Comite International de SecoursAux Militaires Blesses,Geneva,September 6, 1882.Miss Clara Barton,Washington, D.C.:Mademoiselle: I come to thank and congratulate you cordially upon your new success. I have read your letters of the 11th and 14th with the most lively interest, and I have also received, through the medium of the United States consul at Geneva, all the official documents which you have announced to me.The position of your society is now entirely (tout á fait) correct, and nothing more opposes itself; so that by a circular we can now make it known to the societies of other countries. I am already occupied in the preparation of this document, but I am obliged to leave for Turin, where I go to attend the reunion of the International Institute of Law, and it will not be until my return, say about the twentieth of September, that I can press the printing of the circular. In any case, it will be ready before the end of the month.Accept, mademoiselle, the assurance of my distinguished sentiments.G. Moynier,President.
Comite International de SecoursAux Militaires Blesses,Geneva,September 6, 1882.
Miss Clara Barton,Washington, D.C.:
Mademoiselle: I come to thank and congratulate you cordially upon your new success. I have read your letters of the 11th and 14th with the most lively interest, and I have also received, through the medium of the United States consul at Geneva, all the official documents which you have announced to me.
The position of your society is now entirely (tout á fait) correct, and nothing more opposes itself; so that by a circular we can now make it known to the societies of other countries. I am already occupied in the preparation of this document, but I am obliged to leave for Turin, where I go to attend the reunion of the International Institute of Law, and it will not be until my return, say about the twentieth of September, that I can press the printing of the circular. In any case, it will be ready before the end of the month.
Accept, mademoiselle, the assurance of my distinguished sentiments.
G. Moynier,President.
The circular alluded to in this letter of M. Moynier announces the adhesion of the United States to the great international compact of the Red Cross, and authenticates and opens the way for the voluntary action of the people and the government in international humanitarian action, through the medium of the American Association of the Red Cross, and is in the following terms:
INTERNATIONAL CIRCULAR.INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE. FOUNDATION OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF THE RED CROSS.Fiftieth Circular to the Presidents and Members of the National Central Committees.Geneva,September 2, 1882.Gentlemen: When on the twenty-third of August, 1876, we announced to you by our thirty-fourth circular, that the American society for aid to the wounded had had only an ephemeral existence, and had finished by dissolution, we still entertained the hope of seeing it revive, and we asked the friends of the Red Cross to labor with us for its resuscitation.To-day we have the great satisfaction of being able to tell you that this appeal has been heard, and that the United States is again linked anew to the chain of our societies.Nevertheless it is not the old association which has returned to life. That which we present to you at this time has a special origin upon which we ought to give you some details.Its whole history is associated with a name already known to you, that of Miss Clara Barton. Without the energy and perseverance of this remarkable woman we should probably not for a long time have had the pleasure of seeing the Red Cross revived in the United States. We will not repeat here what we have said elsewhere of the claims of Miss Barton to our gratitude, and we will confine ourselves to mentioning what she has done to reconstruct a Red Cross society in North America.After having prepared the ground by divers publications, she called together a great meeting at Washington on the twenty-first of May, 1881; then a second, on the ninth of June, at which the existence of the society was solemnly set forth. On the same day President Garfield nominated Miss Barton as president of this institution.The International Committee would have desired from that time to have given notice of the event to all the central committees, but certain scruples restrained it.Remembering that the first American society had been rendered powerless by the distinct refusal of the cabinet at Washington to adhere to the Geneva Convention, it took precaution and declared it would wait, before recognizing the young society, until the government should have regularly signed the treaty of 1864. Miss Barton, understanding the special propriety of this requirement, redoubled her efforts to attain this end, and we know that on the first of March she gained a complete victory upon this point.There remained another question with respect to which the International Committee did not feel itself sufficiently informed. Just how far was the American Government disposed to accept the services of this society? We have often said, and we repeat it, that a society which would be exposed, for the want of a previous understanding, to find itself forbidden access to its own army in case of war, would be at fault fundamentally, and would not be qualified to take its place in the International concert. Further upon this point Miss Barton and themembers of the American Central Committee, sought to enter into our views. They conferred with the competent authorities. The desired recognition was very difficult to obtain, for it was contrary to American customs and traditions. It was, nevertheless, accomplished after considerable discussion. On this point Miss Barton has stated to us that the government, in acquiescing in the decision which had been expressed, was entering upon a path altogether new, and that the official recognition of the Red Cross Society was for the latter a very exceptional honor.Certain documents resulted therefrom which have been communicated to us directly by the Secretary of State, at Washington, showing:1st. That the American Association of the Red Cross has been legally constituted by an Act of Congress.2d. That President Arthur has declared himself in full sympathy with the work, and very willingly has accepted the presidency of the Board of Consultation.3d. That the principal members of the cabinet have consented to become members of a board of trustees, empowered to receive subscriptions and to hold the funds for the society.4th. Finally, that Congress unanimously, without discussion or opposition, has voted a sum of one thousand dollars, to be expended by the government in printed matter, designed to inform the people of the United States of the organization of the Red Cross. The initiation of this last measure was not the work of the society but of the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate; consequently it bears witness to the spontaneous impulse with which the Houses of Congress came into accord with the views of Miss Barton.We must add that the International Committee attaches so much the more importance to the fact that this society took an official position, because there was created, at nearly the same time in the United States, two other institutions, claiming to pursue a similar object, but of which the Committee of Geneva is absolutely ignorant. One, called “The Woman’s National Relief Association,” which concerns itself with all public calamities, among other things with the calamities of war, but more especially with shipwrecks, and has for its distinctive emblem a blue anchor; the other has taken the name of “The Order of the Red Cross.” Dr. James Saunders is the president of it, with the title “Supreme Commander.” This order proposes to organize more or less in a military way and appears desirous of imitating the orders of chivalry in ancient times.The American Central Committee of the Red Cross has its seat at Washington, but has already founded branches in other localities, at Dansville, Rochester, Syracuse, etc. Soon, doubtless, cities of the first class will also take their turn.We will give in our next bulletin the complete text of the constitution and by-laws of the American society, which, as will be seen, has not believed it ought to limit its program to assistance in case of war, but has comprised within it, in conformity with a suggestion of the conference at Berlin, the other great calamities which might befall the country and its inhabitants.As for ourselves, we have greeted with joy the addition of the United States to the countries already enrolled under the Red Cross; it is for our work an important and long desired reinforcement, and we doubt not our impressions in this regard will be shared by the twenty-eight central committees to which we address these lines.We also hope that next year some representatives of the American society will cross the Atlantic in order to fraternize with the delegates of the other nations, who will certainly be happy to meet them at the conference at Vienna.Receive, gentlemen, the assurances of our distinguished consideration.For the International Committee of the Red Cross.President:G. Moynier.Secretary:G. Ador.
