chateau-Thierry (emergency)— 107 beds— A. E. F. 
 
 4— Dinard— 12 beds— French Colony of Refugees. 
 
 5— La Rochelle— 6 beds— Refugee Department. 
 
 6— Le Glandier— 50 beds— Commission for Belgium. 
 
 7— Lourdes— 60 beds— Refugee Department. 
 
 8— Saint-Lunaire— 12 beds— French Colony of 
 
 Refugees. 
 9— Sermaize— 65 beds— Friends. 
 
 C. Dispensaries 
 
 1 — Angouleme — Refugee Department. 
 
 2— Bobigny— French Communal Institution. 
 
 3— Caen— Refugee Department. 
 4-10— Chaumont-sur-Aire— A. F. F. W. 
 11— Compiegne — Bureau of War Zone. 
 12— Dijon— Refugee Department. 
 13— Dinard— French Colony of Refugees. 
 14— Houlgate— French Colony of Refugees. 
 15_Lacaune — French Colony of Refugees. 
 16— La Rochelle— Refugee Department. 
 17__Le Glandier— Commission for Belgium. 
 18— Limoges — Refugee Department. 
 19-20— Paris— Tuberculosis Department and Rockefeller 
 Commission. 
 21— Quimper— Refugee Department. 
 
22 REP RT OF THE RED CROSS 
 
 22 — Rouen — Refugee Department. 
 23 — Saint- Etienne — Refugee Department. 
 24 — Saint-Lunaire — French Colony of Refugees. 
 25 — Saint-Maximin — French Colony of Refugees. 
 26-40— (15) Senlis— Bureau of War Zone. 
 41 — Valence — Refugee Department. 
 42 — Vannes — Refugee Department. 
 
 D. Convalescent Homes or Refugee Colonies 
 
 1 — Avignon — French Institution. 
 
 2 — Dammarie-les-Lys — French Refugee Colony. 
 
 3 — Doulac — French Institution. 
 
 E. Service des Repatries (French Government) 
 
 Triage, i.e., Medical examination of incoming repatries. 
 1 — Evian. 
 2 — Dieppe. 
 
 During the six months period between June 1 and December 1, 
 1918, 28 new institutions were started : 
 9 Hospitals. 
 
 Bordeaux — 24 beds. 
 
 Dieppe — 14 beds. 
 
 Foug — 20 beds. 
 
 Holtzman, at Lyons — 110 beds. 
 
 Xeufchateau — 40 beds. 
 
 Paris — 40 beds. 
 
 Rouen — 40 beds. 
 
 (2) Toul— 160 beds— 40 beds. 
 12 Dispensaries 
 
 (1) Bordeaux. 
 
 (1) Chateau-Thierry. 
 
 (1) Lyons. 
 
 (3) Marseilles. 
 
 (2) Rennes. 
 
 (3) Paris. 
 (1) Rouen. 
 
 6 Convalescent Homes and Placement Centers 
 Bidart— 30 beds. 
 Chitenay — 22 beds. 
 
COMMISSION TO FRANCE 23 
 
 Dun — 5 beds. 
 Montauban — 20 beds. 
 Saint-Cyr — 35 beds. 
 St. Meme — 40 beds. 
 / Creche 
 
 Dijon — 12 beds. 
 
 During the same six months' period, 39 institutions were 
 closed as Children's Bureau institutions, in the larger number 
 of cases for military reasons. These institutions were : 
 5 Hospitals 
 
 (2) Toul. 
 
 ( 1 ) Evian. 
 
 (1) Paris. 
 
 (1) Xeuf chateau. 
 27 Dispensaries 
 
 (26) Toul. 
 
 (1) Sainte-Foy. 
 5 Convalescent Homes and Placement Centers 
 
 ( 1 ) La Chaux. 
 
 (1) Montauban. 
 
 (1) Saint-Cyr. 
 
 (1) Sainte-Foy. 
 
 (1) Toul: "Asile." 
 2 Creches. 
 
 (2) Epinal. 
 
 In August the reorganization of the American Red Cross 
 brought about the separation from the Children's Bureau of : 
 The School Canteen Service. 
 The "Stars and Stripes" Service. 
 
 The Aide aux Ocuvrcs (the section which granted 
 money and relief materials to French institutions). 
 
 December and January were months during which, in prin- 
 ciple, the Children's Bureau work was terminated, ije., insti- 
 tutions were closed entirely or. turned over to other organi- 
 zations for continuance. 
 
 18 Institutions were closed during these months 
 5 Hospitals 
 
 Dieppe — 14 beds. 
 
24 REPORT OF THE RED CROSS 
 
 Evian — 200 beds. 
 Foug — 20 beds. 
 
 Holtzman, at Lyons — 110 beds. 
 Violet, at Lyons — 75 beds, 
 o Dispensaries 
 
 Neuilly-le-Pont. 
 (2) Lyons. 
 Rouen. 
 
 (2) Saint-Etienne. 
 
 (3) Valence. 
 
 3 Convalescent Homes 
 
 Bidart— 30 beds. 
 
 Chitenay — 22 beds. 
 
 St. Meme—40. 
 i Creche 
 
 Dijon. 
 
 Although the greater part of the work of the Chil- 
 dren's Bureau has thus been closed, local conditions 
 or special provisions account for the fact that several 
 of its institutions are still (February, 1919) in oper- 
 ation. 
 
 3 Hospitals at 
 
 Saint-Etienne — ''Chantalouette"100 be ds. 
 Rouen — "Mont Aignan" — 40 beds. 
 Limoges — "Hopital Americain" — 60 beds. 
 2f Dispensaries at 
 
 (1) Blois. 
 
 (4) Marseilles. , 
 
 (2) Saint-Etienne. 
 (2) Bordeaux. 
 
 (2) Rennes. 
 (1) Vienne. 
 
 (3) Corbeil. 
 (8) Paris. 
 (1) Rouen. 
 
 2 Pouponnieres 
 
 Porchefontaine — 200 beds. 
 Vienne. 
 
COMMISSION TO FRANCE 25 
 
 The Educational Service is continuing in toto, and will 
 probably not be terminated until April. 
 
 In addition, 24 institutions, which are not specifically under 
 Children's Bureau jurisdiction are still being assisted by the 
 Bureau. These are : 
 
 (1) Hospital: Lourdes — 60 beds — ■Department Civil Relief. 
 (1) Convalescent Home — Avignon — 40 beds — French. 
 (17) Dispensaries 
 
 (1) Compiegne. (16)Senlis — Bureau of War Zone. 
 (3). Dispensaries — Paris — Tuberculosis Bureau. 
 (1) Dispensary — Paris — Rockefeller Commission. 
 (1) Dispensary — Bobigny — French. 
 
 On December 30 a gift of $100,000 from the 
 Junior Red Cross of America to the Children of France 
 was confirmed by cable from Washington. This 
 money will be used to endow a health center for Paris 
 children, and will be administered, if the plan is car- 
 ried out as drafted, by a French committee composed 
 of members of the Medical Faculty of Paris and of 
 representatives of the child relief and child welfare 
 organizations of France. The committee is in process 
 of formation and the actual work will be put under 
 way as soon as the agreements and policies can be 
 determined upon. 
 
