The New York Times/1918/11/11/Red Cross Prison Work
RED CROSS PRISON WORK.
Bureau Taking Care of All Americans in German Hands.
An average of 30,000 queries a week are handled by the Bureau of Communication of the American Red Cross, according to an announcement by the organization yesterday. Of this number about 20,000 are from relatives of men in service overseas, the rest being from persons with relatives in cantonments on this side.
Because of the success of the bureau its work has been extended to camps in this country, at the request of the War Department. Queries concerning soldiers who have failed to write home, or who are reported as casualties, are cared for by the bureau. Red Cross searchers—there are 100 of them in France—obtain the desired information, and it is forwarded to the anxious families.
The Bureau of Prisoners' Relief is the only organization authorized to aid American prisoners of war. When a man is officially reported a prisoner, the bureau notifies his family that it will look out for his welfare. In addition to forwarding mail, money, and clothing to the prisoners the bureau sends to each man twenty pounds of food each week. Up to the present only a few of these food parcels have failed to reach their destinations.