The Red Cross in Peace and War

Could the story of these sufferers be individually told there would not be wanting subject matter of much interest; in many cases the thrilling, tender, or romantic element stands forth.

Perhaps one of the most romantic instances is that of a young American. A fine specimen of manhood as he stood before me and quietly told me his story, led on by my interest and questioning: tall, erect, well-knit and seasoned to meet emergencies; a refined, open, strong face, a well poised head; one felt the real courage in the man. Over three years ago, led by high hopes inspired by the cause of suffering Cuba, as set forth in our land of free press agency, and fanned to a holy flame by the pen of a ready writer, he set out with the zeal of a crusader to plant the ensign of true liberty. A handful of comrades they were with hopes high, burning to do a righteous deed.

Landed upon Cuban soil at evening, this little body of men was embraced by the natives; on the morrow these new-found friends had looted even the luggage of their would-be helpers. The life of frontier warfare began; in combat the Americans were always given the exposed positions of danger, and were accordingly picked off one by one.

Over a year ago, the friend of this young hero was dangerously wounded in the hip. A Cuban operation was performed; finally a piece of bone has worked itself out from the injured hip. The condition of the injured man becoming serious; food, medicines and clothing growing less; no possibility of carrying the injured man to find help, the case became desperate, and for his comrade’s sake, the young warrior started overland to Santiago, a distance of some three hundred miles, in quest of aid. He, a young French captain and two servants made up the little caravan for this journey.

Any one who has experienced Cuban roads in the rainy season can imagine what such a journey means through woods and marsh, over mountains and across burning plains. That he was not to be daunted he proved by safely reaching Santiago. Horses had to be discarded and the journey over the mountains made on foot. Tales of destitution and suffering he brought from all the country through which he came. People were so scantily clad that they could not come out to offer a glass of water. Lands laid waste where the guerilla force had swept by like a swarm of locusts and had left nothing but desolation behind. It was, indeed, a pleasure to give of our stores such as the young officer could venture to carry upon that hazardous return journey, unarmed, for even his weapons had been stolen, and his recital in Santiago of his experiences had caused scowling looks from under drawn brows. His hope was to get his wounded comrade home, or at least where surgical aid may be had before it is too late.

One of the thrilling tales is that of Marco Sancho, a Cuban warrior, who was brought in to be clothed. He had been in the country whither he had deserted from the Spanish ranks to join the Cubans. While one of the Red Cross staff had been making an overland tour of this province he had discovered the man and had told him to come to Santiago for medical treatment. He came with a companion. There his former captain, a Spaniard, discovered him, had him arrested, threatened him with death when he was returned to Spain. Fortunately the Cuban bethought himself of the Red Cross physician and sent word to him of this peril. At the jail the prisoner was brought out between two guardsmen. A needless precaution one would think to see the diminutive form of the man.

The Spanish captain was over-confident of his right to punish his soldier. The thought was suggested that he, a prisoner himself, had no right to punish a man, who by birth a Cuban, had served in his country’s cause. Pompously he could not see it until by the persuasion of General Wood’s order to liberate the man at once, he became servilely humble. Marco Sancho was so rejoiced at his escape from horrors untried, that his agile little framework expressed his entire satisfaction in the situation by turning a complete somersault.

The tender side to hard soldier life is not wanting. A young lieutenant, refined yet every inch a soldier and a gentleman, with a something indefinably fine above the common lot of man, brought in a little Cuban lad of eight years. He had lost his mother five years ago, and in the encounter in July his father had been killed. Three officers had adopted the boy, and were about to take him North when they returned. The difficulty of introducing a Cuban lad into our civilization habilitated after the fashion and condition of his native land faced them, when they bethought themselves of the resources of the Red Cross. The boy himself was a pitiful object; he had had the fever, the results of which had left him with a partial paralysis in the hips; he seemed out of physical proportion; his bright, intelligent eyes, and that peculiar pathetic soprano of the voices of many of the children in Cuba made him a strangely picturesque figure. But the manly tenderness of the young officer as he did the little offices of the toilet for the lad, the unconsciously gentle tone of his voice as he spoke, the kindly gleam of his eye as it lighted upon the boy, made a picture not to be forgotten. As they rolled away in one of the quaintly primitive-looking Cuban carriages, the front seat stacked with gifts, the little fellow delightfully spick and span, and confidingly trustful of his future in the hands of his youthful protector who sat beside him, one felt a quickening at the heart-strings to know what the adopted son of the regiment would become, how it would all turn out. Surely, so far as the boy is concerned, unusual opportunities have opened.

Contrasts stand ever quietly side by side, telling their story to him who will read, perhaps nowhere else more markedly than here in Cuba, where the conditions of life are most abnormal.

