Helping France; the Red cross in the devastated area . dered temporarilyhelpless, but only temporarily, by the mis-fortunes of war. Even though the inhabi-tants left in the invaded regions were, for the The Plan: Cooperation 71 most part, women, old people and children,they came of a hardy race inured to toil, ac-customed for hundreds of years to the wastageof contending armies. In nearly every casethey had rescued their savings, those peasantsavings which, as all the world knows, are thelong stocking of the wealth of France. The economic effort of the French Govern-ment was in accord with thi
Helping France; the Red cross in the devastated area . dered temporarilyhelpless, but only temporarily, by the mis-fortunes of war. Even though the inhabi-tants left in the invaded regions were, for the The Plan: Cooperation 71 most part, women, old people and children,they came of a hardy race inured to toil, ac-customed for hundreds of years to the wastageof contending armies. In nearly every casethey had rescued their savings, those peasantsavings which, as all the world knows, are thelong stocking of the wealth of France. The economic effort of the French Govern-ment was in accord with this Red Cross policyof helping the unfortunates to help them-selves. And in the devastated regions thedelegates of the Red Cross had also a valuableprecedent in their favor. The Belgian ReliefCommission, operating in the same territorybehind the German lines, had made it a ruleto sell for a nominal sum rather than to giveoutright. The smallest peasant understoodand approved a plan which saved him fromhumiliation. It was recognized as the Amer-ican Municipal Offices at Urrugne. Reflexions et Croquis sur V Architecture au Pays de France: Georges et Cie., Paris. CHAPTER VII COOPERATION IN PRACTICE COOPERATION is a large word on paper,and looms larger in practice. Applied tothe district manned by the American RedCross delegate, it represented over 2000square miles of territory and approximately150,000 souls. The means at his commandwere (1) a warehouse, yet to be chosen andstocked, (2) a Ford passenger car, and later,a camionette, (3) a warehouse man, and later, 72 Cooperation in Practice 73 together with the camionette, a secretary, anda chauffeur. Noyon, his base of operations,was at the time of his advent, and up tothe time of the armistice, the railhead on themain line from Paris to St. Quentin. Fifteenmiles back, at Compiegne, were the grandheadquarters of the French Army; from fifteento twenty-five miles away in a sweeping semi-circle to the north and to the
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Keywords: ., boo, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectworldwar19141918
