The New First = Aid Car
HE American Red
Cross, that great hu
manitarian organiza
tion for relieving suf
fering and distress in
time of peace as well
as in time of war, is
constantly broaden-
Ing the scope of its activities. Its
latest, and certainly one of its most
Important services on behalf of man
kind Is the placing in commission of
a second hospital and school on
wheels known as a first aid to the
Injured car. The object of this in
genious portable Red Cross head
quarters is to interest and instruct in
first aid work the railroad men and
■other toilers of the country. _ By
means of this car the Red Cross will
be enabled to carry on a much-needed
form of “missionary work” and can
get in close touch, as it could by no
other method, with the workingmen
of the land who are in a position to
render the most valuable service as
volunteer Red Cross workers.
The first aid car which has lately
gone into commission is the second
of these cars to be sent a wandering
up and down the steel-tracked high
ways of the United States, but the
first one, which was introduced less
than a year ago, went forth with so
modest a heralding that the general
public heard little of it or its work.
No sooner, however, had Car No. 1
entered upon the work of giving in
struction in first aid to employes of
various railroad systems than it be
came evident that a single car would
be insufficient to meet the demands
for this new service. Accordingly a
second car was arranged so old
parlor car being purchased by the
Red Cross and rebuilt for this speci
fic purpose. Henceforth the Red
Cross officials will be enabled to real
ize their dream to keep one of the
cars constantly in service on the
railroads west of the Mississippi and
(the other on the railway syst*ms east
of the Mississippi.
The Red Cross first aid instruction
cars are rather small cars judged by
present day standards, but this was
designedly so and is an advantage
rather than a detriment. Indeed, with
a length of less than sixty feet such
a car may be used not only on the
mountain divisions of railways, with
their sharp curves, but also on some
trolley Unes. Indeed, the car can be
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'SZAKING UJE OF A FIRJT-AID CALNTIEF OF REMEDIES
taken almost anywhere where there are rails
over which it may run. Incidentally it may be
mentioned that the railroads of the country are
manifesting their appreciation of the valuable
and distlnterested work which the Red Cross is
doing in this sphere by hauling the first aid cars
free of charge over their respective lines.
The first aid car is divided into two parts of
almost equal size. One-half of the space of the
car is given over to an assembly and demonstra
tion rdbm— for, as has been explained, the car
Is a hospital school on wheels —and the other
half is taken up by the living quarters for the
Instructors and crew. These men live on the car
at all times, just as doctors and nurses might
reside at a hospital with which they were con
nected. It is in the assembly and demonstra
tion room, however, that the chief functions of
the car are carried on. The room is large
enough to accommodate a considerable number
of people, seated on camp stools, so that it is
entirely practicable to use it as a lecture hall in
giving first aid instruction when there is no
larger hall available in a town visited and when
weather conditions do not permit of the first
aid demonstrations being conducted in the open
air.
But the first aid car has another function quite
aside from its primary purpose of a nomadic
school. It may, on occasion, be used as a tem
porary or emergency hospital and it is likely to
prove of great value in this capacity, since it
■can, upon telegraphic request, be rushed to any
camp or town or village where a disaster of any
kind has taken place and where there are, may
hap, no regular hospital facilities of any kind.
The car carries the necessary apparatus for
quickly transforming the lecture room into a
hospital ward and there is a stock of stretchers,
remedies, bandages and all the paraphernalia
n«cessary for use under such circumstances.
This latter equipment is in addition, of course,
to the appointments and instruction outfits,
charts, books, etc., which are designed merely
for use in the regular instruction work on the
car and which later will probably be the equip
ment used nine-tenths of the time, for summons
to lend aid in great disasters will, happily, it is
•hoped, be of rare' occurrence.
Few people appreciate the great need for more
general instruction in first aid work such as the
Red Cross is going to try to give through the
Instrumentality of its new rolling stock. We
have become pretty well aroused in this country
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THE NBW FIRST-AID CAR OF THE
AMERICAN RLE CROSS
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RAILROAD FLAN
No wonder, then, that the Red Cross is directing
its first aid propaganda to the railroad men of
the country and- to the workers m shops, mills,
etc.
Not only is the Red Cross giving widespread
instruction in first aid to the injured (which it
is argued is just as necessary as instruction In
hygiene) but it is conducting, by means of this
new type of car, a campaign for the prevention
of accidents. Statistics seem to indicate that
about one-half of the accidents which result In
injury or death would have been preventable by
the exercise of proper care and reasonable pre
ventive measures and the Red Cross is endeavor
ing to teach workmen how to dodge mishaps and
how to minimize the effect of an accident if it
does appear inevitable.