These few snap-shots at history, as it is making in these stirring times, show that even behind the closed doors of a wareroom, where the overlooking, assorting and repacking of cases of garments, which the kind hearts of people at home have prompted them to send, is not without its human, vital interest. Meanwhile the work goes steadily on; as each case is repacked, it is nailed up. A Red Cross label is pasted on, below the label its contents are duly noted in blue pencil, and the box is neatly piled, with like cases and barrels, ready to be sent out to the commissioners, the hospitals, orphanages, medical clinic, outlying towns whenever the call may come.

Fifty-eight barrels and fifty cases of clothing were put on the “Clinton” to be taken to Havana. A hundred and eight cases and barrels have been distributed. About six hundred cases are left in the warerooms of Casa Buena, there to be distributed by the commission of ladies who have consented to give out this clothing to the needy. Three hundred and ninety-eight cases were opened, sorted and repacked, making a total of about 800 cases, mainly from the cargo of the “State of Texas.”

THE RED CROSS OF OTHER NATIONS.
THEIR SYMPATHY AND ACTIVE CO-OPERATION.

It is with feelings of pleasure and satisfaction that I record the fact that the Red Cross of the United States is, in its relations with all the foreign branches of the International Society, on terms of mutual confidence and esteem; and that the utmost cordiality is maintained through a constant interchange of correspondence.

During many years, before our organization received the attention and official recognition in this country that it was entitled to, coming as it did with the prestige of a splendid record in Europe, and the patronage of the elite of the Old World, I was encouraged and strengthened by those friends of many nations, but of one humanity, to hold to the good work until the United States should place itself in the van of enlightenment and civilization, and catch step in the grand march onward to universal peace. Many times discouragement and despair battled with me; and but for the never-ending kindly words that bade me strive on, I fear I should have been inclined to give up the fight.

The American people are ever so active and full of the work of the present, that it is a hard matter to interest them in anything that may be of remote utility or even mercy. Certainly, no other people have quicker instincts or more generous impulses than they; and none respond with more alacrity and abundance with the need is present. It was almost an impossibility to make the average American believe that his country would ever go to war again; therefore, why should he trouble himself about war cares or appliances; there would be time enough to think about those things when war was threatened. Surely no one wanted to fight us. We, as a nation, attended to our own business, and didn’t interfere in the affairs of other nations; and thus were in no danger of getting into serious trouble with any one.

Of course, the history of the world was all against any such optimistic reasoning; but, then, it was said, America was a new country, and laid on peaceable lines; its intentions were good and honorable and would be respected; besides, it was so powerful and so remote from other nations that it was in no danger of attack under any circumstances. That was the kind of argument one met, when vouchsafed an opportunity to speak in behalf of the Red Cross. Fortunately, though, there were a few more thoughtful and reflecting people who could look ahead and see the dangers; who knew that, however carefully navigated, there were winds and tides that might veer from her course the good ship of state, and wreck or damage her on the rocks of discord. These few friends rallied to the support of the Red Cross, and stood by it through all the dark days; and now that it has received its “baptism of fire,” and the gracious acknowledgment of gratitude from the President of the United States, and the blessings of thousands upon thousands of the citizens and soldiers who have felt its beneficence, they feel, with its president, that there is at least some truth in the old saying that “all things come to him who waits.”

The alarm of war was all that was needed to bring the American people quickly to a realization of the necessity for the services of the Red Cross; and that necessity once recognized, they gave an unstinted support of themselves and their means. Had there been need for them, the Red Cross could easily have recruited an army of twenty-five thousand from the flower of American womanhood. Rich and poor alike gave their money freely; and doctors and nurses from every part of the country offered their services for no greater compensation than the privilege to serve suffering humanity.

To our friends of the Red Cross in Europe and in Asia—nearly all of the nations of which contributed liberally to our needs during the late war—we have no words that will adequately express our appreciation and gratitude for their timely aid; and if I fail to make proper acknowledgment it is because I am unable to say all that wells up to my heart for utterance. Let it suffice for me to say that the Americans are enthusiastic, affectionate, and appreciative; and a kindness once shown is never forgotten. God grant that other nations may not have to settle their differences by an appeal to arms; but should such an unhappy fate attend them, I can say with certainty, that the Red Cross of America will be only too happy to reciprocate the many kindnesses that have been equally shown to us and to our late opponents.

To the Red Cross of Spain we extend our loving hand, with the hope that our two nations shall never more be anything but the warmest friends. We know how our sister society suffered in this last struggle; and we, who labored under the banner of “humanity and neutrality”—we, who could harbor no animosity for a brave people struggling, as they were, for what they believed to be their rights—lent our assistance to its countrymen wherever we found them, on the fields, or in the prisons and hospitals; and it is our proud privilege to say that the Red Cross of Spain has officially recognized in a most graceful and welcome manner its high appreciation and gratitude for the good offices we were able to render in the line of our duty to its sick and wounded countrymen during the late war.