Geneva,September 2, 1882.
Gentlemen: When on the twenty-third of August, 1876, we announced to you by our thirty-fourth circular, that the American society for aid to the wounded had had only an ephemeral existence, and had finished by dissolution, we still entertained the hope of seeing it revive, and we asked the friends of the Red Cross to labor with us for its resuscitation.
To-day we have the great satisfaction of being able to tell you that this appeal has been heard, and that the United States is again linked anew to the chain of our societies.
Nevertheless it is not the old association which has returned to life. That which we present to you at this time has a special origin upon which we ought to give you some details.
Its whole history is associated with a name already known to you, that of Miss Clara Barton. Without the energy and perseverance of this remarkable woman we should probably not for a long time have had the pleasure of seeing the Red Cross revived in the United States. We will not repeat here what we have said elsewhere of the claims of Miss Barton to our gratitude, and we will confine ourselves to mentioning what she has done to reconstruct a Red Cross society in North America.
After having prepared the ground by divers publications, she called together a great meeting at Washington on the twenty-first of May, 1881; then a second, on the ninth of June, at which the existence of the society was solemnly set forth. On the same day President Garfield nominated Miss Barton as president of this institution.
The International Committee would have desired from that time to have given notice of the event to all the central committees, but certain scruples restrained it.
Remembering that the first American society had been rendered powerless by the distinct refusal of the cabinet at Washington to adhere to the Geneva Convention, it took precaution and declared it would wait, before recognizing the young society, until the government should have regularly signed the treaty of 1864. Miss Barton, understanding the special propriety of this requirement, redoubled her efforts to attain this end, and we know that on the first of March she gained a complete victory upon this point.
There remained another question with respect to which the International Committee did not feel itself sufficiently informed. Just how far was the American Government disposed to accept the services of this society? We have often said, and we repeat it, that a society which would be exposed, for the want of a previous understanding, to find itself forbidden access to its own army in case of war, would be at fault fundamentally, and would not be qualified to take its place in the International concert. Further upon this point Miss Barton and themembers of the American Central Committee, sought to enter into our views. They conferred with the competent authorities. The desired recognition was very difficult to obtain, for it was contrary to American customs and traditions. It was, nevertheless, accomplished after considerable discussion. On this point Miss Barton has stated to us that the government, in acquiescing in the decision which had been expressed, was entering upon a path altogether new, and that the official recognition of the Red Cross Society was for the latter a very exceptional honor.
Certain documents resulted therefrom which have been communicated to us directly by the Secretary of State, at Washington, showing:
1st. That the American Association of the Red Cross has been legally constituted by an Act of Congress.
2d. That President Arthur has declared himself in full sympathy with the work, and very willingly has accepted the presidency of the Board of Consultation.
3d. That the principal members of the cabinet have consented to become members of a board of trustees, empowered to receive subscriptions and to hold the funds for the society.
4th. Finally, that Congress unanimously, without discussion or opposition, has voted a sum of one thousand dollars, to be expended by the government in printed matter, designed to inform the people of the United States of the organization of the Red Cross. The initiation of this last measure was not the work of the society but of the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate; consequently it bears witness to the spontaneous impulse with which the Houses of Congress came into accord with the views of Miss Barton.
We must add that the International Committee attaches so much the more importance to the fact that this society took an official position, because there was created, at nearly the same time in the United States, two other institutions, claiming to pursue a similar object, but of which the Committee of Geneva is absolutely ignorant. One, called “The Woman’s National Relief Association,” which concerns itself with all public calamities, among other things with the calamities of war, but more especially with shipwrecks, and has for its distinctive emblem a blue anchor; the other has taken the name of “The Order of the Red Cross.” Dr. James Saunders is the president of it, with the title “Supreme Commander.” This order proposes to organize more or less in a military way and appears desirous of imitating the orders of chivalry in ancient times.
The American Central Committee of the Red Cross has its seat at Washington, but has already founded branches in other localities, at Dansville, Rochester, Syracuse, etc. Soon, doubtless, cities of the first class will also take their turn.
We will give in our next bulletin the complete text of the constitution and by-laws of the American society, which, as will be seen, has not believed it ought to limit its program to assistance in case of war, but has comprised within it, in conformity with a suggestion of the conference at Berlin, the other great calamities which might befall the country and its inhabitants.
As for ourselves, we have greeted with joy the addition of the United States to the countries already enrolled under the Red Cross; it is for our work an important and long desired reinforcement, and we doubt not our impressions in this regard will be shared by the twenty-eight central committees to which we address these lines.
We also hope that next year some representatives of the American society will cross the Atlantic in order to fraternize with the delegates of the other nations, who will certainly be happy to meet them at the conference at Vienna.
Receive, gentlemen, the assurances of our distinguished consideration.
For the International Committee of the Red Cross.
President:G. Moynier.
Secretary:G. Ador.
