The following appeal has been issued by the Rt. Hon. Arthur J. Balfour in the name of the Council of the League of Nations, of which he is Chairman, and sent to the various Governments. YOUR EXCELLENCY, 4, CARLTON GARDENS, LONDON, S.W.1. 21st August 1920. The Council of the League of Nations made an appeal last May to all Members of the family of Nations for funds to enable them to deal with the growing menace of typhus in Poland and Eastern Europe. As yet the appeal has met with but scant success; but so convinced is the Council of the greatness and urgency of the peril, that they have requested me in their name to repeat it with all earnestness and emphasis. The facts may be briefly stated. They have been obtained from the leading Public Health Authorities in Europe and America, especially convened to consider the purpose; from the Office International d'Hygiène Publique: from a special Commission of the League of Red Cross Societies; from the Medical Commissioner of the League of Nations, who has just returned from Poland and Russia; and from other sources. All these witnesses draw the same picture; all draw it in the darkest colours. In Russia the disease seems to be epidemic. An eminent doctor, who has just returned from that country, says that it has been The last number of the Bulletin of the League of Red Cross Societies (vol. 1, n. 12, page 1) published particulars regarding the appeal addressed by the League of Red Cross Societies to all member Societies, asking for their co-operation in the relief work here referred to. swept from end to end by typhus; that scarcely a town or village has escaped; and that half the doctors engaged in combating the plague have died. His statement, terrible though it be, is confirmed by other witnesses. From this vast centre of infection the disease is carried westward by an unceasing stream of immigrants. Prisoners returning to their homes, refugees flying for safety, crowd the railways. Two millions of these unfortunate persons have passed the Polish Disinfection Stations since the Armistice, and doubtless many more have entered Poland without being subject to medical examination. They are pouring into a country in parts already overcrowded, where every circumstance - material and moral combines to favour the spread of infection. So much for the present facts. What forecast can be made about the future? Every competent authority is at one in thinking that the evil is on the increase. Typhus is a disease which normally shows itself more in winter than in summer. If, therefore, conditions were constant, the number of cases at this time of year should be very small. As a matter of fact, they are not; and it is safe to conclude that, unless effective steps are immediately taken, the plague will be far more deadly in the winter of 1920-21 than it was in the winter of 1919-20. Such is the peril which we have to face; and its gravity cannot be easily over-rated. Yet so much in the way of preparation has been already done that, if only funds can be supplied, we may confidently hope to face it successfully. The plan of operations is complete; organisation is ready; it is known how and where medical necessities and necessary clothing can be found; the methods of using them are well understood, are perfectly successful, and can easily be practised. Nor is the cost prohibitive in its character. The task is indeed beyond the means of the Red Cross Societies of Europe and America and other charitable institutions. These are ready to help, and are throwing themselves into the work with the utmost zeal; but they have convinced us that their labours will be relatively ineffective if they are not supported by the authority of the League of Nations and by additional pecuniary resources, which only Governments can supply. The minimum required, beyond what can be obtained from private benevolence, is £2,000,000, and of this it is urgently necessary that £250,000 should be immediately forthcoming. The months are slipping by. Aid that would be effective in June may be useless in November; and here, if ever, the proverb is true that "he gives twice who gives without delav ". But, granting the truth of these arguments, on what ground, it may be asked, should all the world be called on to alleviate a misfortune which, however great, is nevertheless confined to Eastern Europe? The answer is threefold. In the first place, all the world has, directly or indirectly, some interest often a very great interest - in restoring the war-worn and plague-stricken areas of Poland and Galicia to a normal condition of well-being. It is safe to say that this object can never be accomplished while the population is under the menace of this terrible disease. In the second place, if the plague be allowed to spread unchecked from Russia into Poland, it will assuredly spread from Poland to her Western and Southern neighbours. In Central Europe every circumstance moral and material favours the disease. A population weakened by war and famine is living in conditions which, even were it vigorous and well-fed, would make resistance to infection difficult or impossible. As infection spreads it becomes harder to deal with, and no European country, not perhaps even an island like Great Britain, can count