Remembering with heartfelt gratitude the munificence of Great Britain, Germany, Austria, Russia, Italy, Switzerland, Denmark, Belgium, Holland, Sweden, Norway, Greece, Turkey and India, I trust it will not appear invidious for me to especially commend two of their sister countries.

The Red Cross of France, acting in strict accordance with the principle of neutrality, gave generously and equally to the Red Cross societies of Spain and the United States for the benefit of the sick and wounded; while many of its private societies and citizens sent us substantial remembrances of the long-continued friendship that binds together the two countries. To all these we say: “God bless you; we shall not forget.”

Soon after the United States had declared war against Spain I received a letter from the Duke of Palmella, the President of the Portuguese Red Cross Society, in which he tendered the services of his society to act as a friendly intermediary between the societies of the belligerent powers. The geographical position of Portugal, being on the border of Spain, and the well-known neutrality of her people, made her the natural agency for this purpose; and as all mail facilities between Spain and the United States had ceased, we gladly availed ourselves of this opportunity to communicate with “our friend, the enemy.” Of course, the same offer was tendered to Spain and accepted by that country.

The prime reason for the duke’s suggestion was his desire to open a way for the prisoners of war of both countries to inform their relatives and friends of their condition and whereabouts. The arrangement worked perfectly, and many anxious hearts were saved from the rack of uncertainty; while others were informed of the sad fate that had befallen their loved ones. How well satisfied our Portuguese friends are with the service that was rendered is best told in the following copy of a letter received some time since:

TO THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES

Gentlemen:—While proceeding to lay before you the various measures to which I have taken the liberty of inviting your honored consideration, it may be well to refresh your memories in regard to the principles involved in the subject of the Red Cross; to recall how, under the treaty, it stands related to our government, and how, through the same feature, it relates us to other governments.

The code of ten articles, forming the international compact or Treaty of Geneva, pledges each nation which unites with it to certain methods of neutral action and humanity never before formally admitted by nations at war, and it removes, to the greatest possible extent, all needless severities hitherto practiced under their usages.

This treaty, said to be the first compound treaty ever formed, came into existence at Geneva, Switzerland, in 1864. It now includes some thirty governments. The first efforts towards our own adhesion were made with the Executive Department; but as it was thought that the text of the treaty called for some changes in the “Articles of War,” it was submitted to Congress, by which body the adhesion was made in February, 1882.

It ever remains an undisputed fact, that the medical department of an army never is, nor can be, made adequate to the needs of the sick and wounded of its battles. Hence the inevitable suffering of the men, the terrible anxiety and agony of friends at home, and the loss of countless lives.

The Red Cross creates an organized, neutral volunteer force, from the people, supplied by the people, but still subject to the regulations of the military in the field, recognized by and working in full accord with it, bringing all needed aid in the form of intelligent, disciplined assistants, and abundant supplies to the direct help and use of the medical department of an army, and with which department it works, as if belonging to it.

It created, with great care, an insignia to be the one known and recognized sign of neutrality in the relief of the sick and wounded of armies, and in the protection of the military hospital service, the world over.

This insignia, which has given its name to the treaty, has become universally known and respected. There is no other military hospital flag, and no other sign marks the relief designed for the succor of the wounded soldier, nor protects from capture or harm, either himself or the non-combatant who goes to administer. It is probable that no sign nor figure in the secular world is sacred to so many eyes as the Red Cross of Geneva.

This treaty takes its powers from the common consent of the united governments of the civilized world. Their rulers sign it. Its ratifications are officially made by the Congress of Berne, Switzerland. It recognizes no other features than the relief of the victims, and the mitigation of the horrors of war.

In its short life of twenty-five years it has assumed the conduct of the entire auxiliary relief work of the armies of the world. It has given rise to more valuable inventions, and under its humane impulses sanitary science has made rapid growth.

By common consent of the powers, at the formation of the treaty, the worthy body of Genevese gentlemen, who called and conducted the convention, was formed into an International Committee, through which only medium the various nations within the treaty communicate, and which holds the direction of all international relief in time of war. Each nation, upon its accession to the treaty, is requested to form a national committee, which committee shall constitute the medium by which the other governments, through the International Committee, may communicate with its government.

These national committees are usually presided over by officers very near the crown or high in authority; as, for instance, the national president of the Red Cross of Germany is Count Otto de Stolberg, who recently crowned young Emperor William. Of France, Marshal McMahon; of England, Lord Lindsay; of Belgium, the King himself.