The foregoing pages deal only with the official history of the Red Cross and its inauguration in this country, closing with the accession of the United States to the Treaty and its promulgation in 1882. The original formation of the Red Cross was had previous to the adoption of the Treaty by the government, and, indeed, primarily for that very purpose. That was the corner-stone upon which rested the entire structure of the Red Cross in America at that date, and constituted almost entirely the work undertaken by it to perform.
During the first ten years of the existence of the organization it had accomplished all that had been promised, and a great deal more; and had proved the utility of its work on almost continuous fields of national calamity of the character defined in the “American Amendment” to the Treaty. But the American government had not given the Red Cross the official recognition that it desired and was entitled to; and it could not take its appropriate place by the government of which it was so eminently a part. As long as government provides for war, so long must it recognize its adopted twin sister of peace, the Red Cross; as long as it finds it necessary to deliberately mutilate men, so long should it take part in healing them.
In order to strengthen the organization, and make its influence more widely felt, the members decided to adopt a plan that would enable them to work on a somewhat broader basis; accordingly, on April 17, 1893, the Red Cross was reincorporated and has continued its labors up to the present time under the provisions of the instrument a copy of which follows:
Know all men by these presents, that we, Clara Barton, Julian B. Hubbell, Stephen E. Barton, Peter V. DeGraw and George Kennan, all being persons of full age, citizens of the United States, and a majority residents of the District of Columbia, being desirous of forming an association to carry on the benevolent and humane work of “The Red Cross” in accordance with the Articles of the International Treaty of Geneva, Switzerland, entered into on the twenty-second day of August, 1864, and adopted by the Government of the United States on the first day of March, 1882, and also in accordance with the broader scope given to the humane work of said treaty by “The American Association of the Red Cross,” and known as “The American Amendment,” whereby the suffering incident to great floods, famines, epidemics, conflagrations, cyclones, or other disasters of national magnitude, may be ameliorated by the administering of necessary relief; and being desirous of continuing the noble work heretofore performed by “The American Association of the Red Cross,” incorporated in the District of Columbia for the purpose of securing the adoption of the said Treaty of Geneva by the United States, for benevolent and charitable purposes, and to co-operate with the Comite International de Secours aux Militaires Blesses.Now, therefore, for the purpose of creating ourselves, our associates and successors, a body politic and corporate in name and in fact, we do hereby associate ourselves together under and by virtue of sections 545, 546, 547, 548, 549 and 550 of the Revised Statutes of the United States relating to the District of Columbia, as amended and in force at this time; and do make, sign and acknowledge this Certificate of Incorporation, as follows, to wit:First.—The name by which this association shall be known in law is: “The American National Red Cross.”Second.—The principal office of the association shall be in the City of Washington, District of Columbia.Third.—The term of its existence shall be fifty years from the date of this certificate.Fourth.—The objects of this association shall be, in addition to the purposes set forth in the above preamble, as follows, to wit:1. To garner the store materials, articles, supplies, moneys, or property of whatsoever name or nature, and to maintain a system of national relief and administer the same in the mitigation of human suffering incident to war, pestilence, famine, flood, or other calamities.2. To hold itself in readiness for communicating and co-operating with the Government of the United States, or any Department thereof, or with the “Comite International de Secours aux Militaires Blesses,” of Geneva, Switzerland, to the end that the merciful provisions of the said “International Treaty of Geneva” may be more wisely and effectually carried out.3. To collect and diffuse information concerning the progress and application of mercy, the organization of national relief, the advancement of sanitary science and the training and preparation of nurses or others necessary in the application of such work.4. To carry on and transact any business, consistent with law, that may be necessary or desirable in the fulfillment of any or all of the objects and purposes hereinbefore set forth.5. The affairs and funds of the corporation shall be controlled and managed by a Board of Directors, and the number of the directors for the first year of the corporation’s existence, and until their successors are lawfully elected and qualified, is five, and their names and addresses are as follows, to wit:Clara Barton, Washington, D.C.; Peter V. DeGraw, Washington, D.C.; Dr. Julian B. Hubbell, Washington, D.C.; Dr. Joseph Gardner, Bedford, Ind., and Stephen E. Barton, Newtonville, Mass.The names and addresses of the full membership of the association, who shall be designated as charter members, are as follows, to wit:Clara Barton, Washington, D.C.; Hon. William Lawrence, Bellefontaine, Ohio; Peter V. DeGraw, Washington, D.C.; George Kennan, Washington, D.C.; Dr. Julian B. Hubbell, Washington, D.C.; Colonel Richard J. Hinton, Washington, D.C.; Mrs. Henry V. Boynton, Washington, D.C.; Rev. Rush R. Shippen, Washington, D.C.; Rev. Alexander Kent, Washington, D.C.; Rev. William Merritt Ferguson, Washington, D.C.; General Edward W. Whitaker, Washington, D.C.; Joseph E. Holmes, Washington, D.C.; Mrs. Peter V. DeGraw, Washington, D.C.; Mrs. George Kennan, Washington, D.C.; Mrs. R. Delavan Mussey, Washington, D.C.; Mrs. Omar D. Conger, Washington, D.C.; A.S. Solomons, Washington, D.C.; Walter P. Phillips; New York, N.Y.; Joseph Sheldon, New Haven, Conn.; John H. Van Wormer, New York, N.Y.; Albert C. Phillips, New York, N.Y.; Mrs. Walter P. Phillips, New York, N.Y.; Mrs. Joseph Gardner, Bedford, Ind.; Dr. Joseph Gardner, Bedford, Ind.; Miss Mary E. Almon, Newport, R.I.; Dr. Lucy Hall-Brown, Brooklyn, N.Y.; John H. Morlan, Bedford, Ind., and Stephen E. Barton, Newtonville, Mass. But the corporation shall have power to increase its membership in accordance with by-laws to be adopted.In witness whereof, we have hereto subscribed our names and affixed our seals in triplicate, at the City of Washington, District of Columbia, this seventeenth day of April, A.D. 1893.Witness:Stephen E. Barton,Clara Barton,Julian B. Hubbell,P.V. DeGraw.George Kennan,S.G. Hopkins,F.H. Smith,(Seal.)I, S.G. Hopkins, a Notary Public in and for the said District of Columbia, do hereby certify that Clara Barton, Julian B. Hubbell, Stephen E. Barton, P.V. DeGraw and George Kennan, whose names are signed to the foregoing and annexed “Certificate of Incorporation of the American National Red Cross” bearing date of April 17, A.D. 1893, personally appeared before me, in the said District of Columbia, the said Clara Barton, Julian B. Hubbell, Stephen E. Barton, P.V. DeGraw and George Kennan, being personally well known to me as the persons who executed the said certificate, and each and all acknowledged the same to be his, her and their act and deed for the purpose therein mentioned.Given under my hand and official seal, this seventeenth day of April, A.D. 1893.(Signed.)S.G. Hopkins,Notary Public.