The Red Cross will not depend entirely upon
the lessons and lectures given on the first aid
cars, although these pave the way for effort in
the direction of volunteer first aid work. Sup
plementing these are series of charts and, more
important yet, simple books of instruction and
surgical materials which can prove serviceable
in unskilled hands. A special first aid book has
been issued for the use of industrial workers and
has been translated into Italian, Slovak, Polish
and Lithuanian. In the near future there will be
issued other editions of this work specially adapt
ed for use by women, by policemen and firemen,
by sailors and by farm hands and ranch workers.
Os course It is not the thought that such in
struction will enable even the most skilled of the
volunteer Red Cross workers to replace the doc
tor except in the case of trivial injuries, but
with the new knowledge these volunteers will
know what to do until the doctor arrives, and
often, by stopping a flow of blood or by other
means, may be enabled to save life when a regu
lar physician is not promptly on the scene.
To cover the full scope of this new work the
Red Cross has found it necessary to go even
farther and to supplement its work of instruc
tion by providing several different forms of first
aid boxes equipped with certain simple remedies
and necessities such as are required in putting
the first aid instruction into practice in shops
and elsewhere. These supplies are sold at prices
which are intended merely to cover the cost of
preparation without providing any profit, and
that they supply a long felt want would seem to
be indicated by the fact that the Red Cross has.
during the past year, sold considerably more than
$5,000 worth of such supplies. And, not content
in recent years over the menace of
the “white plague,” and yet as a
matter of fact, since 1881 the deaths
from tuberculosis in the United
States have decreased 48 per cent,
whereas in the same period the
deaths from accidents have increas
ed more than 47 per cent. Similar
ly the United’ States government
has felt compelled within the past
couple of years to take definite
steps to reduce the number of ac
cidents in our coal mines and yet
the death rate from accidents on
railways is even larger than in
mines. Moreover, under present ar
rangements the needs of the miner
in respect to first aid instruction
seem to be met much better than in
the case of some other industries.
with carrying this first aid crusade
into the shops and mills and
throughout the railroad world, the
Red Cross has lately enlisted the
co-operation of the Boy Scouts of
America, and first aid instruction is
being given to all of the youngsters
in this organization according to
plans and, methods prepared by the
Red Cross.
Such are the demands upon it
that a first aid car cannot remain
for long at any given point The
general plan adopted is to spend
about three days at each point se
lected by the railway officials —that
is, the officers of the railroad^ sys
—
WB
'&AI&AGING HIE HEAD OF A
FELLOW WORKFLAN
tem whose lines are being traversed.
As many first aid demonstrations
and lectures as possible are given
in the time alloted. As a rule it
is not practicable thoroughly to in
struct men in first aid work in so
short a time, but they learn consid
erable of the subject and there is
an arousal of interest which almost
invariably results in the organiza
tion of a first aid corps which is de
veloped by local physicians and
with the aid of the Red Cross in
struction books and emergency out
fits. Still further to stimulate inter
est throughout the country the Red
Cross has set aside a fund of $5,000
the income of which is to be dis
trihpted annually in prizes to tbe
first aid workers who show the
greatest proficiency or who perform
exceptionally dangerous or arduous
first aid work.
The past few years has seen re
markable progress in the proficiency
attained by workmen in caring for
their fellows who have suffered in
juries in the line of their work.
From the rough and ready surgery
in which the workman has always
displayed some skill in treating the
injuries peculiar to his own special
vocation, modern antiseptic methods
have been acquired and now the un
fortunate victim of an accident is
given all the chances in his fight for
life that modern science can devise.
There is no longer idle hands and
anxious moments awaiting the ar
rival of the surgeon, and rough but
skilful hands perform the first aid
treatment which gives relief to the
sufferer, and in many cases means
the saving of his life. All large
manufacturing establishments are now equipped
with first-aid chests supplied with all the necessary
surgical and medical appliances for giving emerg
ency treatment. Regular drills in ambulance work
are conducted so that those whose duty it is to
care for the injured’workmen may be kept at the
highest state of proficiency. Humanitarian as well
as financial reasons make it the part of wisdom
for the employers to encourage in every way the
first aid crusade among their workmen. One case
is related of a workman in a Chicago factory who
removed a steel splinter from the eye of a fellow
workman in such a skilful manner as to excite the
wonder and admiration of the surgeons who later
took charge of the injured man. The promptness
and skill of this emergency surgeon saved the sight
of this man’s eyes.
PIPE OR CIGARETTE.
Latter Apparently the Form in Which Tobaoco
Was First Used.
