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Everything Clara Barton did was performed in a masterly and businesslike way.New York Examiner.

Clara Barton possessed rare executive ability.

Boston (Mass.)Journal.

Clara Barton—her strong and capable hands—her clear and logical brain—her systematic methods. Boston (Mass.)Globe.

Is it not the finest kind of glory that when the American Red Cross is seen the name of Clara Barton comes to the mind like a benediction. New York (N. Y.)Sun.

The world lost in Clara Barton a great lawyer when it gained a whole-souled philanthropist.Ellen Spencer Mussey, Attorney for American Red Cross.

Had Clara Barton belonged to the other sex, she would have been a merchant prince, a great general, or a trusted political leader.

Dr. Henry W. Bellows.

Clara Barton’s herculean work was done with means that most men would scorn as too trivial to begin a work with.

Alice Hubbard—InThe Fra.

Our methods are based upon strict business principles.

Clara Barton, President Red Cross.

No donor to, nor recipient of, Red Cross relief ever criticised Clara Barton’s bookkeeping.Corra Bacon-Foster, Author.

After each event a financial statement has been prepared showing in full detail both receipts and expenditures. Every donation ofmoney sent to the field and every one of the supplies, so far as could be identified, has had individual acknowledgment.

Red Cross Committee,ByWalter P. Phillips,Chairman.Samuel L. Jarvis,J. B. Hubbell,House Document, No. 552, Vol. 49, 58th Congress.

Red Cross Committee,

ByWalter P. Phillips,Chairman.

Samuel L. Jarvis,

J. B. Hubbell,

House Document, No. 552, Vol. 49, 58th Congress.

In reClara Barton’s business methods,—although the exigencies of the situation rendered the distribution one of great difficulty, it has been done so wisely, prudently and effectively, as not only to accomplish its purpose but to excite the admiration of all who are personally conversant with it. Red Cross Committee, in Official Communication to Congress, House Document, No. 552, Vol. 49, 58th Congress.

The Red Cross has set in motion the wheels of relief at a moment’s warning over the whole land.Clara Barton.

It has been my custom, as the head of the organization which has grown up around me, to reach a field of great disaster in the shortest possible time, regarding neither weather, night, nor Sunday.

Clara Barton.

On Christmas Eve, 1899, there arrived for Clara Barton at her Glen Echo home, besides letters, more than a bushel basket full of presents. These presents were from various parts of the world. One of them from Cuba was a large cocoanut with her name and address burned with a hot iron, the cocoanut plastered with postage stamps. The other presents were in packages. From these her secretary commenced to cut the strings. “Don’t do that, General; untie the strings. Isave all the strings; we may need them.” Following her custom the General then untied the strings, looped the ends together in every case and so continuing until each bunch was about six inches long; then he tied the bunches respectively with a loose bow-knot. All the bunches so arranged were then taken upstairs into one of the small rooms of the house and there hung on nails for future use. Red, white, and blue strings to the number of perhaps thousands were thus hung on the row of nails on the wall, the whole length of the room. Whenever a string of a certain length was wanted she would take from the nail a bunch of the length needed at that particular time.

Equally methodical was she with wrapping paper. She ironed out the paper and folded it, placing the papers respectively on shelves; the papers likewise were classified as to size, and this including corrugated paper. She would remind her assistants that it is not the value of the strings and the paper but the certain need of them; and being saved and thus classified, time would be saved when the need came. Spools of thread, needles, thimbles, hosiery, garments, shoes, or whatever else used by her in her work, were in like manner classified and through a system as nearly perfect as in the best arranged store in the world.

In 1893 occurred the Sea Islands Hurricane and Tidal Wave Disaster. Thirty thousand people were homeless in consequence. Clara Barton, with her four Red Cross assistants, was in charge. Admiral Beardslee, of the U. S. Navy, volunteered as a “helper.” He made notes, and later a report, on the Red Cross work there. He reported that for a desk Clara Barton had a dry goods box; for a bed, a cot; that she had systematicand businesslike methods; that books were kept and every penny, or penny’s worth, were accounted for;—that what had been contributed by the people was honestly and intelligently placed where it would do most good.

General Leonard F. Ross, of Civil War record and of large affairs, was in Cuba at the sinking of the “Maine.” Clara Barton accepted his proffered services as superintendent of the warehouse. The General said Miss Barton had a perfect business system—such a system as he had not seen equalled. General W. R. Shafter, in charge of the American forces in the Spanish-American War, commending Clara Barton, said that in relieving distress and saving life no Governmental red tape system could possibly be as effective as Clara Barton’s sensible, business methods, in Cuba. United States Senator Redfield Proctor was not only a statesman but also a business man, handling successfully millions of dollars in business annually. He was chairman of the Senate Committee, to make investigations in Cuba. In his official report, in his speech to the Senate, he eulogized Clara Barton in highest terms. The Senator told the Senate that Clara Barton could give him points in business; that she needed no commendation from him; that he found in her conduct of the business affairs of the Red Cross there was nothing to criticise, but everything to commend her to the American people.

The storm and tidal wave had struck Galveston. Clara Barton received the news in the evening. A moment’s warning was all that was necessary. At once she took counsel with her secretary. “General, what are we going to?”

BENJAMIN F. BUTLERThere has been inaugurated by Clara Barton a system of economy that will save ten thousand dollars, within a year of her administration.—Benjamin F. Butler, Governor of Massachusetts, 1881–1882; Major-General Civil War; U. S. Congress, 1867–1875; 1877–1879. See pages359;364.

HER BUSINESS RECORD

FRANCIS ATWATERClara Barton had rare business qualifications. No person existed more scrupulously honest, as I know from having been her financial adviser for nearly forty years. There was no time in her life when she was not doing good. A wonderful woman!—Francis Atwater, State Senator in 1906, Connecticut; Journalist. See pages323;359.

LEONARD F. ROSSIn Cuba, Clara Barton had a perfect business system, such as I have never seen equalled.—Leonard F. Ross, Brigadier-General, Civil War; Superintendent of Red Cross Warehouse in Cuba, 1898, under Clara Barton.General Ross is one of the most gracious, courteous gentlemen I have ever known.—Clara Barton.See page359.

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