Know all men by these presents, that we, Clara Barton, Julian B. Hubbell, Stephen E. Barton, Peter V. DeGraw and George Kennan, all being persons of full age, citizens of the United States, and a majority residents of the District of Columbia, being desirous of forming an association to carry on the benevolent and humane work of “The Red Cross” in accordance with the Articles of the International Treaty of Geneva, Switzerland, entered into on the twenty-second day of August, 1864, and adopted by the Government of the United States on the first day of March, 1882, and also in accordance with the broader scope given to the humane work of said treaty by “The American Association of the Red Cross,” and known as “The American Amendment,” whereby the suffering incident to great floods, famines, epidemics, conflagrations, cyclones, or other disasters of national magnitude, may be ameliorated by the administering of necessary relief; and being desirous of continuing the noble work heretofore performed by “The American Association of the Red Cross,” incorporated in the District of Columbia for the purpose of securing the adoption of the said Treaty of Geneva by the United States, for benevolent and charitable purposes, and to co-operate with the Comite International de Secours aux Militaires Blesses.
Now, therefore, for the purpose of creating ourselves, our associates and successors, a body politic and corporate in name and in fact, we do hereby associate ourselves together under and by virtue of sections 545, 546, 547, 548, 549 and 550 of the Revised Statutes of the United States relating to the District of Columbia, as amended and in force at this time; and do make, sign and acknowledge this Certificate of Incorporation, as follows, to wit:
First.—The name by which this association shall be known in law is: “The American National Red Cross.”
Second.—The principal office of the association shall be in the City of Washington, District of Columbia.
Third.—The term of its existence shall be fifty years from the date of this certificate.
Fourth.—The objects of this association shall be, in addition to the purposes set forth in the above preamble, as follows, to wit:
1. To garner the store materials, articles, supplies, moneys, or property of whatsoever name or nature, and to maintain a system of national relief and administer the same in the mitigation of human suffering incident to war, pestilence, famine, flood, or other calamities.
2. To hold itself in readiness for communicating and co-operating with the Government of the United States, or any Department thereof, or with the “Comite International de Secours aux Militaires Blesses,” of Geneva, Switzerland, to the end that the merciful provisions of the said “International Treaty of Geneva” may be more wisely and effectually carried out.
3. To collect and diffuse information concerning the progress and application of mercy, the organization of national relief, the advancement of sanitary science and the training and preparation of nurses or others necessary in the application of such work.
4. To carry on and transact any business, consistent with law, that may be necessary or desirable in the fulfillment of any or all of the objects and purposes hereinbefore set forth.
5. The affairs and funds of the corporation shall be controlled and managed by a Board of Directors, and the number of the directors for the first year of the corporation’s existence, and until their successors are lawfully elected and qualified, is five, and their names and addresses are as follows, to wit:
Clara Barton, Washington, D.C.; Peter V. DeGraw, Washington, D.C.; Dr. Julian B. Hubbell, Washington, D.C.; Dr. Joseph Gardner, Bedford, Ind., and Stephen E. Barton, Newtonville, Mass.
The names and addresses of the full membership of the association, who shall be designated as charter members, are as follows, to wit:
Clara Barton, Washington, D.C.; Hon. William Lawrence, Bellefontaine, Ohio; Peter V. DeGraw, Washington, D.C.; George Kennan, Washington, D.C.; Dr. Julian B. Hubbell, Washington, D.C.; Colonel Richard J. Hinton, Washington, D.C.; Mrs. Henry V. Boynton, Washington, D.C.; Rev. Rush R. Shippen, Washington, D.C.; Rev. Alexander Kent, Washington, D.C.; Rev. William Merritt Ferguson, Washington, D.C.; General Edward W. Whitaker, Washington, D.C.; Joseph E. Holmes, Washington, D.C.; Mrs. Peter V. DeGraw, Washington, D.C.; Mrs. George Kennan, Washington, D.C.; Mrs. R. Delavan Mussey, Washington, D.C.; Mrs. Omar D. Conger, Washington, D.C.; A.S. Solomons, Washington, D.C.; Walter P. Phillips; New York, N.Y.; Joseph Sheldon, New Haven, Conn.; John H. Van Wormer, New York, N.Y.; Albert C. Phillips, New York, N.Y.; Mrs. Walter P. Phillips, New York, N.Y.; Mrs. Joseph Gardner, Bedford, Ind.; Dr. Joseph Gardner, Bedford, Ind.; Miss Mary E. Almon, Newport, R.I.; Dr. Lucy Hall-Brown, Brooklyn, N.Y.; John H. Morlan, Bedford, Ind., and Stephen E. Barton, Newtonville, Mass. But the corporation shall have power to increase its membership in accordance with by-laws to be adopted.
In witness whereof, we have hereto subscribed our names and affixed our seals in triplicate, at the City of Washington, District of Columbia, this seventeenth day of April, A.D. 1893.
