"The most noticeable thing about the present war is the fact that it is a struggle of peoples against peoples, not soldiers against soldiers and armies against armies," said Dr. Albert Parker Fitch '00, in an impressive lecture on "The French Front and the Red Cross" in the New Lecture Hall last night. "It is essentially a fight between the produce and resources of the belligerent nations, and this fact Germany recognized early in the struggle and, accordingly, expended great efforts to under-mine the morale and spirit of her enemies."
The greater part of Dr. Fitch's address was devoted to his personal impressions and experiences as Field Inspector for the War Council of the Red Cross in France last summer. He explained the work which the Red Cross is doing in furnishing medical aid and hospital supplies in at least half of the hospitals in France. "But beside helping the wounded man, it does work of infinite value for the well soldier behind the lines and in the rest camps, and also for the ten million homeless, ill-fed and wandering children, without parents, schools or churches. For these children the Red Cross is doing work of untold importance. It is also taking care of the old people who are being sent into France by the thousands, without property, hungry and almost without clothing.
"The Red Cross causes a great psychological effect on the soldiers going home for rest by furnishing large halls with beds and food and baths for them, and thereby making them feel as though someone cared for them.
"Above the overwhelming horror of the war, to me, is that men can be so cruel, that humanity does not respect itself. But we, in this country, do not realize the gravity of the situation. Those who know the most about the war are the least partisan and speak least harshly about their enemies."
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