Their patrons are always of the crown or royal families, as Empress Augusta of Germany, Victoria of England, Dagmar of Russia, Marguerite of Italy, and the Royal Grand Duchess of Baden.

Although the object of the organization is people’s help for national necessities, its national branches receive strong governmental recognition, and encouragement. Every facility which can be is afforded them, and the patronage of the crown or government in monarchical countries, unlike our own, means substantial aid, which is afforded in many ways.

Each nation is left free to form its national committee in accordance with the spirit and needs of its nationality. In the formation of our own, it was thought possible to include other relief than that of war, and as you already know, America organized for the relief, first of war then of other great national calamities, such as the government is liable to be called upon to aid through its public treasury.

We were accepted by the ratifying powers at Berne, with this digression, and although novel, it has won great approval and is known abroad as the “American amendment.”

Under this civil feature the American Red Cross has aided in twelve great calamities: one forest fire, five floods, three cyclones, one earthquake, one famine and one pestilence. It has brought to the aid of the victims of these disasters, in money and material, many hundred thousands of dollars, acting as a systematized and organized medium of conveyance and distribution for the relief which the people desired to contribute. It has never yet solicited aid, it has scarcely suggested the raising of relief, but has endeavored to administer the relief which was raised wisely and faithfully.

[H]Since our adhesion to the treaty two international conferences have been held: the one at Geneva, by the International Committee, in 1884; the other at Carlsruhe, by the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Baden, in 1887.

As president of the American National Red Cross the honor has been accorded me to represent the government in each of these conferences. Some of the questions therein discussed, being of both national and international importance, will be later submitted for the consideration of your honorable legislative body.

The foregoing explanations made, I will, with your kind permission, gentlemen, venture to name to you some of the more personal features, of our own national branch of this world-wide organization, touching its conditions, positions, relations and requirements, inviting your thoughtful consideration to the same. I must do this, not only as its chief executive officer, but as the person who has been wholly responsible for our ever having had any connection with it. I alone brought this subject before the government, as the official representative of the International Committee, asking its adoption as a treaty, if found desirable; and was shown the exceptional courtesy of a unanimous accord in a most unfamiliar subject, by the largest, and, as I hold, the highest legislative body in the world.

During the intervening seven years, I have done my best and my utmost to properly test the value of the obligation taken, and to learn, from actual and practical experience, if the results would warrant a continuance of effort on the part of the national committee, and to some extent the encouragement and active co-operation of our government, without which the objects of the treaty would be misapplied, and its results practically lost.

These efforts have been made in the face of the open world. No action has been covered, none exaggerated. On its own fair merits, the American branch of the Red Cross stands before the government and the people it has served for their judgment.

If it has been an idle body?

If a parasite, drawing sustenance from others?

If it has promised and not performed?

If its work has been actual, or merely appeared upon paper?

If it has found favor with the people it has gone to aid?

If it has gained or lost in public estimation?

If in any way it has disappointed the expectations of the country or the people?

If it has given cause to the government to regret its admission?

If it has sustained its national standing in good repute with the affiliating nations of the world?

If it has been a costly adjunct to the government?

Like a gleaner it brings in its sheaves at the end of its seven years of faithful trial, and asks that its work be judged. If for any cause, the organization be looked upon as not meriting or justifying encouragement and co-operation of the government, which its peculiar relations to it demand, and it is thought wisest or best to withhold them, it will be a simple and perhaps welcome thing to let go and rest. Unless one is actually going down hill with a load, it is always easier to stop than to go on. In this case vastly so.

It is now thirteen years ago, during the administration of President Hayes, that I first brought this matter to the attention of our government, believing it to be, perhaps, the work of a month. From that day to this, I have found time for nothing else. I learned that its broad humanities were the belt that spanned the world. Dependent, as it is, upon the co-operation of the government, being substantially a link between it and the people at large, I should not have been justified in proceeding to organize great bodies of persons under its regulations, until I was assured what position the government would take in regard to it. I could not ask this decision of the government until actual results had proven to it, and to myself as well, that the position required was one worthy to be taken. Thus the trial has been made single handed. Not a penny of tax nor dues has ever been asked for the expenses of the National Red Cross.

The general impression prevails that it is actively a branch of the government, and of course, provided for by it. This impression has, pecuniarily, been heavily against us, as it enters no philanthropic mind to extend a generosity to the Red Cross, any more than to the War, or State, or Navy Departments, or any other branch of protected government service. No freight bill on shipments has ever been remitted, nor agent ever passed free over a road up to this time; and no bequest has ever been made to it. Postage is not even paid.

The government is supposed to do all these things, and it is generally believed that its officers have large salaries. In one way this impression has been helpful. It has doubtless given prestige; but it is a costly luxury, and not to be forever afforded.