Witness:
Stephen E. Barton,Clara Barton,Julian B. Hubbell,P.V. DeGraw.George Kennan,S.G. Hopkins,F.H. Smith,(Seal.)
Stephen E. Barton,Clara Barton,Julian B. Hubbell,P.V. DeGraw.
Stephen E. Barton,
Clara Barton,
Julian B. Hubbell,
P.V. DeGraw.
George Kennan,S.G. Hopkins,F.H. Smith,
George Kennan,
S.G. Hopkins,
F.H. Smith,
(Seal.)
(Seal.)
I, S.G. Hopkins, a Notary Public in and for the said District of Columbia, do hereby certify that Clara Barton, Julian B. Hubbell, Stephen E. Barton, P.V. DeGraw and George Kennan, whose names are signed to the foregoing and annexed “Certificate of Incorporation of the American National Red Cross” bearing date of April 17, A.D. 1893, personally appeared before me, in the said District of Columbia, the said Clara Barton, Julian B. Hubbell, Stephen E. Barton, P.V. DeGraw and George Kennan, being personally well known to me as the persons who executed the said certificate, and each and all acknowledged the same to be his, her and their act and deed for the purpose therein mentioned.
Given under my hand and official seal, this seventeenth day of April, A.D. 1893.
(Signed.)S.G. Hopkins,Notary Public.
Immediately following our accession to the Treaty of Geneva, March 1, 1882, the president of the Red Cross was asked by the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate, to prepare a history of the Red Cross for publication by them through the government printing office. This was done, and a book of two hundred and twenty-seven pages was issued, giving an account of the origin of the organization, the steps by which it became a treaty, of our own initiation, and not only the exact text by which our accession was made, but that of every other nation within the treaty up to that time, 1882.
A bill for a reprint by Congress of fifty thousand copies of this book was lost in the session of 1898 through lack of time.
No consecutive book has been published by us since that date, but the history has been perhaps even more fully told, and that scores of times, in public addresses which its president and assistants have been called to make before great assemblies, selections from some of which will appear in this volume, as the fullest information given in the most compact manner that we can render in the short space of time allotted us.
The very title of the organization, viz.: “Relief in War,” has been a misnomer, and through all the early years especially was very generally misunderstood by the public. I have not unfrequently been invited and innocently urged to attend peace meetings and large charity gatherings for the poor and afflicted on the ground of needing instruction myself; inasmuch as I “was engaged in advocating war, wouldn’t it be well to hear something on the other side?” And I have been invited to become party to a discussion in which the merits of peace and war should be compared.
Large organizations of women, the best in the country, and, I believe, the best in the world, have faithfully labored with me to merge the Red Cross into their society as a part of woman’s work; without the smallest conception or realization of its scope, its international character, its treaty obligations, and the official ground it was liable at any time to be called to occupy.
Many charming invitations, from ladies even more charming, to address their convention or meeting, have still contained some well chosen word which might imply a question, if indeed the Red Cross really were the humane and philanthropic institution it claimed to be; naturally the address usually dealt with the question as it was put.
I name these facts as mere relics of the past, amusing now, but instructive to you of the present day (when no child even questions the motives of the Red Cross), as showing what it had to meet and live through in order to live at all.
In order to show the enthusiastic devotees of the present year how questionable the beneficence of the Red Cross appeared to the best people only a few years ago, I introduce the following address, read, by request, before a congress of women, 1895 or 1896, hoping that the charitably disposed reader will understand and appreciate the state of mind engendered by the title of the request made, and forgive any seeming acerbity:
I am asked to say something upon the “Significance of the Red Cross in its Relation to Philanthropy.” I am not sure that I understand precisely what is desired.
If a morning paper should announce that three or four of the greatest political bosses or greatest railroad kings in the country had quietly met somewhere, and sat with closed doors till long after midnight, and then silently departed, people would ask, “What is the significance of that? What mischief have they been devising in secret?” In that sense of the word,significance—which is a very common one—the Red Cross has none that I ever heard of. It has no rich offices to bestow, no favorites to reward, no enemies to punish. It has no secrets to keep, no mystic word or sign. Its proceedings would, and do, make a valuable library, accessible to all men and all women from Norway to New Zealand.
I will not say that it is so simple and common in character that he who runs may read, but surely she who desires information can sit down, read and obtain it. The Red Cross has been quietly doing itswork for thirty years and is now established in forty independent nations. No other institution on earth, not even Christianity, has a public recognition so nearly universal. None has ever adhered more closely to its one single purpose of alleviating human suffering. Has that any significance or any connection with philanthropy? Let us see.
An institution or reform movement that is not selfish, must originate in the recognition of some evil that is adding to the sum of human suffering, or diminishing the sum of happiness. I suppose it is a philanthropic movement to try to reverse the process. Christianity, temperance and sanitary regulations in general are examples. Great evils die hard; and all that has yet been done is to keep them within as narrow limits as possible. Of these great evils, war is one. War is in its very nature cruel—the very embodiment of cruelty in its effects—not necessarily in the hearts of the combatants. Baron Macaulay thought it not a mitigation but an aggravation of the evil, that men of tender culture and humane feelings, with no ill will, should stand up and kill each other. But men do not go to war to save life. They might save life by keeping the peace and staying at home. They go solely with intent to inflict so much pain, loss and disaster on the enemy that he will yield to their terms. All their powers to hurt are focused upon him.
In a moving army the elements of destruction, armed men and munitions of war, have the right of way; and the means of preserving and sustaining even their own lives are left to bring up the rear as they best can. Hence, when the shock and crash of battle is over, and troops are advancing or retreating and all roads are blocked, and the medical staff trying to force its way through with supplies, prompt and adequate relief can scarcely ever reach the wounded. The darkness of night comes down upon them like a funeral pall, as they lie in their blood, tortured with thirst and traumatic fever. The memory of such scenes set a kindly Swiss gentleman to thinking of ways and means for alleviating their horrors. In time, and by efforts whose history must be familiar to many of you, there resulted the Geneva Convention for the relief of the sick and wounded of armies. I shall not trace its history, as it seems to be more to the present purpose to explain briefly what it proposed to do, and how it proceeded to do it.
