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Blinded Soldiers Are Still In Need

Creator: n/a
Date: December 21, 1919
Publication: The New York Times
Source: n/a


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Mrs. G. A. Kessler Tells of Their Sad Plight, in the Poorer Lands Eastward.

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MME. PADEREWSKA'S GRIEF

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Fund Established Here to Aid These Victims to Become Self-Supporting Finds Its Work Extending.

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The executives of the Permanent Blind Relief War Fund for Soldiers and Sailors of the Allies are seeking to extend their membership list in order to increase the revenue of the organization. Its founder, Mrs. G. A. Kessler, is now in France, and will visit Rumania/Serbia, Italy and Poland in connection with the relief work to which she is devoting all her time and resources.

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In an interview just before her departure for Paris, Mrs. Kessler told of the pitiable condition in which the war-devastated countries still found themselves, especially Rumania and Serbia, although reports from Poland showed existing conditions there to be almost equally bad.

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"In all Poland," said Mrs. Kessler, "there are but three hospitals where they have any instruments, even a few, for treating wounded eyes. Think of it! And in America there is everything -- money, doctors, instruments, medical supplies, everything."

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According to Mrs. Kessler, the work which the organization has been able to do has been made possible by the generous donations from all sections of the country. "Many people," she explained, "believe that the fighting is over, that it ceased with the armistice, while, as a matter of fact, men are still being wounded and blinded in the fighting yet in progress in widespread battlefields. To offset this expected lowering of wartime enthusiasm, the fund, appealed to by nations whose resources have been impoverished or completely wiped out in the world conflict, has established six classes of membership, to insure the receipt of funds for a continuance of the work. The membership classes are: Benefactor, $5,000; patron, $1,000; life member, $500; sustaining member, $100 per year; member, $25 per year; associate member, $10 per year. A general appeal is made to the public for the support of the fund, by entering one or the other of these membership classes."

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The sightless soldiers of eight nations have been helped by the work of the fund to date, and Mrs. Kessler pointed out this work, must not and cannot cease now.

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"Blinded soldiers stay blind," she said. "It is not a temporary condition, and it takes a long time and a lot of money to train a blind man so that he may be independent again. A large number, too, are still patiently waiting their turn to be helped. Take the case of a soldier blinded and otherwise wounded, possibly crippled. He has received attention from surgeons and doctors. He is discharged from hospital -- cured. But he is blind!

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"There were nearly 4,000 like that in France alone, and of that number 1,500 are still among those waiting patiently for their turn to come, so that they may start the work and training which they must go through, in order to be able to take up the broken threads of their lives again.

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"Queen Elizabeth of Belgium provided a chateau at Boitsfort-lez-Bruxelles to be used as a training school for the blind soldiers of that courageous land, and Belgium supplied sufficient funds to start the work. But financial assistance is required to keep the institution going and for equipment, which is lacking. At present thirty men are being re-educated in the chateau school.

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"In Italy more than 600 men wait for a chance to start their course of rehabilitation. Rumania needs help even more.

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"The school founded near Bucharest, which will be under Queen Marie's personal supervision, will take care of over 250 blinded soldiers. Everything for this training school had to be brought from England or from France, and it took months to get the things through. The Rumanians could do nothing; everything was wiped out. Thirty lei (about $6) a month is all the Rumanian Government has been able to allow their war-blinded. To about fifty of these men, utterly destitute and helpless, the fund has been allowing 1,000 lei each a month, pending their accommodation in the school.

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"Conditions in Serbia are, perhaps, most heartrending of all. In this little country, which fought gallantly all through the war, over 300 soldiers are living today who lost their sight in battle. The re-educational school near Belgrade established by the fund will attempt to rehabilitate these men, but no local help of any kind can be expected.

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"Poland's needs are almost equally distressing. The list of sightless soldiers there numbers 600; and constant additions are being received. Mme. Paderewska told me of some of the things she had seen, and wrung her hands as she cried: 'What can I do? Oh, what can I do?' She had actually taken a few of the men in hand herself and had started to teach them a little. Otherwise nothing had been done toward re-educating these men discharged as 'cured.' A training school is now being established in Warsaw, and the fund will take care of this work.

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At the headquarters of the Permanent Blind Relief War Fund, 500 Fifth Avenue, it was emphasized that all revenue received was devoted to the actual needs of the sightless soldiers, with the exception of what is necessary for the maintenance of a very small office force, the executives giving their services free.

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