colleagues of the International Committee).—Thanks to a perseverance
and zeal which has surmounted every obstacle. Wishing to testify to
you its gratitude for the services you have already rendered to the
Red Cross (in securing the adherence of the United States to the
Treaty), the Committee decided to offer to you one of the medals which
a German engraver caused to be struck off in honor of the Red Cross.
Please to regard it only as a simple memorial, and as a proof of the
esteem and gratitude we feel for you. G. MOYNIER, President Red Cross
International Committee.
NOTE.—The silver medal referred to is beautifully engraved with the
coat of arms of the nations within the Treaty compact,—the medal being
a model both of skillful design and exquisite workmanship.
Department of State,
Washington, D. C.
February 16, 1883.
My dear Miss Barton:
It affords me great pleasure to transmit a parcel containing a book
presented to you by Her Majesty, the Empress of Germany, as a token of
her high appreciation of the success of your efforts for the formation
of an Association of the Red Cross in America.—Congratulating you upon
the compliment which the Empress has paid to you by her action in
sending you this gift I am, my dear Madam,
Very truly yours,
SEVELLON A. BROWN,
Chief Clerk.
On the night that came to Europe the news of the accession of the U.
S. Government to the Treaty of Geneva (news sent by cable) there were
lit bonfires in the streets of Switzerland, France, Germany and Spain.
THE AUTHOR.
If I live to return to my country (from Switzerland) I will try to
make my people understand the Red Cross and that Treaty.
CLARA BARTON.
Weak and weary from the war-soaked fields of Europe, I brought the
germs of the thrice-rejected Red Cross of Geneva, and with personal
solicitations from the international Committee sought its adoption.
CLARA BARTON.
I stood with this unknown (Red Cross) immigrant from the little
Republic of Switzerland, outside the doors of the Government, for five
years before I could secure for him citizenship papers and recognition
as a desirable resident of the United States.
CLARA BARTON.
Perhaps no act of this age or country has reflected more merit abroad
upon those especially active in it than this simple and beneficent Red
Cross measure. CLARA BARTON.
Transitions are neither rapid nor easy. Dark days, if not dark ages,
have shadowed them all. CLARA BARTON.
The Red Cross is one of the thresholds to the Temple of Peace.
CLARA BARTON, President, Red Cross.
Respect for the rights of others is peace.
BENITO JUAREZ, President, Republic of Mexico.
The history of a country is _mainly_ the history of wars.
CLARA BARTON.
Men have worshipped at Valkyria’s shrine and followed her siren lead
until war has cost a million times more than the whole world is worth;
poured out the best blood and crushed the finest forms that God has
ever created. CLARA BARTON.
There is in the Red Cross no entangling alliances that any but a
barbarian at war can feel any restraint. CLARA BARTON.
There is not a peace society on the face of the earth today, nor can
there be one, so potent, so effectual against war as the Red Cross of
Geneva. CLARA BARTON.
There can be no estimate of the misery assuaged, and the deaths
prevented, by the unselfish zeal and devotion of the Red Cross.
CLARA BARTON.
Your children and your children’s children will need the Red Cross,
when your hands are powerless to do that which is within your grasp.
CLARA BARTON.
OPPOSITION—THE AMERICAN RED CROSS “COMPLETE VICTORY”
She had served in Europe with a brassard on her arm; she had served in
the camp, on the march, in the hospital, in the smoke of battle; she had
bound up the wounds, soothed in a foreign tongue the dying; and there
had learned her first Red Cross lessons. She had visited the Solferino
battle ground where Dunant caught the humane inspiration for relieving
distress of victims in war. She had breathed the spirit of great minds
in the Red Cross world movement. She was armed _cap-a-pie_ for a humane
warfare. She made a vow, “If I live——;”—the vow of woman is a decree,
unrecorded.
Since 1864 the Red Cross measure had been before the American people.
Dr. Henry W. Bellows, of more than national fame as a diplomat and
humanitarian, through a period of ten years had failed of a respectful
consideration. For nearly two decades man had failed—signally failed;
what could woman do?
The vow of woman! that’s all between failure and success. The woman with
the vow lived to return to America. She “pestered” her friends with her
visionary scheme; she haunted the offices of Senators and
Representatives; she pled her cause before the Secretary of State and
the President. With her logic and eloquence she combated “it’s an
entangling alliance with foreign powers;” “it would encourage war;”
“it’s a war policy in the interest of war-makers;” “it’s un-American;”
“it would demoralize army discipline;” “the military doesn’t want it,
Congress doesn’t want it, the people don’t want it;” “Secretary of State
Seward years ago gave the ultimatum: ‘The Government wishes to act as a
free agent with option in the premises and in its own good time;’” “Dr.
Bellows has given it up;” “it’s no use, Miss Barton, to discuss this
question, it has been before the American people for many years and it’s
a dead issue, forever settled.”
Alone her task was wrought,
Alone the battle fought.