itself wholly safe if Poland be allowed to succumb. In the third place, there is the claim of humanity. Poland has not brought this misfortune on herself; she is the victim of círcumstances for which she is not responsible. She has done, as our authorities inform us, all within her power to help herself. In helping herself she has greatly helped others; and she deserves not merely their sympathy, but their aid. It should, moreover, be noted that the evil wrought by typhus cannot be measured merely by statistics of mortality. The disease is one which attacks with peculiar severity men in the prime of life. It is thus the breadwinner of the family who is stricken down by death or long-drawn illness, and whole families become a charge on the community through the misfortune of a single member. Even those nations, therefore, who suppose themselves to have no direct interest in the prosperity of Poland and to be in no measurable danger from the spread of the epidemic, may yet, on reflection, feel moved to lighten the load of undeserved misfortune which presses so heavily on those unhappy regions. Moved by these reasons, the Council of the League of Nations has requested me urgently to repeat their former appeal. It is in their name, therefore, and by their authority, that I venture earnestly to press upon your Government the importance of joining in a movement which, at a cost comparatively small, may confer such signal benefits on mankind. I have the honour to be, Your Excellency's obedient Servant, LEAGUE OF RED CROSS SOCIETIES AND CAMPAIGN AGAINST TYPHUS IN POLAND. TH HE anti-typhus activities of the League of Red Cross Societies in Poland, which have been temporarily suspended owing to the outbreak of hostilities, date from the despatch on 8th August 1919 of a Medical Commission of enquiry consisting of American, French, British and Italian experts whose report after an investigation extending over three weeks produced a worldwide interest in the distressing conditions prevalent in Poland. So impressed was the French delegate with these conditions that he obtained from his Government the immediate despatch to Poland of a trainload of medical supplies. The League devoted considerable publicity to making known in all quarters of the globe the necessity of concerted action in order to stamp out the disease in Eastern Europe. The League's successful efforts to stimulate and develop the Polish Red Cross Society were also directed largely towards the struggle against typhus. A Commissioner of the League has been resident in Warsaw since February 1920 and his activities have been devoted to the reorganisation of the Polish Red Cross, whose membership has grown between March and July 1920 from 30,000 to 900,000, and to the coordination of anti-typhus work. With this latter object in view a Committee was formed in Warsaw on March 23 consisting of representatives of the following organisations: American Red Cross, American Relief Association, American Typhus Expedition, Joint Distribution Committee, National Polish Alliance and Young Men's Christian Association with the League's Commissioner as Chairman. A valuable concentration of effort ensued. The assistance furnished to the League in its work in Poland by the American Red Cross cannot be over-estimated. That Society, at the request of the League, not only established and equipped a typhus hospital, to which the League appointed experts for antityphus research, but despatched and maintained in Poland 75 doctors and nurses in addition to their regular Red Cross staff and gave a supply of emblems and material to the Polish Red Cross to organise a membership drive. The British Red Cross subscribed £10,000 to which the British Treasury added a like sum and these funds were devoted to the establishment of two hospitals. The British Red Cross also supplied clothing and hospital supplies valued at £4,088. The Australian Red Cross furnished gifts of hospital supplies, clothing and food-stuffs amounting to £88,177. The Spanish Red Cross gave 2095 kilograms of soap. The Netherlands Red Cross sent hospital supplies to the value of £672. The Japanese Red Cross subscribed 4,300 Swiss francs, the Portuguese Red Cross 2,845 Swiss francs and the Belgian Red Cross 22,420 Swiss francs. A gift of 624 Swiss francs was received from St. Blasius Church, Shanklin, Isle of Wight, England. The essential characteristic of the League's anti-typhus work in Poland has been the attempt to assist the Polish people in the development of national hygiene, towards which the peace programme of the Polish Red Cross is directed. EIGHT HUNDRED RUSSIAN CHILDREN LOOKING FOR THEIR PARENTS. IGHT HUNDRED Russian children, transported from Siberia. by the American Red Cross, have just arrived in Europe. These children, who for the most part are natives of Moscow and Petrograd, were sent to various regions of the Ural Mountains in the spring of 1918 by their parents in order to ensure their safety, being accompanied by teachers and trained nurses. In the autumn of that year their situation became tragic. Their road back had been cut off owing to the war, which had created a barrier of fire between the children and parents. The parents' remittances for the children failed to arrive; salaries |