While the question as to which preceded the
other, the egg or the hen, is still a subject for dis
pute in the district school debating societies, the
question as to which came first into use, the pipe
or the cigarette, appears to have the greater part
of the evidence, so far as white testimony is con
cerned, in favor of the cigarette —and anti-tobac
conists may put that in their pipe and smoke it, the
Indianapolis News remarks. When Columbus land
ed on the island of Guanahani, which he called San
Salvador, on October 12, 1492, he and his men saw,
to their great astonishment, a number of copper
colored natives collected on the shore putting
clouds of smoke from their lips and noses. They
■were smoking what later came to be called tobacco,
the leaves of which the natives had formed into
cylindrical rolls within the husks of the Indian
corn. While this was evidently the most primitive
way of burning the leaf, there were pipes long be
fore Columbus arrived. Large numbers of pipes
have been found in so-called Indian mounds in the
central west, as well as along the northern lakes
and throughout the south. In 1519, when Cortez
invaded Mexico, the natives smoked pipes made
from reeds and richly ornamented. Montezuma, it
has been recorded, was accustomed to take his
pipe after dinner when it was brought to him with
naich ceremony by a bevy of beautiful maidens and
handed to him after he had rinsed his mouth with
scented water.
The North American Indian usually made his
pipes out of a kind of stone known as red pipa
stone, of which there were large deposits in the
old Sioux country and the great spirit is said to
have given his indorsement to this particular ma
terial, which might have been a Sioux monopoly,
in these words:
"This stone is red. It is your flesh, it belongs
to you in all. Out of it make no more tomahawks,
war hatchets nor scalping knives, use it only to
make the pipe of peace and smoke therefrom when
you would propitiate me and do my will.”
CHANGED PLANS.
A Chicago banker was dictating a letter to his
stenographer.
"Tell Mr. So-and-so,” he ordered, “that I will
meet him in Schenectady.”
“How do you spell Schenectady?” asked the ste
nographer. /
“S-c, S-c—er—er —er Tell him I’ll meet him ’
Albany.”
Serloua Complication.
"I know how to sympathize with
you, Mrs. Polhemus,” said Mrs. Lap
sling. “My left eye was affected once
just as yours is, and I had an awful
time with it. The doctor said the
trouble was that the subjunctive was
granulated.”
Sure! ,
Kidder—Sandy, t what Is this "Car
negie Foundation” I’ve heard so much
about?
Sandy—Dinna ye ken? ’Tis oat
meal.
The Occasion.
They bad been having a little tiff.
"Oh, of course," said he, wrathfully.
‘T am always In the wrong."
“Not always,” said she, calmly.
“Last week you admitted that you
were in the wrong—”
“Well, what’s that go to do with it?”
he demanded.
“Nothing except that you were per
fectly right when you admi:ted it,”
she replied.—Harper’s Weekly.
Put Out.
Truxton Hare, the football veteran,
deprecated, at a dinner at the Mark
ham club in Philadelphia, that type
of football player who always fails
in his examinations.
“Such men do more harm than good
to a university,” said Mr. Hare, “yet
even the fathers and mothers dt such
men are proud of them.
“One broker said to another the
other day:
“ ‘How Is your son doing at col
lege?’
“ ‘Oh, rotten,’ was the reply. ‘He’s
put his knee out,* and has to confine
himself to his studies.’ ”
Says the Earth Is Flat.
It Is something of a reproach upon
cultured Boston that a man living
next door to it, Charles W. Morse of
Brookline, believes that the world is
fiat as a pancake. Moreover he backs
up his conviction with the offer to
give a thousand dollars to the man
who can prove the world is round.
It is not surprising that there are men
in this day and generation who be
lieve in the flat theory, but it is re
markable that one of them should
have been able to make a fortune.
Weary Feet.
I wonder how many people w’ho suf
fer torture with their feet in hot weath
er, agonies of aching, burning, swell
ing and extreme tenderness, know that
a raw potato, peeled and cut in half
and well rubbed over them every
night and morning, will cure the trou
ble? Or, failing that, a good daily
soaking in strong cold tea? Or that
the worst soft corns will yield to a
treatment of salt —ordinary salt ap
plied night and morning?
The New Fatality.
The player seized the ball as it
rolled away from the half back and
started down the field with it.
Just as he crossed the goal line he
stumbled and fell and broke his neck.
“What was the cause of death?”
they asked the coroner. “An acci
dent?”
“A fluke,” replied the official as he
made a note of it.
Tribute to Washington,
“More than to any other individual,
and as much as to one individual was
possible, has Washington contributed
to founding this, our wide spreading
empire.”—John Marshall.
Much Easier.