The actual expenses of the government since the first, have been as follows: an appropriation in 1883 of one thousand dollars, expended in government printing of a little pamphlet history of the Red Cross, written by me, at the request of the Senate committee, for circulation after the adoption of the treaty—two thousand copies. As neither frank nor postage were provided for the mailing, the transmission of each copy cost some ten cents. The issue is exhausted. Appropriations of $1000 and $2000 respectively for expenses of governmental delegates to the International Conferences of 1884 and 1887, held at Geneva and Carlsruhe, the delegates giving their time and services, and meeting all costs, excepting those actually incurred en route, and provable by vouchers. Thus making an aggregate of six thousand dollars in eight years expended in its own behalf, with as much in value, in each instance, added by the committee, as otherwise appropriated. These are the only demands ever made upon the government. This balances our accounts to date.

We now reach a point where I may name some directions in which the government might properly extend its protecting and its helping hand. The International Committee of Geneva makes the National Committee of America the recognized medium of communication with our government. It sends its official communications to the president of the American National Red Cross, with directions that this officer present the same to our government, and duly transact the required business. But unfortunately, there is opened no legalized medium through which the Red Cross is expected to confer with the government, through either its executive or its legislative branches. “What is everybody’s business is nobody’s business.” The entire system has each time to be explained to busy men, precedents to be found, and, however willing and anxious, no one can be quite certain if he is right. The naming of two or three gentlemen from your own honorable body to act permanently as a committee on the affairs of the Red Cross would remedy all this, and render simple and efficient what is now complicated and awkward. It would then be somebody’s business. The subject would be understood, the needs comprehended, suitable advantages taken, mistakes avoided, time saved, prestige given both at home and abroad, and the unavoidable communications between the committee and government officials come to be regarded as legitimate business, and not as favors personally sought and graciously listened to.

I regard the appointment of this committee as a most important step, if any steps are to be taken—perhaps indispensable, in view of certain measures which must come officially before Congress.

At the last two International Conferences resolutions were passed requesting that each government within the treaty take firm measures for the protection of the international insignia of the Red Cross, from misuse and abuse by unauthorized persons and parties, as methods of popular advertising for speculation and gain. The patent office is besieged by applicants demanding the Red Cross for trademarks.

It becomes our duty on behalf of these conferences to present these resolutions to the government, together with the statements of the various countries through their delegates, and to ask its consideration, and its official action, in common with that of other nations. Our duty to the government demands this as well.

The great query which confronts us, and often with a tinge of seeming reproach, is: “Why is so little known of your organization? Why is it not written up, and circulated among the people for general information? Even the army knows nothing of it. Where shall we find something published about it?” And these inquiries come from the officers of the Regular Army, the National Guard, the Grand Army, and the medical fraternity in general, not to mention the people at large.

There is probably no one in the land who would more gladly see these questions favorably met, and the information go out, than the parties supposed to be responsible for this dereliction. It has sometimes occurred to me that a little “dangerous surplus” might be safely disposed of in that way without compromising any leading issues.

Governmental bureaus, with full powers, have been commenced requiring less of actual labor, method, skill, clerical ability, and official expenses than are expected and provided yearly at the private headquarters of the American National Red Cross, and with less of general demand for them, and smaller visible results.

Fortunately its president has been always able to furnish space for the Red Cross headquarters in her home, and as it was her child, she has naturally and willingly provided for it. But, gentlemen, children grow! In no other country does the organization of the Red Cross stand as an ordinary benevolent society. In all others its relation to the government is defined, pronounced, and its prestige assured. This is wise and just, and only this can make it of greatest service to the government and to the people.

It is a peculiar institution, without nationality, race, creed or sect, embracing the entire world in its humanizing bond of brotherhood, without arbitrary laws or rules, and yet stronger than armies, and higher than thrones.

I desire to have it better comprehended and more fittingly appointed in our great and advancing country. I would like to see for it a headquarters which, in point of activity, would be a national honor to us. The Red Cross of America should successfully undertake some difficult problems. Hospital and emergency work naturally fall to it. It has come to be the first thought of by any community suddenly overtaken by disaster.

With all our misdirected, criminal and incendiary immigration, which nothing seems to hinder, with our dangerous foreign leaders and teachers, our strikes, mobs and dynamite, who can foresee the moment when the United States flag shall be called to make peace and hold it? And wherever that symbol goes, the Red Cross must follow, and only one step in the rear. The first man who falls must see it on the arm that raises him, and the last must know it has not left him. The National Red Cross of America is not without possibilities for occupation, and these neither theoretical nor sentimental.

