and advise. It is the thought of how his absence in these emergencies handicaps his family that undermines his morale.
This, moreover, is something that affects the whole army and navy for there is scarcely a recruit or a veteran in either branch of the service who is without 'folks'. "There is no man who does not have dependents," said an army officer. "It is only a question of how many dependents he has and how dependent they are." Few are the persons we know who are not vitally interested in the welfare and happiness of at least one other individual.
The morale of the forces of the United States will, therefore, be determined largely by the manner in which the folks at home are fortified against the things which may happen to them. If the soldier or the sailor is to do his best he must have the assurance that, come what may, his family will have the counsel and the help that, were he at home, he himself would try to provide. And this assurance the men of the army and navy have. It is an assurance that is the more effective because it is given by the same agency which comes to them with relief and healing when they are sick and wounded, the same agency whose emblem they see at the dressing stations on the battlefield, on the ambulances, and at the base hospitals. It is the assurance that is offered to them by the American Red Cross.
The Red Cross has found a way of doing, for the families of soldiers and sailors when trouble or misfortune comes to them, what the men themselves would like to do were they at home instead of at the front or on the sea.
