Getting Together | Page 5

Still, there are more than twenty-five thousand American citizens serving in the Allied Armies to-day. Did you realize that?"
"I did not," says the Briton, interested.
"Well, it is true. There are battalions in the Canadian Army composed almost entirely of men from the United States. Others are serving in the French and British Armies. Then there is the American Flying Corps in France."
"Yes, I have heard of them. Who has not? Proceed!"
"Industrial help, again. We are making munitions for you, night and day. It is true that we are being paid for our trouble; but the cost of living has risen almost as much here as in your own country. Also let me tell you that we are making no munitions for Germany, and would not do so, money or no. The same with financial help. Loan after loan has been floated in this country for the Allied benefit. How many loans have been raised for Germany? Not one! That is not because German credit is so bad, but because no true American will consent to lend his money to such a cause. Believe me, the attempt has been made, and strong influence brought to bear, more than once, but the result has been failure every time.
"Red Cross Work, again. There are hundreds of Americans driving ambulances in the Allied lines to-day, and hundreds of American women working in Allied hospitals. There are complete hospital units over there, equipped and maintained by American money and American service. Have you ever heard of the Harvard Unit, for instance?"
"Vaguely. Tell me about it."
"Well, I mention the Harvard Unit because it was about the first; but others are doing nobly too. Let Harvard serve as a sample. At the outbreak of the War, Harvard put down ten thousand dollars to equip and staff the American Ambulance Hospital in Paris. Then, in June, 1915, Harvard took over one of your British Base Hospitals, with thirty-two surgeons and seventy-five nurses. That hospital has been maintained by Harvard folk ever since; they go out and serve for three months at a time. Harvard also sent an expedition to fight typhus in Serbia. Harvard's casualty list, in consequence, has grown pretty long. Not a bad record for one neutral University, eh? I don't seem to remember your Oxford or Cambridge sending out a medical unit to help us, when we were fighting for a moral issue too, away back in the 'sixties under Lincoln."
"I knew nothing of all this. People at home must be told," says the Briton, earnestly.
"Or," continues the American, we can take the work of the American Ambulance Field service. The American Ambulance Field Service with the Armies of France has carried over seven hundred thousand wounded since the beginning of the war; their sections and section leaders have been sixteen times cited for valuable and efficient work; fifty-four of their men have been given the Croix de Guerre for bravery, and two the M��daille Militaire. Three have been killed. The Society has at present over two hundred ambulances at the front, besides staff and other cars attached to different sections. This Service, which, at the beginning of the war, was a subsidiary part of the American Ambulance Hospital at Neuilly has for the past year been self-supporting, and although still co-operative with the Hospital, has its own administration and headquarters, and its own maintenance fund. If you require any further information on the subject, read 'Friends of France,'[1] or 'Ambulance No. 10,'[2] both of which books will stir you not a little.
"Talking of books, if you want to read a genuine American's opinion of the Allies and their cause, read 'Their Spirit,'[3] by Judge Robert Grant. And if you want to know what another prominent American, who formerly admired and reverenced Germany, thinks of Germany now, read Owen Wister's 'Pentecost of Calamity.'[4] Or, if you want a complete exposure of German aims and methods in this war, read James M. Beck's 'The Evidence in the Case'.[5]
"Now a word concerning War Relief Societies in general. (There's more to hear than you thought, isn't there?) I cannot possibly give you details about them all, because their name is legion. For instance, this printed list contains the names of a hundred and ten such societies; and there are others. As you see, it covers Armenian, Belgian, British, French, Italian, Lithuanian, Persian, Polish, and Russian Relief enterprises of every kind. German Relief Societies? Yes, throughout the United States there are eleven German and Austrian Societies altogether; but they are all under purely Teutonic management, as a glance at the names of their supporters will show. America, as such, stands aloof from them.
"Let us have a look at the purely British Relief Societies, which naturally will interest you most. There is The American Women's War Hospital at Paignton, Devonshire,