One cannot show pity with indignant hands and keep the mind neutral.  The Galilean test holds true, “He who is not for me is against me.”  You cannot leave houses, lands, children, wife—­everything that counts—­for the Kingdom of Heaven’s sake without developing a rudimentary aversion for the devil.  All of which goes to prove that America’s heart was fighting for the Allies long before her ambassador requested his passports from the Kaiser.

The American Red Cross Commission landed in France on the 12th of June, 1917, seven days ahead of the Expeditionary Force.  It had taken less than five days to organise.  Its first act was to convey a monetary gift to the French hospitals.  The first actual American Red Cross contribution was made in April to the Number Five British Base Hospital.  The first American soldiers in France were doctors and nurses.  The first American fighting done in France was done with the weapons of pity.  The chief function of the American Red Cross up to the present has been to “carry on” and to bridge the gap of unavoidable delays while the army is preparing.

To prove that this “war of compassion” is no idle phrase, let me illustrate with one dramatic instance.  When the Italian line broke under the pressure of Hun artillery and propaganda, the American Red Cross sent representatives forward to inaugurate relief work for the 700,000 refugees, who were pouring southward from the Friuti and Veneto, homeless, hungry, possessing nothing but misfortune, spreading despair and panic every step of the journey.  Their bodies must be cared for—­that was evident; it would be easy for them to carry disease throughout Italy.  But the disease of their minds was an even greater danger; if their demoralisation were not checked, it would inevitably prove contagious.

The first two representatives of the American Red Cross arrived in Rome on November 5th, with a quarter of a million dollars at their disposal.  That night they had a soup-kitchen going and fed 400 people.  Their first day’s work is the record of an amazing spurt of energy.  In that first day they sent money for relief to every American Consul in the districts affected.  They mobilised the American colony in Rome and arranged by wire for similar organisations to be formed throughout the length and breadth of Italy, wherever they could lay hands on an American.  On all principal junction points through which the refugees would pass, soup-kitchens were installed and clothes were purchased and ready to be distributed as the trains pulled into the stations.  They were badly needed, for the passengers had endured all the rigours of the retreat with the soldiers.  They had been under shell and machine-gun fire.  They had been bombed by aeroplanes.  No horror of warfare had been spared them.  Their clothes were verminous with weeks of wearing.  They were packed like cattle.  Babies born on the journey were wrapped in newspapers.  There were instances of officers taking off their shirts that the little bodies should not go naked.  A telegram was at once despatched to Paris for food and clothes and hospital supplies.  Twenty-four cars came through within a week, despite the unusual military traffic.  This ends the list of what was accomplished by two men in one day.