The convention found two prime evils to consider. First, the existence of war itself; second, the vast amount of needless cruelty it inflicted upon its victims. For the first of these, with the world fullof standing armies, every boundary line of nations fixed and held by the sword, and the traditions of four thousand years behind its customs, the framers of the convention, however earnest and devoted, could scarcely hope to find an immediate, if indeed, a perceptible mitigation. Only time, prolonged effort, national economics, universal progress and the pressure of public opinion could ever hope to grapple with this monster evil of the ages.
But the second—if it were not possible to dispense with the needless cruelties heretofore inflicted upon the victims of war, thus relieving human misery to that extent, seemed to the framers of the convention a reasonable question to be considered. This is what it proposed to do. A few sentences will explain how it proceeded to do it.
A convention was called at Geneva, Switzerland, for the fourth of August, 1864, to be composed of delegates accredited by the heads of the governments of the world, who should discuss the practices of war and ascertain to what extent the restraints of the established military code in its dealing with the sick and wounded of armies were needful for the benefit of the service; and to what extent they were needless, of benefit to no one, causing only suffering, of no strength to the service, and might be done away with; and to what extent war-making powers could agree to enter into a legal compact to that end. The consideration, discussion and concessions of two weeks produced a proposed agreement which took the form of a compound treaty, viz: A treaty of one government with many governments—the first ever made—a compact known as the Treaty of Geneva, for the relief of the sick and wounded in war.
Its basis was neutrality. It made neutral all sick, wounded, or disabled soldiers at a field; all persons, as surgeons, nurses and attendants, who cared for them; all supplies of medicine or food for their use; all field and military hospitals with their equipments; all gifts from neutral nations for the use of the sick and wounded of any army; all houses near a battlefield that would receive and nurse wounded men: none of these should be subject to capture. It provided for the sending of wounded men to their homes, rather than to prison; that friend and foe should be nursed together and alike in all military hospitals; and, most of all, that the people who had always been forcibly restrained from approaching any field of action for purposes of relief, however needed (with the single exception of our Sanitary Commission, and that under great difficulties and often under protest) should not only be allowed this privilege, but should arm and equip themselveswith relief of all kinds, with the right to enter the lines for the helpless; thus relieving not alone the wounded and dying, but the armies of their care.
It provided a universal sign by which all this relief, both of persons and material, should be designated and known. A Greek red cross on a field of white should tell any soldier of any country within the treaty that the wearer was his friend and could be trusted; and to any officer of any army that he was legitimately there and not subject to capture.
Some forty nations are in that treaty, and from every military hospital in every one of these nations floats the same flag; and every active soldier in all their armies knows that he can neither capture nor harm the shelter beneath it, though it be but a little “A” tent in the enemy’s lines, and every disabled man knows it is his rescue and his home.
It may be interesting to know the formula of this compact. It recognizes one head, the International Committee of Geneva, Switzerland, through which all communications are made. One national head in each country which receives such communications, transmitting them to its government. The ratifying power of the treaty is the Congress of Berne. The organization in each nation receives from its government its high moral sanction and recognition, but is in no way supported or materially aided by it.The Red Cross means not national aid for the needs of the people, but the people’s aid for the needs of the nation.The awakening patriotism of the last few years should, I think, make this feature more readily apprehended.
As the foreign nations furnish the only illustrations of the value and material aid of the Red Cross in war, let us glance at what it has accomplished.
The first important war after the birth of the Treaty of Geneva, was between Germany, Italy and Austria. Austria had not, at that time, entered the treaty, and yet its objects were understood and its spirit found a responsive chord in the hearts of the people. Over $400,000, beside a great amount of material, were collected by that country, and made use of for the relief of the combatants. Italy was fairly well organized and rendered excellent service, furnishing much substantial assistance. Germany, which was in the vanguard of the treaty nations, was thoroughly organized and equipped. She was the first to demonstrate the true idea of the Red Cross—people’s aid for national, for military, necessity. Great storehouses had been provided at central points, where vast supplies were collected. In anincredibly short time, between $3,000,000 and $4,000,000 were raised for relief purposes, and large numbers of volunteers came to help the already organized corps of workers. Great trains of supplies were sent to the front. The wounded enemy was tenderly cared for, and everything was accomplished so well and so systematically, that it proved the incalculable value of organized, authorized, civil aid. French and Swiss Red Cross workers also rendered great assistance, this being the first instance of neutrals taking an active part.
In the Franco-Prussian War the German Red Cross performed even better service, it having learned many valuable lessons in the German-Austrian conflict, and through their efforts an infinite amount of good was accomplished and great suffering averted. Not only were the wounded and sick soldiers tenderly cared for, but the unprovided families of soldiers were also supplied. The French Red Cross at the breaking out of the war was poorly organized and penniless. Within one month, however, hospitals had been established, ambulances and a large amount of field supplies were at the front, with a considerable relief force to care for the sick and wounded. The French Association, not including the branches in the provinces, spent over $2,000,000 and assisted 110,000 wounded. Many neutral Red Cross nations assisted in rendering aid and relief in this great war. England alone sent a million and a half dollars, besides twelve hundred cases of stores. Eighty-five thousand sick, wounded and famishing French soldiers entered Switzerland, and were cared for by the Central Committee at Berne. The International Committee at Geneva, in one instance, asked for and obtained 2500 seriously wounded French soldiers, supplied their wants, and sent them to their own country.