“My wife decided to do some pre
serving today and I left her perform
ing the feat of a daring swimmer,"
“What might that be?”
“Stemming the currant.”
And So!
Nan —Jack asked me for a kiss.
Fan —Well?
Nan —Well, there wasn’t time to
write and ask Laura Jean Libbey if it
WH C nnH —
I Critical Condition I
|| Women who suffer from womanly ailments, often give
o way to despair. After trying different medicines in vain,
Si they lose heart and hope. O
H No friend in need could be more welcome to a sick,
||| delicatewoman, than a remedy which will relieve her pains and H
H distress, build up her strength, and restore her failing health. S
Mrs. Bessie York, of Huntington, W. Va., says: “I K
was sick for two years, and tried all the medicines and S 3
M doctors I could hear of, that I thought might cure me. IS
g| They all failed to relieve me. I was so bad, that every m
month I thought I would die. Finally, I decided to
“CARDUI
CC 74
g The Woman’s Tonic |
H and it relieved me. I am still improving. I can’t praise
I this wonderful woman’s remedy enough, for what it has
done for me.”
, Cardui is composed of purely vegetable ingredients,
which act on the cause of the trouble, and thus bring re- »
■ lief in a natural manner.
® If you suffer from any symptoms of womanly trouble,
yq better try Cardui, for it has helped thousands of weak,, »
I sick women, during the past 50 years, and should surely M
gg do the same for you. t
Try it today. Your druggist has it on hand.
A Vlgorou* Performer.
"Does your boy'Josh x play on the
football team?” U
"No,” replied Farmer Corntossel, I
"Josh wouldn’t stand for no molly
coddle job like that. He’s the feller
that leads the mob and wrecks opry
houses after the game is over.”
In the Limelight.
Agent—l want your name, please^
for the new directory. Tragedian— l i
shall be pleased to give it to you on
condition that it heads the list in large J
type.—Harper's Weekly. j
f— — *
Tragedies Told In Headlines. .
"She Had Married Him to Reform
Him.”
“Motorcycle Collides With Street
Car—Car Uninjured.”
"Happened to Catch His Fiancee
Smoking.”
“Tries His New Teeth on a Restau- /
rant Steak.”
"Fat Man Sneezes While Descend
ing Elevated Station Stairway."
“Hostess Accidentally Breaks Bot
tle of Bisulphide of Carbon.”
Her Horrid Friend.
Her dearest friend had dropped In
for a call, and she put out a five-pound
box of expensive candy.
“Oh!” squeals friend, “have you
been squandering your money again?”
“Os course not; that’s a present.”
“A present? Have any of your re- ^4
latives been here to visit you?”
“No.” —
“Some old schoolgirl friend?”
“Os course not.”
“That business friend, of your bus
band, who —”
“Don’t be so silly.”
“Oh, I know! You won it on a bet"
Important Business.
Congressman Murray of Massachu
setts in the closing days of the last
session of congress. In August, made
preparations to go to Wyoming on a
camping and hunting trip. He was
enthusiastic about it and took shoot
ing lessons at a rifle gallery. The day
his party was to leave for tbe west
he received a telegram at the capitol
from his law partner in Boston. It
said:
“Come to Boston at once; important
business; don’t delay.”
Sadly Mr. Murray abandoned his
trip, surrendered his sleeping-car res
ervations and hurried to Boston. Ar
riving there he took a taxicab for the
office. He dashed in, and there sat
his partner. The partner said:
“Hello, Bill! Come on, let’s go fish
ing.”
Anatomical Studies.
Miss Mary Garden, at a dinner In
Chicago, said of a beautiful Callot
Gown: The Callot sisters probably
make the prettiest evening gowns that
are turned out in Paris. But, their
gowns are sometimes a little bit too
decollette. Still, everybody wears
tbem —everybody. Consequently a so
ciety ball or dinner this season is
rather startling.
“I heard a woman say the other aft
ernoon: “I took the children to the
zoo today to teach them zoology. To
night I think I’ll take them to the Van
Gelders’ Christmas ball to teach them
anatomy.’ ”
Advocates Right Kind of Pride.
Miss Muriel Becheler, editor of the
Wellesley college paper, advises the
college to be a "sport.” Pride has
been denounced so often, she says,
that it is hard to realize that there is
the right kind of pride—the kind that
bolsters up a limp back and helps
one to smile at the little, bothers to
which it is so easy to give way. When
girls first began to learn how to be
“sports,” she says, they felt that they
were cribbing, this glory having been
left so long to the masculine sex.
Naughty.
Without wishing to Insinuate any
thing it may be said that a good many
bashful men get married.—Atchison
Globe