She took the rostrum, travelling from place to place throughout the
country; she appealed to the people in the name of God and humanity. She
was denounced as “that war woman;” “that woman who is trying to put
something over on the people;” “something behind it, or she wouldn’t be
spending her own money;” “wonder what she’s going to get out of it,
anyway?”
Senator John Sherman was then a tower of strength in this country. She
approached him on the subject. He was against it; said that he did not
see any use of going to this trouble; that making such preparation for
war would have a tendency to agitate the public, and bring on war. Oh,
no, Miss Barton, I can’t support such foreign organization as is your
proposed Red Cross. Besides, we will never have another war in this
country. Having given his final answer and subsided, the
ever-ready-with-answer Miss Barton remarked that it seemed to her years
ago, back in 1858, a certain Senator Sherman had made such a statement
in the Senate. Caught in a trap set by himself, yet graciously smiling,
the Senator replied, “Yes, I believe we did have a little brush after
that.” A second “brush” occurred, in 1898. Senator Sherman, then
Secretary of State, had occasion in connection with Red Cross work to
issue to the head of the Navy the following order: “I have the honor to
commend Miss Barton to the kind attention of your department.”
One of the ablest arguments ever presented on any national issue was
presented in an address in November, 1881, by Clara Barton on the Red
Cross issue “To the President, Congress and the People of the United
States.” In that masterful address among other things she said: “Yes,
war is a great wrong and sin and, because it is, I would provide not
only for but against it. But here comes the speculative theorist! Isn’t
it encouraging a bad principle? Wouldn’t it be better to do away with
all war? Wouldn’t peace societies be better? Oh, yes, my friend, as much
better as the millennium would be better than this, but the millennium
is not here. Hard facts are here; war is here; war is the outgrowth,
indicator and relic of barbarism. Civilization alone will do away with
it, and scarcely a quarter of the earth is yet civilized, and that
quarter not beyond the possibilities of war. It is a long step yet to
permanent peace.... Friends, was it accident, or was it Providence,
which made it one of the last acts of James A. Garfield, while in
health, to pledge himself to urge upon the representatives of his in
Congress assembled this great national step for the relief and care of
wounded men? Living or dying, it was his act and wish, and no member of
that honored, considerate, and humane body but will feel himself in some
manner holden to see it carried out.”
Among the first who became champions in her cause for the Red Cross were
Senators Conger of Michigan, William Windom of Minnesota, Chairman of
the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and who was the first to investigate,
and take the matter up, as a member of President Garfield’s Cabinet.
Senator E. G. Lapham, of New York, “who spared neither time nor thought,
patience nor labor, in his legal investigations of the whole matter;”
Senators Morgan of Alabama, Edmonds of Vermont, Hawley of Connecticut,
Anthony of Rhode Island, Hoar of Massachusetts, “all accorded to it
their willing interest and aid.” And also she had the support of the
eminent Secretary of State James G. Blaine, Presidents Garfield and
Arthur, as well as many other statesmen of whose services on this
measure there has been left no official record.
[Illustration:
THE INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE RED CROSS (in 1898)
_Resolved_: That this conference declares that in obtaining the
accession
the United States of America to the Convention of Geneva, Miss Clara
Barton has well merited the gratitude of the world.—INTERNATIONAL
CONFERENCE
OF THE RED CROSS, Geneva, Switzerland, 1884.
]
Early Red Cross history reads like a tale of romance from some long ago
past century, the leading woman character inspirited by a power
superhuman. Was Clara Barton the Founder of the American Red Cross? Of
the millions of Americans who would esteem such honor, no one else so
much as lays claim to it. In appreciation, Monsieur Moynier, President
of the International Red Cross Committee, in an address delivered in
Europe on September 2, 1882, on “The Foundation of the American Society
of the Red Cross” in part said: “Its whole history is associated with a
name already known to you—that of Miss 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 your gratitude;—we know that on the first of
March she gained a complete victory.”
Commenting on her struggles, and expressing her natural desire for the
Red Cross, Clara Barton says: “A time will come when I shall lay down my
work. Out of the many years I have given to it has grown one great,
natural desire, a desire to leave my little immigrant of twenty-seven
years ago a great National Institution, in the hands of the people,
supported by the people, for their mutual help and strength in the face
of disaster; and I would have those who take it up and follow in our
footsteps freed from the severity of toil, the anguish of perplexity,
uncertainty, misunderstanding, and often privations, which have been
ours in the past.”
LXXVIII
War, although more tragic, is not the only evil that assails humanity.
CLARA BARTON.
Do you know that more than 1,500,000 persons were killed or injured in
automobile accidents in 1921? _Boston American_, May 16, 1922.
Not nearly all the sick and crippled are on the battlefield, nor is
all the danger there. CLARA BARTON.
Peace has her battlefields, no less than war. CLARA BARTON.
Day by day men and women are being maimed and killed in our great
industrial struggle, and in the rush and hurry of our strenuous life.
It is in the mitigation of the horrors of this strife, and of this
struggle, that the First Aid Department of the Red Cross is to find
its mission and its work. E. HOWE, Superintendent of the First Aid
Department, American National Red Cross (December 8, 1903).
