co-operation of those over whose
interests it watches, that is to say, of the States concerned which have
been somewhat slow in supplying the lists we need. Under the aegis of the
International Committee of the Red Cross, with M. Gustave Ador as
president and M. Max Dollfus as director, some 300 voluntary workers,
drawn from all classes of society, are assisting in its charitable work.
More than 15,000 letters a day pass through its hands. It daily
transmits about 7,000 letters between prisoners and their families, and
is responsible for the safe dispatch of some 4,000 francs on an average.
The precise information which it is able to communicate was very meager
at the start, but soon increased, until a thousand cases could be dealt
with in the course of a single day; and this number rapidly increased
with the arrival of more complete lists from the Governments concerned.

This renewal of intercourse between a prisoner and his family is not the
only beneficial result of our organization. Its peaceful work, its
impartial knowledge of the actual facts in the belligerent countries,
contribute to modify the hatred which wild stories have exasperated, and
to reveal what remains of humanity in the most envenomed enemy. It can
also draw the attention of the different Governments, or at least of the
general public, to cases where a speedy understanding would be in the
interest of both parties--as, for instance, in the exchange of men who
are so seriously wounded that they will be quite unable to take further
part in the war, and whom it is useless and inhuman to keep languishing
far from their friends. Finally, it can effectively direct public
generosity, which often hesitates for want of guidance. It can, for
instance, point out to neutral countries, who are so ungrudging in their
anxiety to aid the sufferings of the combatants, where help is most
urgently needed--for the wounded prisoners, convalescents leaving the
hospital without linen or boots, and with no claims on the enemy for
further support.[19]

Instead of showering gifts (which, no doubt, are never superfluous) on
the armies who can and should be supported by the peoples for whom they
are fighting, neutrals might well reserve the greater part of their
generosity for those who are most destitute, those whose need is the
greatest, for they are feeble, broken, and alone.

* * * * *

But there is another class of prisoners on whom I wou