Gentlemen, there are some points in reference to which I desire to guard against misapprehension on your part. Of all things, I would not have you get the impression that I desire to foist the Red Cross upon the government for support. That, because I say it is liable to equal a government bureau in point of work and care, I desire to have it made a government bureau. Nothing is more impossible. I would not have you feel that we have carried it to a certain extent, and now want the government to take it up. These things could not be; it would at once defeat the very objects of the organization, which mean people’s help for national needs, not national help for people’s necessities. Still, there is a certain fitting and customary connection between the two, which it is proper to recognize. Certain protection of the rights and welfare of the organization, which it is suitable and for the interest of the government to maintain, as, for instance, the protection of the insignia. Its acts of incorporation—some aid in the circulation of information respecting it, its charters, etc., through its official printing bureaus, and some direct channel of communication, and advice opened between the government and the organization, as customary in other countries, and without which I think we cannot reasonably hope to stand upon a respectable basis in their estimation.

If Germany can place Count Stolberg, one of its highest official dignitaries and officers, at the active head of its Red Cross, we can scarcely do less than to permit a small advisory committee of our legislature to at least confer with ours.

These are all very small and inexpensive demands upon a government like ours, and from their apparent unimportance, likely to remain unconsidered. Still, they are important to the work that seeks them. With these assured, the National Committee can safely permit the people to take their place in the work, and if the time never comes when the country has need of the help for which they organize, it will be only a too fortunate land.

The part which I have thus far been privileged to take in this work has but one merit. It has been faithful, and I believe, unselfish. With better judgment, greater strength, wealth, power and prestige, or the ready help of those who had, I might have accomplished more. I have nothing to gain from it, and never have had. I have no ambitions to serve, and certainly no purposes. I regret only the years which have gone by in feeble, unaided effort, which, I feel, with stronger help, might have been more serviceable.

All I am worth to it to-day is the experience I have gained. I have no more time for trials, nor proof, and of these, no more are needed. The facts are established. I have stated what is needed of the government, before it can go on, and I ask your kind consideration of the same.

TO THE COMMITTEES OF THE RED CROSS.
An Acknowledgment.

To our tireless Executive Committee, and to the great and energetic Red Cross Relief Committee of New York, who undertook the concentration of the war relief and the administration of the generous gifts of the people, and who have so faithfully stood by me in the work during all these months, no words can adequately express my gratitude and the appreciation of the National Committee.

For them no task was too great; no requisition was ever refused. To their zealous labors is due, in a great measure, whatever success may have attended the Red Cross in its mission for the relief of the sick and the wounded.

TO THE AUXILIARIES OF THE RED CROSS
AND
THE NURSES WHO WENT TO THE WAR.

To the army of women, brave, generous and true, who either as auxiliaries at home, or as nurses at the field, who made up that magnificent array of womanhood, ready for sacrifice on the altar of humanity and their country—no words of mine can do justice. The monument deserved and traced in that glowing pen picture of the melting tribute of another pen, I beg to place here with my tears of acquiescence, to sanction every line.

A Tribute to the Red Cross Nurses.

By Franklin B. Hussey, of Chicago.

The war is over. Now let us rejoice. Now erect your tablets and monuments to the heroes of the war—the living and the dead. Write their names on the long roll of honor: Dewey, Schley, Hobson and Wainwright, Roosevelt, Lee, Wheeler and all the rest, and alongside their names write those of the private soldier and the “man behind the guns.” They “remembered the Maine.” And while we rear our symbols of marble and of bronze to commemorate their brave deeds, there is one we must not, we cannot, forget.

When our brave boys left home and marched proudly down to war they did not go alone, for the gentle presence of woman walked beside them, to assuage with her soft touch the grim horrors of carnage. A few days ago the busy thoroughfares of our city resounded with the music and fanfares of a great jubilee. I saw the towering fronts of the thronging palaces of trade put off their accustomed garb of work-a-day gray and drab and bedeck themselves in carnival attire, while stretched across from roof to roof for miles hung festoons of glittering lights, banners and flags in a bewildering chaos of red, white and blue. I saw triumphal arches spanning the streets, adorned with the portraits and names of patriots, but I saw not hers of whom I speak.

Under those arches, attended by all the pomp and splendor of the trappings of war, keeping step to the glad music of victory, marched ten thousand men, at their head the Chief Executive of the nation. I saw senators and judges, diplomatic representatives and statesmen, generals and heroes of the army and navy, veterans and volunteer soldiers pass in glittering procession, while a million voices shouted loud huzzas that told of a nation’s tribute of gratitude to all those who had contributed to the great victory; but for her I looked in vain.

At night I saw a great feast spread, honored by the presence of the nation’s leader and all those who had ridden in the grand pageant. The toasts went round and the glasses clinked, but never a word of her of whom I speak.