 All institutions now in operation, or now in view, 
 are being administered or organized with two main 
 purposes: (1) their immediate efficiency, and (2) their 
 ultimate adjustment to French methods of man- 
 agement. 
 
 The termination of the Children's Bureau activities 
 in the various centers of France has, in comparatively 
 few cases, meant the termination of the work for the 
 children. Of these cases the greater number repre- 
 
26 REPORT OF THE RED CROSS 
 
 sented the institutions which were closed before De- 
 cember and which were closed because of military 
 exigencies. Several of them were turned into military 
 hospitals under the control of the American Expe- 
 ditionary Forces. 
 
 Of the institutions other than those in which the 
 work for children stopped, most have been or are to 
 be turned over to French administration. In some 
 cases a private institution has assumed the control, 
 as at La Chaux; in others the city, usually in the 
 person of the Mayor, as at Corbeil; in the case of 
 Rouen the Prefecture itself will take over the Chil- 
 dren's Bureau activities, thus making them a national 
 service in the Seine Inferieure. The method which has 
 seemed most practicable in the greatest number of 
 cases has, however, been as follows : A coordination 
 of all child welfare organizations in the district has 
 been effected, interest and cooperation on the part 
 of the national and municipal authorities have been 
 gained and a French governing committee represent- 
 ing all these various elements has been formed. This 
 committee takes over control of the former Children's 
 Bureau work and administers it. 
 
 A subvention or endowment by the American Red 
 Cross has been given in several cases on condition that 
 an equal sum of money be raised for the work by the 
 French committee. 
 
 This committee method has been prominently suc- 
 cessful at Lyons and is now being worked out at 
 Marseilles. 
 
 The Bureau has been in existence some 16 months. 
 
COMMISSION TO FRANCE 27 
 
 In this period it has given direct relief to 250,000 
 children, reckoning invariably with minimum figures, 
 and has entirely administered some 70 institutions. 
 It will leave four permanent hospitals for children 
 and will leave something that cannot be measured or 
 charted but that should be of inestimably greater im- 
 portance — an increased sense of civic responsibility to 
 the child. 
 
 The Bureau continued during the period of this 
 report under the direction of Dr. William Palmer 
 Lucas. 
 
 Reconstruction and Reeducation 
 
 The Bureau for Reconstruction and Reeducation was, 
 from the date of its founding until September, 1918, 
 known as the Bureau for the Reeducation of Mutiles 
 and was operated under the Department of Civil 
 Affairs. With the change of title it was transferred 
 to the Medical and Surgical Division, Miss Grace S. 
 Harper continuing as Chief. 
 
 The Bureau was established to give aid to the dis- 
 abled soldiers of France and the work was divided 
 into two classes : 
 
 1. That done directly and solely under the manage- 
 
 ment of the American Red Cross; 
 
 2. That done in cooperation with existing French 
 
 agencies and consisting largely of financial aid. 
 Under the first classification came the manufacture 
 of portrait masks which was developed under the di- 
 rection of Mrs. Anna Coleman Ladd. This consisted 
 of making careful study of the cases of those men 
 
28 REPORT OF THE RED CROSS 
 
 whose facial disfigurement, as the result of wounds, 
 was so great as to render them unfit for any normal 
 existence, and the construction of masks so lifelike that 
 the wearers were able to resume their regular places 
 in the world once more. 
 
 The Training Farm for French Mutiles was estab- 
 lished by the Red Cross near Tours, the courses open- 
 ing in July, 1918, and continuing until the end of 
 November. This work, which won the highest praise 
 from many French officials, consisted of training men, 
 unfitted through their wounds for the continuation of 
 their pre-war occupation, in general farming, tractor 
 operating, dairy work, poultry and rabbit raising, 
 truck gardening and horticulture. 
 
 In the artificial limbs' workshops established in 
 Paris, much study was devoted to the improvement 
 of the types of artificial limbs manufactured, and, in 
 consequence, a much better and lighter limb is now 
 being supplied to mutiles. 
 
 As a result of the success of this workshop, a simi- 
 lar one was established recently in Athens under the 
 direction of the American Red Cross for Greece. 
 
 Reeducational propaganda by means of lectures and 
 cinema exhibits established by the Bureau was the 
 means of inducing many unskilled cripples to take up 
 trade training, thus preventing them from becoming 
 dependent upon charity or seeking governmental sine- 
 cures. This work is being continued extensively by 
 local French conferences. 
 
 Under the second heading of cooperative work of 
 the Bureau comes the aid in the development of 
 
COMMISSION TO FRANCE 29 
 
 courses in higher technical trades (such as electrical 
 work and skilled watchmaking) at existing reeduca- 
 tion schools carried on through French institutes; 
 activities for the mutiles which were subsidized by and 
 cooperated with the American Red Cross; grants of 
 cash, furniture, clothing and other material benefits 
 and help given to individual mutiles. 
 
 Nurses' Bureau 
 
 During the period from July, 1918, to January, 1919, 
 the Nurses' Bureau supplied all or a part of the Nurs- 
 ing Staffs of twenty different military hospitals. These 
 were located in and about Paris, the Chateau-Thierry 
 and Toul sectors. 
 
 Perhaps one of the most conspicuous pieces of work 
 during the month of July was the opening and equip- 
 ping of American Red Cross Military Hospital No. 6, 
 at Bellevue, for patients who had been gassed ; the staff 
 consisted of about 40 nurses and 12 nurses' aids. 
 
 In the Chateau-Thierry sector the work of the nurses 
 was rendered extraordinarily difficult, not only on ac- 
 count of repeatedly being under shell fire, but on ac- 
 count of the necessity of moving stations from time to 
 time. The hospital known as American Red Cross 
 Hospital No. 107, located at Jouy, became very active. 
 The main operation of the organization proceeded to 
 Chateau-Thierry in August, where the hospital was 
 opened in the Hotel Dieu, known as American Red 
 Cross Hospital No. 111. This was chiefly a tent hos- 
 pital and for many weeks was filled to the limit of its 
 capacity. 
 
30 REPORT OF THE RED CROSS 
 
 American Red Cross Hospital No. 104, in Beauvais, 
 was located in a large school building. This has been 
 a very active hospital with a number of beds reserved 
 for French patients. About 60 nurses and aids were 
 assigned to duty there. This organization underwent 
 many changes as the line of the front advanced and 
 many surgical teams were sent out from this center to 
 assist in the surgical work nearer the front. 
 
 Other conspicuous organizations were American Red 
 Cross Evacuation Hospital No. 114, American Red 
 Cross Evacuation No. 110 and an organization which 
 later became U. S. Base 82. These were operated 
 during a season of great stress and the personnel of 
 the nursing staffs was made up entirely of Red Cross 
 nurses and nurses' aids and Army nurses who had been 
 assigned to the Red Cross by the Chief Surgeon. 
 