In the great Russo-Turkish War, the Red Cross of Russia, splendidly equipped, with ample means and royal patronage, was, at the beginning of hostilities, greatly hampered by the jealousy of the military. The relief organizations were assigned places well in the rear; but ere many months had passed the military surgeons gladly accepted the Red Cross aid, and colossal work did it perform. Over $13,000,000 were raised, and all that was necessary spent in supplying relief. The neutral Red Cross countries furnished valuable assistance in this war also.
In the recent war between Japan and China, you undoubtedly read of the wonderful work performed by the Japanese Red Cross. This society followed the precedent of Germany, in tenderly caring for the wounded enemy, even though fighting against a nation not in thetreaty. Japan had a cruel, merciless enemy to fight, and yet her soldiers were instructed to have respect even for a dead enemy.
It is needless to give further illustrations; history records the wonderful achievements of this greatest of relief organizations, though it cannot record the untold suffering which has been averted by it.
Is the Red Cross a humanitarian organization? What is the significance of the Red Cross? I leave these two questions for you to answer.
But war, although the most tragic, is not the only evil that assails humanity. War has occurred in the United States four times in one hundred and twenty years. Four times its men have armed and marched, and its women waited and wept. That is on an average of one war every thirty years. It is now a little over thirty years since the last hostile gun was fired; we fondly hope it may be many years before there is another. A machine, even a human machine, called into active service only once in thirty years is liable to get out of working order; hence to keep it in condition for use, no less than for the possible good it might do, the American Society of the Red Cross asked to have included in its charter the privilege of rendering such aid as it could in great public calamities, as fires, floods, cyclones, famines and pestilence.
In a time of profound peace that has been the only possible field of activity. It is not for me to say whether that field has been successfully cultivated, but a few of the facts will determine whether the innovation upon the treaty will commend itself to your judgment, as it has to those of the older societies of Europe.
Naturally it required not only diplomacy but arguments to obtain a privilege never before officially considered in the unbroken customs of an international treaty. They must be submitted to a foreign congress. The same argument pertained fifteen years ago that pertains to-day, namely, that in all our vast territory, subject to incalculable disasters, with all our charitable, humane and benevolent associations, there was not one which had for its object and duty to hold itself in preparation and training to meet and relieve the woes of these overmastering disasters. All would gladly aid, but there were none to lead. Everybody’s business was nobody’s business, and the stricken victims perished.
We asked that under the Red Cross Constitution of the United States its national organization should be permitted to act in the capacity of Red Cross relief agents, treating a national disaster like a field of battle, proceed to it at once with experienced help, equipped withall the needful supplies and means to commence relief, overlook and learn the needs of the field, make immediate statements of the true condition and wants to the people of the country, who, knowing the presence of the Red Cross there, could, if desirable, make it the medium of their contributions for relief either in money or material. To relieve the necessities in every way possible, keep the people at large in possession of reliable information, hold the field until relief has been given, and retire when all needed aid has been rendered. This privilege was graciously granted by the ratifying Congress at Berne, and is known as the “American amendment” of the Red Cross. Nations since that date, on becoming signatory to the treaty, have included that amendment in their charters.
This is the principle upon which we have acted. The affording of relief to the victims of great disasters anywhere in the United States, is what the National Red Cross has proceeded to do, and it has confined itself strictly to its privileges, acting only in disasters so great as to be national. It never asks aid; never makes an appeal; it simply makes statements of the real condition of the sufferers, leaving the people free to exercise their own humanity through any medium they may prefer.
In the thirteen years of relief work by the Red Cross in the United States, every dollar and every pound that has been received and distributed by it, has been the free-will offering of the people, given for humanity without solicitation, and dispensed without reward. It has received nothing from the government. No fund has been created for it. No contributions have been made except those to be distributed as relief at its fields. Its officers serve without pay. There is not, nor ever was, a salaried officer in it, and even its headquarters meets its own costs. Among the various appropriations made by Congress for relief of calamities in the past years, as in great river floods, not a dollar so appropriated has ever been applied through the Red Cross, although working on the same field. I name these facts, not by way of complaint, or even comment, but to correct popular errors of belief, which I know you would prefer to have corrected. True to its method, this is simply a statement of the real condition of things, and left to the choice of the people—the Red Cross itself is theirs, created for them, and it is peculiarly their privilege to deal with it as they will.
The following list of calamities with the approximate value of material furnished, as well as money, will give you some appreciation of the services rendered in the cause of humanity by the AmericanNational Red Cross. Limit of time and space forbids even an attempt at description of its various fields. I can only name the most important, with estimated values distributed on each:
Only about one-eighth of the above estimates represent cash; the balance represents material.
In each of these emergencies something has been added to the sum of human happiness, something subtracted from the sum of human woe; the naked have been clothed, the hungry fed, new homes have sprung up from the desolated ruins, crops revived, and activities and business relations resumed. In a neighboring State and its adjacent islands scarcely two hundred miles distant from this, could to-day be found several thousand human beings, living in their homes, enjoying their family lives, following their ordinary avocations, cultivating the ground, who, if asked, would unhesitatingly tell you that but for the help of the Red Cross, they would two years ago have been under the ground they now cultivate.
If the alleviation of human miseries, the saving of life, and the bringing of helplessness and dependence back to methods of self-sustenance and independence are counted among the philanthropic movements of the day, then to us, who have seen so much and worked so long and so hard among it, it would seem that the RedCross movement has some “significance” in connection with philanthropy.
There remains but one question more. To whom is this movement due? Who instituted it? In what minds did it originate? I wish I could say it was all woman’s work; but the truth compels the fact that this great, humane idea originated with men; the movement was instituted by them. They thought it out, and they wrought it out, and it was only meet and proper that they should, for the terrible evil that made it necessary was theirs as well. Women as a rule are not war-makers. For centuries the caprices of men have plunged the world in strife, covered the earth’s surface with armies, and enriched its soil with the best blood that ever flowed in human veins. It is only right that at length, in the cycle of ages, something should touch man’s heart and set him humbly down to find out some way of mending as much of his mischief as he could. Perhaps he “builded better than he knew,” for in that one effort he touched the spring that sooner or later will mend it all. No grander or truer prophecy has ever been made than uttered in that first convention: “The Red Cross shall teach war to make war upon itself.” It is the most practical and effective peace-maker and civilizer in the known world. It reaches where nothing else can. If proof of this be wanting, study the action of Japan in its late war.
