sometimes it would have seemed that the rumors put out were against Germany and not for her. These rumors, repeated and varied, did serve a great purpose in America—they made us restless and uneasy. That certainly is true.
One of the favorite objects of the German propaganda was the Red Cross work. Hardly any American but has heard one or other story about the Red Cross. The result has been a very considerable lessening of the public confidence in that great organization. The average man never runs down any rumor of this sort. At first he does not believe what he hears. At the fourth or fifth story of different sorts, all aiming at one object, he begins to hesitate, to doubt. Without any question, the Red Cross has suffered much from German propaganda. Not that this organization should be called perfect, for such was not the case with any war organization. Not that the Y. M. C. A. work was perfect, for it was far from that. But the point is that all of these organizations, all the war charities, all the war relief organizations, were more nearly perfect than German propaganda has allowed us to believe. The most cruel and malicious statements against the Red Cross, wholly without foundation, were made, with apparent feeling of all lack of responsibility, by German-loving persons in all parts of the country. A complaint came to Washington Headquarters all the way from Portland, Oregon. Comment is unnecessary:
I am informed that one Bertha A, who is in the
Government service, Bureau of Aircraft Production, Executive
Department, Cable Section, office in "D" Building, 4-1/2 Missouri
Avenue, Washington, D. C., has written a letter to a friend of
hers here that a ward in one of the hospitals in Washington
had been set aside for some seventy-five girls who were working
in the different bureaus in Washington and had become
pregnant since arriving in Washington; and that it was rumored
that there were about three hundred in addition to the
above who had been sent home for the same reason. Would
suggest that she be interviewed. We will look up her antecedents
here and if possible secure the letter which she has
written or copy thereof. Upon being advised that such a
letter had been written, I interviewed the husband of the
lady to whom the letter was written, he being bailiff in one
of the circuit courts here, and he stated that the quotation as
made above was substantially correct.