 The supplying of nurses and nurses' aids to the 
 Service de Sante reached its height during the summer 
 months. This has been an active and irregular service ; 
 irregular in that the nurses were assigned to these 
 French hospitals for such time as American men were 
 patients in them. The service was one which required 
 extreme adaptability on the part of the nurses, as in 
 every instance they served under the direction of 
 French physicians and surgeons who were not accus- 
 tomed to the kind of nursing service rendered by 
 English and American nurses. It is to be hoped that 
 our nurses have been able to demonstrate the value 
 of the trained nurse sufficiently to stimulate the desire 
 of the French medical profession to have a similar 
 body of women in its own country. If this result 
 
COMMISSION TO FRANCE 31 
 
 should come, it will prove to many the most satisfac- 
 tory result of the relations of the nursing service to 
 the French people. 
 
 During all the time of the military emergency the 
 nursing work of the Children's Bureau and of the 
 Tuberculosis Bureau has been carried on with un- 
 abated energy, but with decreased staffs, it being 
 necessary to call upon many of the nurses for military 
 
 service. 
 
 The signing of the armistice brought its own pe- 
 culiar problems and readjustments. During the first 
 six weeks following the armistice, nurses and nurses 
 aids were released from military hospitals at a rapid 
 rate Many of the aids have been transferred to 
 other branches of Red Cross service. Many new 
 fields for trained women were opened in other Euro- 
 pean countries. About ninety nurses have been as- 
 signed to duty under the Balkan Commission; twenty 
 with the Palestine Commission ; ten nurses have been 
 sent into Italy for tuberculosis work ; and a specially 
 selected group has been prepared for Poland. In 
 many instances in order to secure the best nurses pos- 
 sible for these special services, it has been necessary 
 to obtain the release of a number of nurses from the 
 Army Nurse Corps. 
 
 The Nurses' Bureau has also assigned twelve dieti- 
 tians to duty in France and other countries. It has 
 been instrumental in securing diet-kitchen equipment 
 for American Army, American Red Cross and French 
 hospitals. It has concerned itself with Recreation 
 Huts for nurses in Base Hospitals and has assisted 
 
32 REPORT OF THE RED CROSS 
 
 in the care of Army, Navy and Red Cross nurses dur- 
 ing convalescence. 
 
 In December the maximum number of personnel in 
 the Bureau was reached, the total being 1,734. This 
 number includes not only nurses and aids of Ameri- 
 can Red Cross enrollment, but also a number of vol- 
 unteers and many French and English employees. 
 
 The work of the nurses and nurses' aids in the field 
 has been courageous, unselfish and well-sustained. On 
 a number of occasions groups of nurses have been 
 sent to Army camp hospitals at the request of the 
 Chief Surgeon, previous to the arrival of Army 
 nurses. These nurses have won high commendation 
 from the commanding officers of such organizations. 
 In October, when the epidemic of influenza was at its 
 height, our nurses showed great spirit and self-abnega- 
 tion in caring for personnel crossing on the ships from 
 America. 
 
 Upon the retirement of Miss Julia Stimson in No- 
 vember to enter Army service as Chief Nurse of the 
 A. E. F., Miss Carrie M. Hall became Chief of the 
 Red Cross Nurses' Bureau. 
 
 Medical Research and Intelligence 
 
 In July, 1918, under a reorganization of Red Cross 
 methods, a new department was created known as the 
 Department of Medical Research and Intelligence, 
 which was a necessary extension and development of 
 already existing activities. American Red Cross Lab- 
 oratory No. 1, at 6 rue Piccini, was reassigned to the 
 
COMMISSION TO FRANCE 33 
 
 department; the Medical Library was separated and 
 established at No. 12 Place Vendome; and the Bureaus 
 of Medical Research, Publications and Intelligence 
 were organized with quarters at No. 9 rue du Mont 
 Thabor. Later the Bureau of Animal Production was 
 added. Major Alexander Lambert was appointed 
 Director. 
 
 Regular monthly meetings of the Medical Research 
 Committee continued up to and including the month 
 of November. These meetings were organized pri- 
 marily for the purpose of disseminating new infor- 
 mation that might be used by the medical services in 
 lessening the wastage of man power in the Allied 
 Armies from wounds and disease. During the period 
 covered by this report the important volume on Trench 
 Fever appeared in print, constituting one of the most 
 valuable of the Committee's activities. Research work 
 was carried on in methods of field sanitation, trans- 
 portation of the wounded, treatment of fractures of 
 the femur, wastage of men, shock, typhus, respiratory 
 diseases, etc. Dr. Blake's admirable work on Gun- 
 shot Fractures of the Extremities was also published 
 by the Department during this period. 
 
 On August 1, 1918, the Bureau of Medical Intelli- 
 gence was organized under the direction of Major T. 
 H. Halsted, for the purpose of sending out to the 
 medical men in the various active fields textbooks of 
 medicine and surgery and the latest news of their 
 profession in regard to war work. This entailed an 
 increasing amount of office work in the line of col- 
 lecting and abstracting material from all the leading 
 
34 REPORT OF THE RED CROSS 
 
 medical publications received from America, England, 
 France and Germany, as well as research work in the 
 medical libraries of Paris. As the work developed 
 it was found advisable for Dr. Halsted to make trips 
 to the various evacuation, mobile and field hospitals to 
 ascertain and supply the needs of the medical men. 
 During the autumn months he made four or five dif- 
 ferent trips, upon one of which, as an example, he 
 visited 17 hospitals in which were about 520 surgeons, 
 distributing to them 236 medical books. 
 
 The publication of War Medicine continued regu- 
 larly each month under the able editorship of Lt. Col. 
 Seale Harris, as the official organ of the Research 
 Society. It contained usually about 144 printed pages, 
 with illustrations, and every effort has been made to 
 bring the journal to a high standard of technical ex- 
 cellence and to make it of the maximum usefulness to 
 the medical officers as well as a permanent profes- 
 sional record of this great war. The Publication De- 
 partment has also put forth a Manual of Splints and 
 Appliances, Report on the Transfusion of Blood, 
 Manual of Urology, Water Analysis, Bulletins on 
 Transmissible Diseases, Report of the Trench Fever 
 Committee, and other valuable bulletins, pamphlets, 
 charts, posters, etc. 
 
 The Medical Library under the direction of Capt. 
 Charles E. Estes has continued to extend its privi- 
 leges to the many members of the profession who 
 have been in Paris separated from other means of 
 special reading. The Library records show: 1,150 
 reference books on the shelves, with over 4,307 medi- 
 
COMMISSION TO FRANCE 35 
 
 cal journals and over 6,808 medical textbooks dis- 
 tributed. 
 