Not that she was forgotten; not but that cheers would have rung out at the mention of her name; but because she went about her duty of self-sacrifice so simply, so modestly, without even a thought or expectation that any one would ever know or care whether she lived to come back from the death-laden fever swamp, or not, her part in the great victory had been, for the time being, overlooked; and while gifted tongues are paying their tributes of burning eloquence to our heroes, without seeking to detract one whit from their glory and fame, which they so richly deserve, may I draw nigh, with uncovered head, and cast a flower at her feet? She asks no recognition. She seeks no praise; but on some sunny slope of one of our wooded parks I want to see a simple shaft uplifted in memory of the girl with a red cross on her arm. She went forth to war with no blare of trumpets or beat of drums; the first to go, the last to return; she carried neither sword nor musket, but only the gentle ministrations of a woman’s hand and heart; not to make wounds, but to heal them. If you seek fitting words in which to embody her record, go ask those whose fevered brows her cooling palms have pressed, whose bloody wounds her hands have stanched, but the lips that could best tell her noblest deeds lie cold and still, wrapped in the sleep that heeds no bugle call. She carried balm and healing not only to broken and bleeding bodies, but to broken and bleeding hearts as well, and stood through long pestilential nights, like a ministering angel of heaven, beside the weary pillow of pain, and when all that human hands could do had been done, and the dying soldier murmured last words to mother, wife or sweetheart, hers the ear that caught the last faint whisper, hers the fingers that penned the last letter home, hers the voice that read from the thumb-worn page, “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.... Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death”—while with his hand clasped in hers, his soul passed on through the “valley” and the “shadow” up to “the sandals of God.” Yes, raise aloft her statue in the streaming sunlight. Let some great sculptor, catching aright the inspiration of his theme, outline that slender form—that woman’s form, with melting heart and nerves of steel, against the soft blue of the summer sky, with her lint and bandages in one hand and her Bible in the other, the sign of the cross upon her sleeve, and the glory of the countenance of the “Son of Man” reflected on her face, and underneath let these words be traced:

AS THE SUN WENT DOWN.

UNWRITTEN THANKS.

Dear readers, I pray you accept this last word from me: “Poor even in thanks”—the thanks with which the heart is burdened but cannot speak. The acts of kindness shown during these waiting, and oft weary years, that crowd and clamor for expression, would duplicate this volume many times, and the cherished names that the hand struggles to write, would turn these pages into a biographical dictionary.

Let me pray, then, that every person who takes up this volume and recalls a kind act done me, or a friendly, encouraging word spoken in all the years of the busy period which it covers, shall read between the lines, the cherished memory, the thanks, and the blessing so richly deserved and so fully given.

A WORD OF EXPLANATION.

May this book before quite leaving the hands of its author be permitted this word of explanation.

Its subject took its rise in, and derived its existence from, war. Without war it had no existence. The watchword, indeed one might almost say, the “war cry” of our country and of our people was “peace.” War was obsolete—out of date—out of taste—in fact, out of the question: hence there existed no need for providing relief for it; and thus the Red Cross has stood, unrecognized in the shadows of obscurity all the eighteen years of its existence among us, waiting for the sure, alas, too sure, touch of war, to light up its dark figure, and set in motion the springs of action.

A few believed, and like disciples, waited with it. If at any time, during that period, one had presumed to offer to the American public a book treating exclusively upon the Red Cross, the production would have found neither publishers nor readers; but now that the stroke of war has fallen and the interest comes home to ourselves, neither can wait for the book to be properly written, hence the unfinished and unsatisfactory condition in which it must present itself.

CONCLUSION.

In the foregoing pages is outlined the history of the American National Red Cross in peace and in war.

We have seen it grow year by year, from the persistent, almost unaccountable rejection of the Treaty of Geneva by our government for eighteen years. We have seen it beginning in the cordial recognition of Blaine, and Garfield, and Arthur, gradually increasing in the amount and scope of its labors, growing, in the slowly gained influence and support of public confidence, to its present condition of general recognition in all parts of our own country, and in the warm appreciation of all the nations that have acceded to the Treaty of the Red Cross. There is, we are happy to believe and to assure our readers everywhere, a warmth and an enthusiastic appreciation of the Red Cross that brings added honor to the country, and that everywhere recommends the principles and the practices for which the sacred symbol stands. No American citizen will hereafter travel in foreign lands any less securely since the American National Red Cross has been before him in Russia, and in Armenia, and in the high conferences where the treaty nations by their representatives from time to time assemble.

