At the left is Major General Hon. Sydney Chilton Mewburn, who became Canadian Minister of Militia and Defense in 1917; at the right is Major General Sir Edward Whipple Bancroft Morrison, G. O. C., Canadian Corps Artillery from 1917 to 1919.
Amusements were also furnished on an extensive scale for the Canadians in process of demobilization in England. New camps were taken over in Rhyl, Liverpool, and Ripon, and a wider organization for entertainments was developed in sections not hitherto touched.
The funds that provided such a colossal service came from two sources—Canadian contributions and canteen profits. Canadians at home gave liberally; but the scope of the work, even with the great help afforded by their generosity, would have been restricted but for the aid derived from canteen sales profits. It was decided that no better way of applying the "Y's" profits could be found than in employing it to procure additional necessities, comforts, and entertainments for the Canadian soldier, and in providing him with physical, mental, and spiritual help which no other organization was able to give.
CHAPTER XXVII
SUCCOR AND SOLACE
Primarily the Canadian Red Cross Society set out to augment the work of the military establishment in caring for the sick and wounded. It acted as a voluntary auxiliary organization to the Canadian Army Medical Corps, and as such furnished all manner of comforts, over and above the supplies issued by the Government, to military hospitals and other units. It also held itself in readiness to assist the Medical Service in times of emergency by providing at a moment's notice any supplies which might be needed.
But its help was not confined to Canadians only. British and French institutions were assisted. The needs of the civil population whom the enemy had driven from French and Belgian areas were not overlooked. Old and feeble men and women, suffering mothers and emaciated children, whom the Germans had deprived of the necessities of life, were among the afflicted who were comforted by its timely succor and sympathy. It took care not only of the wounded and sick, but of the tired and weary. The Canadian prisoners of war were among its beneficiaries, as well as the refugees in the devastated areas of Europe, who needed assistance, especially clothing, in becoming repatriated after being freed of the German oppressor. Thus were many lives saved, breakdowns averted, much discomfort removed, and much suffering relieved by the aid of the Canadian Red Cross.
The society had eight Provincial centers in Canada, and about 1,200 local branches, and these formed its home organization. It collected $7,771,083 in money, and gifts to the value of more than $13,500,000.