 In July, 1918, the Bureau of Animal Production 
 was transferred to ampler accommodations at Croissy 
 (Seine). The cost of carrying on this particular in- 
 dustry is defrayed from a special donation made by 
 Mr. Cleveland H. Dodge, of New York. During No- 
 vember the Bureau was placed under the direction of 
 Lieut. N. Shaw and many improvements were made. 
 
 In December Colonel Lambert left France and his 
 office as Director was filled by Col. R. P. Strong. 
 
 Army and Navy Service 
 
 Canteens, the first Red Cross service to the soldier 
 in France, were continued, increased and improved 
 up to the last day of the year — and beyond that. On 
 the day the armistice was signed there were 392 
 American Red Cross women in the service in France ; 
 on December 31 the number had actually increased 
 to 484. 
 
 To the canteens of the character hereinafter de- 
 scribed were added many other types as the war wore 
 on. There were canteens at evacuation hospitals and 
 aviation camps; canteens established at cross-roads 
 below the Vesle; canteens in occupied Germany; can- 
 teens in the concentration areas where men were gath- 
 ered for return home; hotels and canteens for Paris 
 leave men; and canteens at the ports of embaikation 
 where first the streams of convalescent wounded came 
 through and then the men who had finished their part 
 
36 REPORT OF THE RED CROSS 
 
 in the war and whose slogan had changed from "Lead 
 us to it!" to "Next stop, Hoboken!" 
 
 At the end of December these line-of-communica- 
 tion canteens were in active operation (exclusive of 
 Paris) at: 
 
 Chalons-sur-Marne (Marne) Canteen 
 
 Epernay (Marne) Canteen 
 
 Orry-la-Ville (Oise) Canteen 
 
 St-Germain-des-Fosses (Allier) Canteen 
 
 Survilliers ( Seine-et-Oise) Canteen 
 
 Bourges (Cher) Dormitories and baths, Canteen 
 
 Nantes (Maine-et-Loire) Dormitories and baths, Canteen 
 
 Angers (Maine-et-Loire) Canteen — Dormitories and baths 
 
 Neuf chateau (Vosges) Canteen — Dormitories and baths 
 
 Limoges (Haute-Vienne) Canteen— Dormitories and baths 
 
 St-Pierre-des-Corps (Indr"e-et-Loire) 
 
 Canteen — Dormitories (Men) 
 
 Tours (Indre-et-Loire) Conteen — Dormitories (Men) 
 
 Bordeaux (Gironde) Canteen — Dormitories and baths 
 
 Nevers (Nievre) Canteen — Dormitories and baths 
 
 Chateauroux (Indre) Canteen — Dormitories and baths 
 
 Dijon-Porte-Neuve Station (Cote-d'Or) 
 
 Canteen — Dormitories and baths 
 
 Dijon-Ville (Cote-d'Or) Canteen— Officers' Hotel 
 
 Langres (Haute-Marne) Canteen 
 
 Toul (Meurthe-et-Moselle .. Canteen — Dormitories and baths 
 
 Nancy (Meurthe-et-Moselle) Officers' Hotel 
 
 Strassburg (Alsace) Canteen 
 
 Souilly (Meuse) Officers' Club 
 
 Coblenz (Rhenish Prussia) Officers' Club 
 
 Treves (Rhenish Prussia) 
 
 Canteen — Restaurant and dormitories for men 
 —Officers' Club and Hotel 
 
 Saint-Aignan-Noyers (Cher) Canteen 
 
 Le Mans, Station (Sarthe) .. Canteen — Dormitories and baths 
 
 Le Mans, Maroc ( Sarthe) Coffee Station 
 
 Issoudun (Indre-et-Loire) Canteen and dormitories 
 
 Vierzon (Cher) Canteen — Dormitories and baths 
 
COMMISSION TO FRANCE 37 
 
 Saint-Nazaire (Loire-Inferieure) Canteen 
 
 Lorient ( Morbihan) Canteen 
 
 Brest (Finistere) Canteen 
 
 Saint-Brieuc (C6tes-du-Nord) Canteen 
 
 Marseilles (Bouches-du-Rhone) Officers' Club — Canteen 
 
 Is-sur-Tille (Cote-d'Or) Canteen— Officers' Hotel 
 
 C ant ce ning in Paris 
 
 When the soldiers of the American Expeditionary 
 Forces began coming to Paris by thousands a new 
 canteen problem was presented. The city was already 
 overcrowded and the men could not afford to pay 
 Paris prices even if accommodations had been avail- 
 able. The Red Cross, therefore, opened ten hotels 
 and canteens at or near railroad stations where beds 
 were free and where a full meal could be obtained for 
 14 cents — the same meal that cost $2.00 in a restaur- 
 ant. Frequently these canteens fed 30,000 men a day. 
 
 For 'officers there was opened a club at 4 Avenue 
 Gabriel, a handsome residence which had been one of 
 the Red Cross office buildings before all offices were 
 concentrated (in September) in the Hotel Regina. 
 In addition to offering all the comforts of a club for 
 officers on leave, this house provided sleeping accom- 
 modations for about 100 nightly. A little later the 
 Red Cross leased for the Army the Hotel du Louvre, 
 known after that as the American Officers' Hotel. Its 
 original capacity was 250 rooms. By rearrangement it 
 was made to house 500 guests nightly. The meals 
 were American meals, with ice cream and chocolate 
 cake, and the charge was about one-fourth that of 
 restaurants of corresponding quality. In his room 
 
38 REP R T OF THE RED CROSS 
 
 each guest found pyjamas, soap, tooth paste and tooth- 
 brush ; shoe shines were free, and there was the familiar 
 cigar stand and theater ticket office of home hotels; 
 also an information desk for officers visiting Paris 
 for the first time and a shopping-aid service. 
 
 Canteening for the Air Men 
 
 Another development of canteen service was repre- 
 sented by installations at aviation and balloon camps. 
 These were undertaken at the request of the Army, 
 largely because of the success at the Red Cross estab- 
 lishment at Issoudun. A grill for meals at odd hours, 
 a mess for regular meals, and comfortable lounging 
 rooms formed these installations, expanding at some 
 points to include a mending and pressing shop, laun- 
 dry, baths and library. More important than equip- 
 ment was the companionship of the American girls 
 who formed the staffs of these establishments. Even 
 more isolated than the fliers were some of the balloon 
 men who were hidden away in the most forsaken spots. 
 The Red Cross carried to them comforts, tents, food, 
 newspapers, to make their lives more bearable. In 
 order to facilitate the distribution of material to front 
 aviation and balloon centers the camp service section 
 opened a branch depot in the advanced eastern zone. 
 
 When the Americans entered Germany as a part of 
 the Army of Occupation the Red Cross, of course, ac- 
 companied them. By the end of December there were 
 40 workers in occupied territory and 40 carloads of 
 foodstuffs, medical supplies, underwear, socks and 
 sweaters had been shipped for the men guarding the 
 
COMMISSION TO FRANCE 39 
 
 Rhine. Canteens and clubs were promptly opened 
 in Treves and Coblenz. Another activity in this con- 
 nection, though it was more in the nature of hospital- 
 ization than canteening; was the sending of six mobile 
 medical units from Paris to Germany with food and 
 medical supplies, first for American prisoners and then 
 for the soldiers of the Army of Occupation. 
 
