Getting Together | Page 5

how
I, as an average American, sense the situation. However, that is not the
point. Listen!
"You say that America has not helped you very much? Let us consider
the ways in which America could have helped. Military aid? Well, of
course that is out of the question so long as we remain neutral, as we
agreed just now we certainly ought to remain. 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 Médaille 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