Alma Russell Letters
Letters of British Columbia men on active service with Canadian and British Expeditionary Forces, 1914-1918. Learn more.
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LETTER FROM THE CANADIAN RED CROSS SOCIETY TO PERSONS AND ORGANIZATIONS WHO HAVE "ADOPTED" CANADIAN PRISONERS OF WAR.
July, 1918, Head Office Canadian Red Cross Society, 56 Church St., Toronto.
Dear Madam
The Canadian Red Cross Society is greatly indebted to you (or your organization) for your generous assistance in its work of caring for the Canadian Prisoners of War through your monthly payments of the sum of $5.00 on behalf of L/Cpl P.J. Tappin 28th Battn.
The Society has welcomed this support and has been glad to be the means of keeping our prisoners in touch with their friends and relations.
But the number of Canadian prisoners has now increased so greatly that is found impossible to continue the present system of adoption, and it has become necessary to cancel all present adoptions in order to inaugurate a simpler and more workable system.
Early in the war, the Canadian Red Cross began to send our prisoners in enemy countries an occasional parcel of comforts, for which $2.50 a month was sufficient, and many persons and societies were able to subscribe that sum. Now the prisoners depend on the Red Cross parcels for their very existence, and the cost of supporting each prisoner of war is reckoned at $200 per annum. This amount is liable to be increased at any time as the price of food rises; and the now upwards of twenty five hundred Canadian prisoners.
The Canadian Red Cross Society has undertaken the full responsibility of feeding and clothing these men, and in its Budget for 1918 has estimated that it will require $600,000 in order to care for our Canadian prisoners. From funds provided by the public, the Society will continue to send to each Canadian prisoner in enemy countries the maximum amount of food and clothing permitted, and the Provincial Branches of the Red Cross, through their local Branches and auxiliary organizations, have undertaken to raise the necessary funds.
The present system of "adoption" which was easy to work when there were only a few prisoners and all their parcels cost only $25 for a year, has become impracticable now that there are so many prisoners and their upkeep is often too costly to be borne by one individual or society. In the attempt to keep up the "personal touch" with prisoners, sometimes as many as five persons or organizations are "adopting" or contributing to the upkeep of one individual prisoner. Anyone who multiplies by twenty-five hundred the amount of letter-writing and book-keeping for each man necessitated under such a system will realize that it is too complicated to be continued (or even expanded if the number of prisoners should be increased). Already, by relieving the London Office of this clerical work, we have enabled them to undertake the actual packing of the parcels by their own voluntary staff.
The Society recognizes fully the right of the next-of-kin to "adopt" his own friend or relative even if he can only afford part of his upkeep. If you are the legal next-or-kin of any Canadian prisoner, please indicate his name and number and state whether or not you desire to "adopt" him, wholly or in part, as outlined above. The Society does not solicit contributions for this purpose from the friends of prisoners. It gratefully receives their subscriptions if offered and assures them that if such support is a burden it will be gladly borne by the Society.
In order to preserve local links with the prisoners, the Society is arranging to allot to the Provincial Branches of the Red Cross Society the support of prisoners who reside or next-of-kin reside, within the Province. The Head Office will send to the headquarters of Provincial Branches all cards of acknowledgment received from the prisoners so allotted. It will then be in order for the Provincial Branch to forward the cards to individual adopters or to advertise in any way it may see fit the names of those prisoners who are acknowledging their parcels.
We trust that having considered the conditions outlined in this letter you will continue to subscribe towards the upkeep of our Canadian prisoners of war, realizing that this change in adoptions is due to the necessity of conserving labor and materials at this time. It will be in order for you to continue to write to the person whom you have adopted.
The prisoners' parcels of food will continue to be sent six times a month from the London Office as before to Canadian prisoners in enemy countries, together with the maximum allowance of bread and clothes, smokes and chocolate, as permitted by the regulations of the Central Committee for Prisoners of war.
The support of the Prisoners of War Department will be a first charge on the general funds of the Canadian Red Cross Society, so that there will be no chance of a prisoner lacking anything which it is possible for the Society to provide. The Society trusts, therefore, that you will continue to contribute to its work through your Provincial or Local Red Cross Branch, and will be glad to receive your assurance of such support.
Yours truly, SECRETARY PRISONERS OF WAR RECORD BUREAU.
BC Archives, MS-1901 Box 1 File 18 / RUSSELL, Alma M., 1873 - 1964. Victoria; librarian. / Letters and documents relating to Corporal Percy John Tappin, 1916 - 1919.