 Outpost Service 
 
 There is nothing in the record of Red Cross effort 
 in France so romantic as the story of its outpost serv- 
 ice. Unfortunately its story cannot be told in a report. 
 An outpost was anything from a tent (as at Varenne 
 in the Argonne) to a dugout (as at Ansonville) or 
 a former German moving picture house (as in the 
 Nonsard woods near St. Mihiel). Before a drive these 
 outposts were usually located at advanced points 
 where large numbers of men were passing to and fro 
 from the trenches or artillery positions, or they might 
 be at a divisional headquarters. When an advance 
 was made the outpost moved forward. Its equipment 
 was a stove or rolling kitchen, thermos containers for 
 hot chocolate, tobacco, perhaps some hard chocolates 
 and crackers, toothbrushes, shoe strings, writing 
 paper. The whole stock in trade could easily be loaded 
 on a small truck. During the day, unless a battle 
 was going on and hot chocolate was needed at dress- 
 ing stations, the outpost was comparatively quiet. At 
 night and all night it was a busy place. Long lines 
 of spent men, usually soaked with rain, tiled through 
 to have their cups rilled with steaming chocolate and 
 
40 REPORT OF THE RED CROSS 
 
 to smoke a cigarette under the cover of the outpost 
 roof (if it had one) for no smoking was permitted 
 in exposed places. The outpost at Roulecourt was in 
 plain sight of Mont Sac. The outposts at St. Benoit 
 and Bouillonville were always under shell fire, and in 
 the Argonne they were in the midst of the battle. 
 They gave "first aid" to scores of thousands of men 
 who had not eaten for many hours, or perhaps dry 
 underwear and socks to men who had been wet for 
 days. Another outpost quickly established in Sedan 
 supplied the inhabitants with the first food they had 
 for several days after the Germans were driven out. 
 Other outpost men in the British front carried food to 
 the civilians caught in the battle lines in October and 
 shelled by both armies. The outpost man had to think 
 for himself and get supplies as best he could. Depots 
 were far away and as likely as not he had no trans- 
 portation of his own. If he had made a sudden move 
 headquarters probably did not know where he was 
 until he jumped from the Army truck on which he had 
 begged a lift to the rear, to get supplies. There were 
 old and young men in the service; it broke the health 
 of many, but there were always plenty of volunteers 
 for it, and the record contains no case where any man 
 flinched from duty which was as dangerous and ardu- 
 ous as any excepting only a dash over the top or the 
 taking of a machineTgun nest. 
 
 Army Field Service 
 
 With all of the Divisions of the American Expe- 
 ditionary Forces in the battle area the Red Cross had 
 
COMMISSION TO FRANCE 41 
 
 a "Division Representative" whose duty it was to keep 
 closely in touch with medical officers in order promptly 
 to supply all requisitions for hospital needs, to handle 
 comforts and newspapers for the men and in general 
 to be the liaison officer between the Red Cross and each 
 divisional organization and to command all other Red 
 Cross personnel attached thereto. The equipment and 
 staff of a division representative varied greatly. At 
 its best the equipment included a large camion, a ca- 
 mionette, a Ford touring car and two rolling kitchens. 
 As helpers, the representative might have from one 
 to five Red Cross men and details of soldiers. The 
 duties of division representatives were clearly de- 
 fined, but in practice they "made themselves useful" 
 to the Army in whatever way circumstances demanded. 
 This might be in the supplying of ambulances for an 
 unforeseen emergency, ether, hot chocolate, "flu" 
 masks, food, blankets or what not. In the Argonne 
 fighting the division representatives had the advantage 
 of a large "dump" established at Varennes, where 
 Bessoneau tents sheltered some 150 tons of supplies 
 that could be quickly drawn upon. At this time and 
 place the division men had no headquarters ; they lived 
 in their Fords and camions, making frequent trips to. 
 the "dump" to replenish their stores of newspapers, 
 tobacco, food, underclothes and other material. 
 
 In the St. Mihiel drive the division men, often tak- 
 ing the outpost men with them, moved forward with 
 the rapidly advancing doughboys. In some cases field 
 hospitals were on the move the first day of the attack ; 
 Red Cross supplies were hastily loaded on trucks, with 
 
42 REPORT OF THE RED CROSS 
 
 kitchen trailers coupled up, and were steaming along 
 the roads of the advance. From there came to the 
 Red Cross warehouses in the advance zone rush orders 
 for supplies to the forward points. Sometimes they 
 were accompanied by brief pencilled reports mention- 
 ing such incidents as the serving of a hundred gallons 
 of hot chocolate between daylight and nine o'clock 
 at a certain point. At another place 120 gallons of 
 hot chocolate and six big sacks of bread were served 
 to the men who had reached their objectives hours 
 ahead of the schedule and were feeling hungry after 
 ten hours of victorious fighting. 
 
 This in outline is what was done by the division 
 men, and forms the report of the Bureau of Army 
 Field Service. Of tributes to these men from Army 
 officers there is no lack. One, from which the name 
 is deleted simply because it is impossible to print the 
 commendations that have come to many, reads as 
 follows — it is signed by the division adjutant of the 
 42d Division : 
 
 "I cannot say too much of the work that Captain 
 
 has done while attached to this Division. 
 
 Under the most difficult circumstances he has carried 
 supplies and newspapers to the men in the front line 
 trenches, working day and night, traveling heavily 
 shelled roads and exposing himself to constant danger 
 to bring articles of comfort to the men up forward. 
 I have seen his work both from the front when I 
 was attached to the brigade, and from the viewpoint 
 at Division Headquarters. Through his work alone 
 he has made the efficiency of the American Red Cross 
 
COMMISSION TO FRANCE 43 
 
 felt more than that of any other society attached to 
 this Division administering to the comfort of the 
 soldiers." 
 
 Next to cigarettes, the doughboy demanded news- 
 papers. To meet this demand the Recreation and 
 Welfare Bureau of the Army and Navy Departments 
 arranged a system of distribution which made it pos- 
 sible to deliver in November 2,500,000 daily news- 
 papers, 450,000 magazines and 270,000 weekly papers. 
 These magazines and newspapers were delivered to 
 more than 400 different points in France and reached 
 virtually every branch of the Army, including all of 
 the hospitals. 
 
 Games and other recreational material and a film 
 service for hospitals w r ere also supplied by this Bureau. 
 
 Major J. B. Fosburgh was Director of the Army 
 and Navy Department, assisted by Major Frederick 
 Osborn and Major Hugh Scott. 
 
 Home and Hospital Service 
 
 Without duplicating information as to organization 
 details contained in previous reports, it seems desirable 
 to cover here, at least, the development of such serv- 
 ices as became more and more important in the last six 
 months of 1918. In this category falls the hospital 
 hut work. 
 