It is founded in the soundest and noblest principles, in the deep needs of human nature, and in the enduring instincts and feelings of mankind. It has come to quicken into fresh, new growth the best things in human life. Like the Banyan tree, wherever an auxiliary branch of the Red Cross exists, it will so drop roots into human character and life, that it will make it a parent trunk in turn to send out influences that shall bring other affiliating branches, so that it shall at last cover the earth with its grateful shade, beneath which the tramp of armed men shall cease, and the battle flags be furled. Then, although the original purpose and object of the Red Cross was indeed to heal the wounds and sickness incident to warfare, there will remain the work under the “American Amendment,” in which the Red Cross goes forth to heal other great ills of life.

The future of the Red Cross then will be worthy of the labors and sacrifices in which it originated, worthy of the care and tender solicitude with which its growth and progress has been watched and tended.

Into the hands of the coming generations it will be given as the best legacy that the All Father has at any time given to His children—the spirit and the power symbolized and consecrated forever by the Red Cross of Geneva.

NOTES.

American National Red Cross.

The Red Cross is often referred to by the press and by many of our friends in correspondence, as a “society.” From this practice, it appears that a misapprehension exists regarding the official title of the national organization in this country, and a few words of explanation seem necessary.

As contemplated by the Treaty of the Red Cross, and provided by the regulations of the International Committee, there is formed in each of the countries adopting the Treaty of Geneva, one Central National Committee of the Red Cross, with headquarters at the seat of government.

In this National Committee of each country, authorized by the International Committee and recognized by its own government, is centred the power of organization and direction of all matters connected with the administration of relief contributed by the people in the name of the Red Cross. This authority includes the sole right to form innumerable branches, subject to the direction of the National Committee. These branches, created by the National Organization, may be known as Auxiliary Societies of the Red Cross, or by any other appropriate name, but the central national organization is not a society; it is a National Committee.

Therefore, in referring to or addressing the parent organization, it is improper to use the term “society.” It should be remembered that the Central National Committee of the Red Cross for the United States of America, has, for sake of convenience, been incorporated under the title: The American National Red Cross.

Relief of Wounded in War.

The Central National Committee of the Red Cross in each country, being duly accredited by the International Committee and officially recognized by its own government, is the lawful means of communication between the people and the armies in the field, acting as the administrator of the contributions of the people for the relief of the sick and wounded in war.

Correspondence in Time of War.

When hostilities are in progress, and the usual means of communication between the belligerent countries are suspended, prisoners of war are enabled to communicate with their homes through the medium of the Red Cross of neutral nations. Thus, for example, during the late Spanish-American war the prisoners on board the prize ships at Key West were, by an arrangement made with the authorities of the United States Government, permitted to write to their friends and relatives. The letters were, of course, first viséd and certified by the American National Red Cross, and those addressed to persons within the Spanish lines were forwarded through the Red Cross of Portugal.

Wounded as Prisoners of War.

Formerly a wounded man, as such, had no particular rights which any one was pledged to respect. Now, however, the Treaty of Geneva provides that the wounded immediately become neutral and are entitled to the care and consideration of their captors. There is also preserved to them the right to send messages through the lines, informing their friends of their whereabouts and condition.

The Red Cross and Local Charity.

The National Committee of the Red Cross and its branches, not being a local benevolent institution, the Red Cross takes no part in the distribution of local charity, when the distress is such that it is within the power of the community itself to relieve. Therefore, members of auxiliary societies when engaged in the usual charities of a local nature, should not act as the representatives of the Red Cross. The Red Cross in times of peace can only be called into action when a disaster occurs which is of such magnitude as to be considered national in its character, and beyond the control of the immediate community.

No Reflection Upon the Government.

By their adhesion to the Treaty of Geneva, and by their recognition of the National Committees in each country, the nations of the world have declared that, no matter how extensive the preparations, nor how complete may be the organization of the medical department of an army, it is beyond human possibility to provide for all contingencies. For this reason the National Committees of the Red Cross were created. The necessity for auxiliary aid by the people, through the Red Cross, existing as it does in all the treaty countries, is in no wise a reflection upon the Medical Department of the Army, nor upon the ability and faithfulness of its officers. Hence, the timely acceptance of this auxiliary aid, the necessity for which all nations have publicly acknowledged, brings with it no discredit; it is only its rejection that opens the door to censure.

Membership in the Red Cross.

In the past many applications have been received for membership in the American National Red Cross, to all of which it has been necessary to make the same reply. The central organization being a National Committee, membership thereon is only conferred by election and appointment, not by application. Membership in the Red Cross may, however, be obtained through the auxiliary societies. During the Spanish-American war many auxiliaries were formed for temporary work, but have not yet been received and accredited as permanent societies of the Red Cross. It is hoped, however, that the time may soon come when the local branches of the Red Cross may be found everywhere, and when any one who is acceptable may become a member by joining the nearest auxiliary.

INDEX.