CANAL ZONE RED CROSS

CANAL ZONE RED CROSSBy MajorC. A. Devol, U. S. Army.

By MajorC. A. Devol, U. S. Army.

Of the three great classes of Red Cross work, war relief, international relief and emergency relief, the last is the field in which the Canal Zone Branch is making itself peculiarly useful.

PRESIDENT TAFT ADDRESSING AUDIENCE OF RED CROSS MEMBERS AT THE Y. M. C. A., CULEBRA.

On the Canal Zone there is less need of such an organization in some ways than there would be in a community of 50,000 people in the United States, because here the government, through the Isthmian Canal Commission, maintains a good system of hospitals and district physicians, and also because there are few people here who cannot work, and almost none who cannot get work if they want it. But there is a limit beyond which the Commission may not go in the expenditure of government funds, and, broadly, that limit is that it may not aid people who are not employed on the Canal work. To the cases that lie outside this limit the Red Cross addresses itself.

VIEW OF HOSPITAL GROUNDS FROM ENTRANCE, ANCON.

WRECK OF STEAM SHOVEL NO. 261. BAS OBISPO, DECEMBER 12, 1908.

An instance arose recently in Colon, where a family was destitute because it had been deserted by the husband and father. The mother and three children were kept alive by private subscription until the Red Cross was organized. The Red Cross then sent the family to New York, where the members of the Masonic order came to their relief and sent them to the mother’s home in England. The Commission could not help in such a case, but the Red Cross could, and did.

A citizen of France, living near Tabernilla, and not employed on the Canal work, was bitten by a mad dog a few weeks ago. He had no money to pay his way to a Pasteur Institute; attempts to inoculate for hydrophobia on the Isthmus have been of uncertain value, and the Commission could not send a non-employee to the United States. The Red Cross appropriated $50 for his steamship fare to New York and he was successfully treated in the Pasteur Institute in that city.

CULEBRA CUT. LOOKING SOUTH. FEBRUARY, 1905.

A Spanish laborer who had lost both his legs on the Isthmus was sent to New York by the Commission, where he was fitted with two cork legs and then sent back to his home in Spain. The Red Cross gave him $50 to help him on his way, for the Commission could not advance more than his actual transportation and medical fees.

Not long ago a Boer, who had become naturalized as an American, was declared so far gone with tuberculosis that he could not work on the Isthmus nor remain here with safety. He had been in Mexico a few years before, and felt sure that if he could return to the plateau region his health would be restored. The Red Cross advanced him $150 to defray his expenses—in other words, gave him another chance for his life.

A number of cases have been relieved where the necessity was just as pressing but where a smaller amount was sufficient.

It is not improbable that there may be a call for immediate relief on a larger scale before the Canal is completed and the Americans in this big constructioncamp pass on to other work. If an accident occurs, it will find a thorough organization with funds in hand and ready to begin work without any preliminaries.

Lectures on first aid are delivered by the district physicians along the line of the Canal to members of the police and fire departments. To what extent this instruction will aid in time of emergency is conjectural, but it should have the effect of adding instructed men to the corps of nurses and doctors in case of a big accident. It is probable, however, that there is no place on earth where the hospital corps is so well equipped to give prompt aid as on the Canal Zone. On this account, the instruction of the police and firemen is not likely to prove such a benefit as it would in a less thoroughly organized community.

GATUN DAM SITE. LOOKING EAST FROM SPILLWAY. AUGUST, 1908.

The Canal Zone Branch has already spent about $500 in its relief work, and its balance on July 1, 1909, was $1,577.17.

The suggestion that a branch of the American National Red Cross be organized on the Canal Zone was made by Miss Mabel T. Boardman, member of the Executive Committee, to Major C. A. Devol, U. S. A., Chief Quartermaster of the Isthmian Canal Commission, in a letter dated October 26, 1908. At the request of Major Devol, Major Lynch, of the Medical Department, U. S. A., author of the text-book, “How to Prevent Accidents and What to Do for Injuries and Emergencies,” came to the Isthmus in January, 1909, and addressed Red Cross meetings at Ancon, Culebra, Gorgona and Cristobal. Major Devol accompanied Major Lynch, and invited all persons interested to help organize a Canal Zone Branch. On January 17, at a meeting held in the Hotel Tivoli, at Ancon, a permanent organization was effected, with Major C. A. Devol as president; Mr H. D. Reed, treasurer; Miss J. Macklin Beattie, secretary. The Canal Zone was divided into fourteen districts, and the work of perfecting districtorganizations was begun. At a meeting held in the Hotel Tivoli, February 28, twelve district organizations were represented. The central organization was perfected by electing Mrs. Lorin C. Collins, Lieutenant-Colonel John L. Phillips, Major Chester Harding, and Mr. A. Bruce Minear an executive committee; and Mr. W. W. Warwick, auditor. A Committee on First Aid Lectures was appointed, consisting of Lieutenant-Colonel Phillips and Mr. H. D. Reed.

A noteworthy event in the early history of the Canal Zone Branch was the visit of President-elect Taft, National President of the Red Cross, to the Canal Zone in February, 1909. On the night of February 3 he made an address at the Commission Club house in Culebra, in which he outlined the work of the Red Cross. The meeting was attended by over 1,200 members of the Red Cross, and had a marked effect in arousing popular interest in this most important work.

The Canal Zone has now a membership of 1,300, divided among fourteen districts. The following are the officers of the district organizations:

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