But is man doing this work alone? No—gladly, no! Scarcely had he made his first move, when the jeweled hands of royal woman glistened beside him, and right royally have they borne their part. Glance at the galaxy—the great leader and exemplar of them all, Empress Augusta of Germany, her illustrious daughter, the Grand Duchess of Baden, Eugenia, Empress Frederick, Victoria and Princess Louise of England, Margherita of Italy, Natalia of Servia and the entire Court of Russia, and to-day the present Empress of Germany, and the hard-working Empress of Japan, with her faithful, weary court, even now busy in the hospitals of convalescing Chinese. The various auxiliary societies of women of all the principal Red Cross nations are a pride and a glory to humanity.
These nations have all two important features in their movement, which, thus far, have not been accorded to us. Their governments have instituted laws protecting the insignia and name of the Red Cross from misuse and abuse as trademarks by unscrupulous venders, and appropriation by false societies for dishonest purposes. This lack, and this alone, has thus far rendered general organization in the UnitedStates impracticable and unsafe. For seven years the most strenuous efforts at protection have failed; the loss has been to the people in general.
The second advantage of other nations is that citizens, the men of wealth in those countries, have created a Red Cross fund for its use, varying in amounts from a hundred thousand to several millions of dollars. Russia, I believe, has a fund of some three millions. It seems never to have occurred to our wealth-burdened men that possibly a little satisfaction might be gained, some good accomplished, and some credit done the nation by a step in that direction. It will dawn upon them some day, not, perhaps, in mine, but in some of yours, and then, ladies, you can well join hands with them, and discern more clearly than now the “significance of the Red Cross as related to philanthropy.”
It may be necessary to recall to the mind of the person reading these pages hastily, the fact that the National Red Cross of America was formed nearly a year before the accession to the treaty. This was done by the advice of President Garfield, in order to aid as far as possible the accession. “Accordingly a meeting was held in Washington, D.C., May 21, 1881, which resulted in the formation of an association to be known as the American National Association of the Red Cross.”
Several years of previous illness on the part of its president had resulted in fixing her country home at Dansville, N.Y., the seat of the great Jackson and Austin Sanitarium and the acknowledged foundation of the hundreds of health institutions of that kind which bless the country to-day. The establishment of the National Red Cross in Washington had attracted the attention of persons outside, who, of course, knew very little of it; but among others, the people of Dansville, the home of the president, felt that if she were engaged in some public movement, they too might at least offer to aid. Accordingly, on her return to them in midsummer, they waited upon her with a request to that effect, which resulted in the formation of a society of the Red Cross, this being the first body in aid of the National Association formed in the United States. It is possible I cannot make that more clear than by giving an extract from their report of that date, which was as follows:
In reply to your request, given through the secretary of your association, that we make report to you concerning the inauguration of our society, its subsequent proceedings and present condition, the committee has the honor to submit the following statement:Dansville, Livingston County, N.Y., being the country residence of Miss Clara Barton, president of the American Association of the Red Cross, its citizens, desirous of paying a compliment to her, and at the same time of doing an honor to themselves, conceived the idea of organizing in their town the first local society ofthe Red Cross in the United States. To this end, a general preliminary meeting was held in the Presbyterian Church, when the principles of the Treaty of Geneva and the nature of its societies were defined in a clear and practical manner by Miss Barton, who had been invited to address the meeting. Shortly after, on the twenty-second of August, 1881, a second meeting, for the purpose of organization, held in the Lutheran Church and presided over by the pastor, Rev. Dr. Strobel, was attended by the citizens generally, including nearly all the religious denominations of the town, with their respective pastors. The purpose of the meeting was explained by your president, a constitution was presented and very largely signed, and officers were elected.Thus we are able to announce that on the eighteenth anniversary of the Treaty of Geneva, in Switzerland, August 22, 1864, was formed the first local society of the Red Cross in the United States of America.
In reply to your request, given through the secretary of your association, that we make report to you concerning the inauguration of our society, its subsequent proceedings and present condition, the committee has the honor to submit the following statement:
Dansville, Livingston County, N.Y., being the country residence of Miss Clara Barton, president of the American Association of the Red Cross, its citizens, desirous of paying a compliment to her, and at the same time of doing an honor to themselves, conceived the idea of organizing in their town the first local society ofthe Red Cross in the United States. To this end, a general preliminary meeting was held in the Presbyterian Church, when the principles of the Treaty of Geneva and the nature of its societies were defined in a clear and practical manner by Miss Barton, who had been invited to address the meeting. Shortly after, on the twenty-second of August, 1881, a second meeting, for the purpose of organization, held in the Lutheran Church and presided over by the pastor, Rev. Dr. Strobel, was attended by the citizens generally, including nearly all the religious denominations of the town, with their respective pastors. The purpose of the meeting was explained by your president, a constitution was presented and very largely signed, and officers were elected.
Thus we are able to announce that on the eighteenth anniversary of the Treaty of Geneva, in Switzerland, August 22, 1864, was formed the first local society of the Red Cross in the United States of America.
Almost immediately following this occurred the memorable forest fires of Michigan, which raged for days, sweeping everything before them—man, beast, forests, farms—every living thing, until in one report made of it we find this sentence: “So sweeping has been the destruction that there is not food left in its track for a rabbit to eat, and, indeed, no rabbit to eat it, if there were.” Here occurred the first opportunity for work that the young society had found, and again I give without further note their report: