GREAT FACTOR

Wairarapa Times-Age, 23 November 1942, Page 2

GREAT FACTOR

FOR FUTURE WORLD PEACE INTERNATIONAL WORK OF RED CROSS. ADDRESS BY AMERICAN DIRECTOR. “I feel that the fraternity of the Red Cross can be a great factor for peace by reason of its international character,” said Mr W. Enders, Director of the American Red Cross, at a garden party held in his honour at St Matthew’s School, Masterton, on Saturday afternoon. Mr Enders gave an interesting account of the activities, both home and abroad, of the American Red Cross. Members of the Masterton Sub-Centre of the Red Cross Society were present as guests of the executive. Mr Enders said that, included in the activities of the American Red Cross were relief of distress due to flood, hurricane, famine and earthquake in all parts of the world. New Zealand had received an immediate offer of assistance following the Napier earthquake. Quite recently in America it was found that more victims were being admitted to hospitals through accidents in the home than through road accidents, which were fairly high. An immediate campaign was therefore started for the prevention of home accidents. This resulted in a reduction of that type of accident by 65 per cent. Another campaign against Pallegria was instrumental in quite eliminating that disease from many States, and now only sporadic outbreaks had to be coped, with. Another interesting branch was home hygiene. In New Zealand, where all of the people are educated and most of them British, this work would not be so necessary, but in America, with its more mixed population of Slovaks, Poles, Russians, etc., many of them illiterate, it was very necessary for the health of the community that these people should have some instruction in home hygiene. This had been carried out with great success, both young and old attending classes, said Mr Enders. Many of the other activities, such as those of V.A.D.’s, transport, hospital, visiting, etc., were run on similar lines to those of the New Zealand Red Cross. On the military side it was found that during the last war there were too many organisations functioning in the fighting areas, so after the war all the heads of the different organisations were invited to meet the President and endeavour to prevent in future the waste of time and energy which had been .the result of so much overlapping. In one hour the committee set up decided that in future all work for the fighting forces in time of war should be done by the Red Cross, and the other organisations should carry on the normal peace time work among the civilian population. Today in America from the day a man enters camp in any of the services till he was rehabilitated, he was in the care of the Red Cross, which functioned alongside the Army, Navy and Air Force.

One appeal a year was made for funds, and it was always oversubscribed. In the United States there were 135 million people, and 85 millions were members of the Red Cross. The subscription was a dollar a year. Mr Enders spoke of the loyal help and cooperation he had received from the New Zealand Red Cross on all occasions. Mr Enders concluded by saying that he felt that the fraternity of the Red Cross could be a great factor for peace in the world on account of its international character and the fact that it did not recognise people as Belgian, French, Japanese, British or Russians, but as human beings to be helped wherever possible. A hearty vote of thanks to the speaker was proposed by Mr Norman Lee, president of the Wairarapa Centre, and was carried by acclamation.