 (a) Hospital Huts 
 
 The first American Red Cross hospital hut opened 
 July 1, 1918, in American Red Cross Hospital No. 5 
 at Auteuil and before the end of that month six others 
 
44 REPORT OF THE RED CROSS 
 
 were in operation at Bazeilles Hospital Center, Cha- 
 teaureux Base Hospital No. 9, Chatelguyon Base 
 Hospital No. 20, Peugues-les Eaux Base Hospital No. 
 44, Royat Base Hospital No. 30 and Vichy Hospital 
 Center. 
 
 In August seven more huts were opened and with 
 the increasing roll of wounded the need grew. By 
 the end of the year 94 huts were in operation with a 
 personnel assigned of 304 workers. These huts were 
 usually built by the Army but furnished and decor- 
 ated by the Red Cross. 
 
 Different huts were characterized by individual fea- 
 tures, as, for instance, at Vichy, the largest hut in 
 France, with an average daily attendance of 5,500 
 men, a theater was established under the direction of 
 a professional dramatic coach. Four shows were 
 given daily with an average attendance of 750 men 
 at each performance. 
 
 In this hut also was a pressing room for the men's 
 uniforms and a sewing and refitting room for their 
 convenience. 
 
 At Savenay, Base Hospital No. 8 had a registration 
 book where the men signed up and from which State 
 clubs were formed. 
 
 Also at this hospital an Army rolling kitchen was 
 operated to meet incoming hospital trains and supply 
 hot chocolate to the wounded on their arrival. 
 
 The Nantes hut had an ice cream room constructed 
 by the boys themselves where quantities of ice cream 
 was made each day for the very sick in the hospitals 
 and distributed by the searchers through the wards. 
 
COMMISSION TO FRANCE 45 
 
 The hut at Base Hospital No. 20 had a diet kitchen 
 where broths, wine jellies, chicken, junket, etc., were 
 prepared for an average of ninety patients a day. 
 
 At the time of the heavy drives when the wounded 
 were pouring in day and night, many of the huts were 
 used as wards and the workers gave up all recreation 
 activities in order to distribute supplies, write letters 
 and in some instances to help the nurses. This emer- 
 gency service continued in some instances for as long 
 as six weeks. 
 
 (b) Home Communication 
 
 The Home Communication Section of the Home 
 and Hospital Bureau was formed that there might be 
 a central source to which families and friends of the 
 men in the United States Army and Navy could apply 
 for news of them. 
 
 No aid offered by the Red Cross in the United 
 States was more eagerly sought, especially as the casu- 
 alty lists grew longer, nor has any branch of the work 
 received greater appreciation and gratitude. The in- 
 quiries might apply to the well man, the sick man, 
 the dead, the missing or the prisoners — any man re- 
 garding whose whereabouts or condition there was a 
 doubt. The work was carried on through the searchers 
 placed by War Department authority in each sta- 
 tistical section of the Adjutant General's Department 
 throughout the American Expeditionary Forces and 
 by the women searchers in the hospitals. Their reports 
 were forwarded to the Paris office, from there to the 
 
46 REPORT OF THE RED CROSS 
 
 National Red Cross Headquarters in Washington and 
 thence to those seeking the information. 
 
 Some idea of the scope of the task may be gained 
 from the fact that during the six months from July to 
 December, 1918, 3,000 obituary letters were written, 
 giving not the bare facts of the death, but telling as 
 well all possible details of the soldier's last hours, the 
 circumstances of his death and anything that might 
 be gleaned from official reports or comrades. 
 
 During the same period 27,000 reports were sent 
 to families of wounded men too ill or disabled to 
 write for themselves ; 22,000 inquiries were answered 
 and 10,500 reports on prisoners and missing men were 
 made. 
 
 These letters were written in each instance with 
 especial care that the information they contained might 
 bring as much joy or carry as tenderly as possible the 
 word of bereavement. 
 
 The women searchers, of whom there were at the 
 end of December 170 in France, did Home Service 
 work in addition to their searching. Welfare work 
 took much time also, and under this heading came the 
 investigation of the minor personal needs of the men 
 and the distribution of socks, sweaters, Red Cross 
 comfort bags, tobacco, chocolate and also shopping 
 for those unable to do it for themselves. 
 
 After the signing of the armistice the workers in 
 this department did notable service among the return- 
 ing American prisoners, going even beyond the Ger- 
 man frontier to meet the men, providing them with 
 food and clothing, sending immediate messages telling 
 
COMMISSION TO FRANCE 
 
 47 
 
 of their safety to their families or friends in the United 
 States, and caring for those wounded who were still 
 in some of the German prison hospitals under the most 
 deplorable conditions. 
 
 (c) At the Hospital Centers 
 
 The foregoing is written from the viewpoint of 
 Paris headquarters. In the field, that is, at the hos- 
 pital centers, great and small, the actual contact of the 
 Red Cross workers with the soldiers was established. 
 The following summary gives an outline of the work- 
 ings of Red Cross Home and Hospital Service at the 
 hospitals: 
 
 1. Personnel: At a hospital center of 15,000 beds 
 there are usually about seven base hospital units. At 
 such a center the Red Cross will have approximately 
 the following personnel : 
 
 1. A hospital representative. 
 
 2. Two or three assistants. 
 
 3. Eight women searchers. 
 
 4. About thirty recreation hut workers. 
 
 5. Two or three stenographers. 
 
 In addition to this personnel there are usually a 
 number of corps men or convalescent patients assigned 
 to the various departments. 
 
 2. Duties of the Personnel: The Hospital Repre- 
 sentative is the representative of the Red Cross at that 
 hospital center, and the connecting link between the 
 Army authorities and the other Red Cross personnel 
 and Red Cross activities. His assistants aid him in 
 
48 REPORT OF THE RED CROSS 
 
 carrying out the Red Cross service for the patients, 
 nurses, enlisted personnel and officers at the hospital 
 center. 
 
 The searchers attend to the Home Communication 
 and Home Service work of the Red Cross. 
 
 The Home Communication work consists of search- 
 ing at the hospital center for men inquired about on 
 the Red Cross inquiry list or on the Red Cross miss- 
 ing list, and when information is secured sending it 
 home to their families, via American- Red Cross Head- 
 quarters, Paris. 
 
 They also write mortality letters to the families of 
 the men when they die. This work takes them into 
 the wards and there they help other men in writing 
 their letters and in doing little errands for them. 
 
 They also do Home Service work, reporting on 
 any troubles or worries the men may have regarding 
 family conditions at home. This is done through the 
 Red Cross Home Service Department and the organ- 
 ization in America which looks into the difficulty, helps 
 the family in the way that is needed, and reports on the 
 conditions discovered and on the relief given to the 
 soldier as soon as possible. 
 
 The Hut Workers have charge of the Recreation 
 Huts, in which there are stages for movie shows and 
 plays; also the "dry canteen" at which quartermaster 
 supplies are sold at, cost, and the "wet canteen" at 
 which from time to time hot chocolate, ice cream, cake 
 and other delicacies are made and given away. 
 
 3. The Character of Service : In order to carry 
 on the Red Cross activities at a hospital center, a 
 
COMMISSION TO FRANCE 
 
 49 
 
 large number of daily papers and magazines are sent 
 out and distributed through the wards and in the huts. 
 Playing cards, games of various kinds and letter 
 paper are also supplied. In addition to keeping the 
 men supplied with these things in the wards and in 
 the huts there is free distribution of tobacco, fruit, 
 candy and other delicacies from time to time. 
 
 The women try to decorate the huts and 
 have them as cheerful and attractive as possible, and 
 the men are encouraged to congregate there whenever 
 they are allowed out of the wards, to get together in 
 groups for singing, and other entertainments, and, if 
 possible, to get up their own plays. 
 
 In the huts are also libraries in charge of the hut 
 workers in which the men can read and write, or they 
 may take the books to the wards. The books are also 
 taken to the bed-ridden patients. 
 
 We have found that these huts are a very popular 
 feature of hospital life, the moving picture shows, 
 plays, concerts, etc., being invariably crowded, and 
 any dances given are always largely attended. 
 
 In addition to the large recreation huts, we either 
 construct or furnish rooms for the use of the nurses 
 and officers. These rooms generally contain a piano 
 and phonograph, desks and comfortable chairs. 
 Where possible, we always try to have an open fire- 
 place in the huts and in these rooms. 
 
 It is impossible in a short resume such as this to 
 give a full idea of all that is done by the men and 
 women of the Red Cross at these hospital centers. 
 The underlying idea is that they should take the place 
 
50 REPORT OF THE RED CROSS 
 
 of a man's family, and do for him in the hospital 
 what his family would do for him if he were ill in 
 a hospital at home. We try to do this, and in reality, 
 so far as amusements and equipment are concerned, 
 do much more. 
 
 In addition to the indoor games provided in the 
 huts and wards, baseball, football, basket-ball equip- 
 ment, tennis, quoits, etc., are provided for outdoor 
 amusement of the convalescent patients and corps, men. 
 At some of the hospitals the Red Cross has hired the 
 ground and laid out golf links which are enjoyed by 
 the officers, men and nurses. 
 
 4. Farms and Gardens : At some large hospital 
 points farms and gardens have been provided which 
 not only supply vegetables, eggs, pigs, chickens, etc., 
 to the hospital center, but provide good, healthy out- 
 door work for convalescing patients. 
 
 5. Baths and Laundries : In many cases where 
 laundry conditions and bathing facilities were difficult 
 to arrange, the Red Cross has provided laundry ma- 
 chinery and shower baths. 
 
 The above may be considered to cover the principal 
 activities of the Red Cross at a 15,000 bed hospital 
 center. It is impossible to tell it all, so much is done 
 by both the men and women personnel in their per- 
 sonal contact with the men that cannot be described 
 and yet brings great 'relief and comfort to them. 
 
 The Red Cross personnel has striven at all times to 
 keep a cheerful atmosphere and to maintain the morale 
 of the patients and others at the hospital centers. This 
 is just as important now since the fighting has stopped 
 
COMMISSION TO FRANCE 
 
 51 
 
 as it was before when men were being treated with 
 the idea of sending them back to the front to fight. 
 
 Department of French Hospitals 
 
 The Department of French Hospitals was the suc- 
 cessor of the French Hospital Supply Service founded 
 early in the war by Mrs. Robert Woods Bliss and 
 taken over by the Red Cross when it arrived in France 
 in 1917. 
 
 It gave to French hospitals a great variety of sup- 
 plies, not only dressings and drugs, but rubber sheet- 
 ing, splints, crutches, baths, clothes, dishes, under- 
 clothes, cigarettes, wheel chairs, instruments— nearly 
 everything, in fact, needed by a hospital. 
 
 This department supplied at one time or another 
 4,000 hospitals. In a typical month (September) its 
 shipments to 1,658 sanitary formations totaled 157,770 
 pounds in weight, the number of articles distributed, 
 exclusive of drugs, being 221,375. 
 
 Major Russell Greeley was Director of the De- 
 partment. 
 
 Department of General Relief 
 
 In the reorganization of the Red Cross in France 
 all medical activities were taken out of the Civil 
 Affairs Department, including the work of the Chil- 
 dren's Bureau. This left the work for refugees, 
 the Bureau of War Orphans and the Bureau of Agri- 
 culture. While some very useful work was done by 
 the latter organization it was not in full swing before 
 
52 R E P R T OF THE RED CROSS 
 
 the armistice came to end its activities. The same 
 thing may be said of the Bureau of Soldiers' Families. 
 On the other hand, the Bureau of War Orphans 
 expanded greatly. Under its supervision more than 
 3,400 French orphans and needy children "adopted" 
 by units and members of the American Expeditionary 
 Forces were cared for. In the first instance, the child 
 was recommended for adoption by the Red Cross, 
 reports were made to the foster parents and care was 
 taken to see that the child received the full benefit 
 of the sums devoted to its use by American soldiers. 
 There has been no one thing that has more clearly 
 shown the desire of these soldiers to aid the country 
 in which they were fighting than their eagerness to con- 
 tribute to the support of French children. The money 
 paid for each child (500 francs) was followed by con- 
 tinued interest in the "mascot's" welfare — an interest 
 the effects of which will long outlive the war. 
 
 Bureau of Refugees 
 
 With the first German invasion of northern France 
 came the recognition by the American Red Cross of 
 the need of caring for the unhappy people forced to 
 flee from their devastated homes. This relief work 
 went on under various designations as a section of the 
 Department of Civil Affairs, but with the reorganiza- 
 tion of the Red Cross in August, 1918, it was finally 
 christened the Bureau of Refugees. 
 
 When, during the summer, the tide of German ad- 
 vance became retreat, the emergency work among the 
 refugees and the repatriated lessened, but the condi- 
 
COMMISSION TO FRANCE 
 
 53 
 
 tions became again acute as the people began to return 
 to their former homes in the North. 
 
 New problems arose constantly during those 
 months and new demands were made. The housing 
 question, at all times during the war a perplexing one, 
 became freshly so in the reoccupied regions. Cloth- 
 ing was supplied in quantities, food was always an 
 emergency requirement, as well as a constant need. 
 
 Some idea of the scope of the aid given may be 
 gained from records showing that in one department 
 alone among the articles distributed were 2,699 sheets, 
 600 blankets, 807 kitchen utensils, 1,223 pieces of fur- 
 niture, garden tools, sewing machines, a tailor's out- 
 fit, a bicycle, and so on. 
 
 As a more stable military situation made it possible, 
 regular headquarters were established by the Bureau 
 for the distribution of materials. As examples of the 
 work done during these months 50 mowing machines 
 and 1,200 scythes were sent to the Department of the 
 Aisne to be used in the harvest; traveling grocery 
 stores were sent out to sell food to the recently re- 
 turned inhabitants of the Oise where shops were not 
 yet reopened and gardens had been destroyed; blan- 
 kets were supplied at Amiens as well as other ma- 
 terials for temporary shelter; canteens were set up 
 in a half a dozen places to feed not only the stream 
 of refugees returning to their old homes but the 
 counter current of those from the newly-liberated 
 regions, such as Cambrai. 
 
 In the Marne distribution of clothing, tools and 
 household articles in great quantities was made. 
 
54 REPORT OF THE RED CROSS 
 
 In Paris the work was divided into four general 
 districts, Bureaus Nos. 1, 2, 3 and the banlieus. From 
 these food, furniture, clothing and other necessities 
 were distributed, and an employment agency and sev- 
 eral dispensaries were conducted, either entirely by the 
 American Red Cross or in cooperation with other 
 organizations. 
 
 At the Monastery of St. Sulpice, Paris, many tran- 
 sient refugees were accommodated until it passed 
 again into the hands of the French authorities in No- 
 vember. During the month of September 6,190 per- 
 sons were sheltered there, of whom 5,350 continued 
 northward; in October 9,100 transients were housed 
 and fed there. 
 
 It is estimated that the grand total of persons cared 
 for by the Bureau of Refugees in France from Sep- 
 tember to January amounted to a little less than 
 600,000. 
 
 It became apparent after the signing of the armis- 
 tice that the gradual demobilization of the French 
 Army and the approach of peace had released so many 
 resources of the French people that outside aid was 
 no longer a vital necessity and the Bureau was dis- 
 continued at the end of December, 1918. 
 
 In the Devastated Regions 
 
 But its work did not stop. It only took on another 
 form. Warehouses were established in the devastated 
 regions at Lille, Amiens, Laon, Chalons, Mezieres 
 and Verdun, from which through recognized French 
 societies — and direct to individuals in many cases — 
 
COMMISSION TO FRANCE 55 
 
 were distributed clothing, blankets, bedding, beds, 
 food, tools and other supplies most needed by the peo- 
 ple returning to their wrecked homes. Nor were the 
 refugees still remaining in the central and southern 
 departments abandoned, so far as the Red Cross was 
 concerned. When our delegates were withdrawn from 
 these departments all the supplies on hand and the in- 
 stallments remaining due on furniture and other pur- 
 chases were turned over to local French societies for 
 the benefit of those who could not yet return to their 
 former homes. 
 
 In acknowledging the announcement from Colonel 
 Gibson of the plan for continuing Red Cross aid to the 
 people of the devastated and liberated regions the offi- 
 cial in charge of the Bureau of Franco- American Re- 
 lations of the French Government said : 
 
 "Permit me to express to you our gratitude for 
 the generous assistance that you propose to give to the 
 people who have suffered so much from the war. You 
 will thus add to the great work of the American Red 
 Cross a new page. No initiative will be more appre- 
 ciated by our population, and I wish above all to ex- 
 press to you here my deep gratitude." 
 
 Upon the assignment of Major Homer Folks, Di- 
 rector of the Department of General Relief, to make a 
 European survey of after-war conditions and needs, 
 Lt. Col. E. P. Bicknell, until then Commissioner for 
 Belgium, was appointed Director and under him was 
 carried out the planning and execution of the efforts 
 of the Red Cross in the devastated regions. 
 
56 REPORT OF THE RED CROSS 
 
 Department of Public Information 
 
 To this department was assigned the duty of record- 
 ing and interpreting the work of the Red Cross in 
 France for the information of those for whom and 
 with whom it was working and for those who had con- 
 tributed to its support. 
 
 The most important section of the Department was 
 engaged in the preparation of news, stories and articles 
 of which an average of 150 per month were sent to 
 the United States by mail; cable stories and reports 
 numbered about 25 per month. 
 
 Another section prepared and distributed articles 
 to the French newspapers and magazines. All reports 
 and pamphlets passed through this Department, which 
 also prepared posters. It issued a weekly Bulletin 
 in English which had a circulation of 6,000 copies 
 and was the official organ of the Red Cross Commis- 
 sion, and a French monthly publication which was cir- 
 culated among newspapers, officials and other inter- 
 ested persons. All direction and other signs for the 
 hundreds of Red Cross activities in France were also 
 prepared by the Department. These have totaled as 
 many as 4,000 painted signs per month. 
 
 The Bureau of Photography made about 1,200 feet 
 of motion picture film and 7,000 still prints per month, 
 all of them intended to satisfy the demand for infor- 
 mation as to what the Red Cross was doing. 
 
 This also was the fundamental purpose of the news 
 
COMMISSION TO FRANCE 57 
 
 and descriptive articles prepared and the information 
 supplied to writers outside of the organization. 
 
 The Director of the Department was Major Daniel 
 T. Pierce. 
 
 Preparing For the End 
 
 In December Colonel Gibson addressed himself to 
 the problem of bringing the work of the Red Cross to 
 a fitting close. Many civilian activities could be 
 handed over to French organizations for continuation ; 
 others could be ended without injury to those who no 
 longer needed aid; hospitalization quickly decreased, 
 work for the soldiers lessened in general but became 
 intensified at the ports and in Paris. 
 
 To leave a Red Cross organization in France after 
 the Commission had done its work, a Paris District 
 Chapter was formed in November to carry on those 
 works which it was wise to continue. 
 
 On November 14 the City of Paris, in the mag- 
 nificent state apartments of the Hotel de Ville, ten- 
 dered an official reception to Henry P. Davison, Chair- 
 man of the War Council, and to the organization as 
 a whole. Speeches were made by many distinguished 
 Frenchmen. The Vice-President of the Municipal 
 Council, Mr. Chassaigne-Goyon, said : 
 
 "Thanks to your power of work and your gift of 
 organization, thanks to the devotion which moves all 
 your supporters and the great outburst of love which 
 has permeated the whole of America, you have accom- 
 plished wonders. Nothing is sweeter at this time than 
 
58 R E P R T OF THE RED CROSS 
 
 to express in the joy of triumph the support that you 
 have offered us." 
 
 In responding to this and other tributes Mr. Davison 
 used these words, which may well conclude the report 
 of the Red Cross for the last and strenuous six months 
 of 1918: 
 
 "Throughout, whatever the Red Cross has been able 
 to accomplish has been due to the cooperation of 
 France. I like to believe that in this cooperation in 
 a common undertaking there has been forged one 
 more link of understanding and sympathy between the 
 two great nations. They have held council and fought 
 and suffered together. Side by side they have waged 
 the war for freedom during the lapse of a century and 
 a half. Now with their combined Armies and the 
 Armies of their glorious Allies they have won the 
 greatest victory over the strongest foe in the history 
 of all war. Side by side they fight the battle of 
 peace, for the upbuilding of a new and better world 
 on the ruins of the old world, for the extension to all 
 the nations of the earth of the principle of their own 
 treasured liberty, for self government and the rights 
 of man in all lands and all times." 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 020 933 851 8 #