The mission of the First Aid (National First Aid Association of
America) is to preserve the name of Clara Barton all over the country.
The work she accomplished during the Civil War placed her at the head
of the women of the country at that time, and her name should stand
forever before the American people. We all know how England is
reverencing the name of Florence Nightingale, and it is for America to
preserve the name of her Florence Nightingale in Clara Barton whose
efforts have been so world-wide as to place her at the head of woman’s
work for humanity throughout the world. MRS. J. SEWALL REED, first
Acting President, National First Aid Association of America (in
address to 9th annual meeting of the association held May 7, 1914).
The work of the National First Aid Association of America, which was
founded by the noble Clara Barton, continues to “Carry On” in the
philanthropic spirit which it has inherited from her. The association
is practically a college for National First Aid work, offering one
course of lectures, one textbook, one examination in kind, for all to
follow. The handsome diploma which is only granted to students
attaining 80 per cent., or over, upon a thorough examination is the
prized possession of thousands of graduates all over the United
States, Alaska, Panama, Canada and England. Thus do we honor our
president, Clara Barton, in death—world honored as she was in life for
her achievements for suffering humanity; for upon each diploma the
association has placed these words—“Clara Barton, Founder and
President.” ROSCOE GREEN WELLS, present Acting President, National
First Aid Association of America. October 15, 1921.
Clara Barton was a world worker for suffering humanity, and our first
president. As a perpetual tribute to her memory the National First Aid
Association of America has established her name as “President—In
Memoriam.” Clara Barton has passed on, but the noble spirit which
lived within her continues to live in her last great national
endeavor. MARY KENSEL WELLS, Secretary of the National First Aid
Association of America. October 16, 1921.
The First Aid will become time-honored in America, for it has come to
stay. Its character is broad and firm, its title clear; and although
young its organization is complete. It has its own characteristics, in
keeping with its motives,—neither ambition, self-seeking, nor
vain-glory, but good-will, helpfulness, kindliness, the spirit of Him
who gave his life for others, whose example we seek to follow, and
whose blessed birth was God’s great Christmas gift to the world. CLARA
BARTON (Christmas, 1905), President, the National First Aid
Association of America.
GREETINGS
To the Friends of these, and other, days:
“Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, Ay! Many New Years, each happier
than the last.
“The unerring records affirm that on Christmas day of 1821, 84 years
ago, I commenced this earthly life; still, by the blessing of God I am
strong and well, knowing neither illness nor fatigue, disability nor
despondency, and take the privilege of bringing to you an outline of My
Later Work (First Aid). * * * Work has always been a part of the best
religion I had.”
CLARA BARTON.
(In 1905.)
NATIONAL FIRST AID ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA
(Clara Barton, President In Memoriam; and First Aid Department in the
American National Red Cross)
On February 9, 1903, there was established in the American National Red
Cross a department known as “First Aid to the Injured.” Mr. Edward Howe,
a member of the St. John Ambulance Association of London, England, was
made the Superintendent of the department.
On December 8, 1903, Section 7 of the By-Laws to the Constitution was
adopted and provided for its permanent operation—the formation of
classes of instruction in first aid, methods of treatment of the injured
and other necessary provisions. On December 8, 1903, Superintendent Howe
made his first annual report, including the approval of thirty-five
States of the Union, through the Governors respectively; also his report
of its successful inception in Massachusetts. “The American Amendment”
to the Red Cross Treaty of Geneva, and relating to national disasters,
was thus followed by the First Aid Department to the Red Cross.
There are pioneer souls that blaze their paths
Where highways never ran;—
But let me live by the side of the road
And be a friend to man.
After Clara Barton’s retirement from the Presidency of the Red Cross in
1904, the First Aid Department was discontinued, but was reëstablished
January 2, 1910. Independent of the American National Red Cross Clara
Barton organized the National First Aid Association of America. She was
the President of the Association while she lived and, since her death,
to perpetuate the Clara Barton spirit and to be a permanent Memorial to
the Founder, Clara Barton is officially recognized as
“The President In Memoriam.”
The National First Aid Association of America was the development of a
little New England organization named The New England First Aid
Association, and Clara Barton was the Chairman of its Advisory Board.
When the work grew and calls came for classes from western and southern
states, it was Clara Barton who suggested the value of national
incorporation. Therefore, on April 18, 1905, The National First Aid
Association of America was incorporated, under the laws of the District
of Columbia, and Clara Barton accepted the Presidency.
“To Clara Barton’s First Aid,” thus addressed, are many letters which
arrive at the headquarters of The National First Aid Association of
America in Arlington, Massachusetts. Although not the corporate name of
the last great work of Clara Barton, it serves the purpose of
demonstrating that First Aid and Clara Barton are inseparable.
The real tribute of Clara Barton to the organization, which is today
paying tribute to her, lies in the following words of welcome which she
delivered at the second annual meeting of The National First Aid
Association of America in 1907, as its President. Opening her address by
reading a letter from former field workers, she continued:—
“They are not with us, and I have given this soulful letter in their
place.
“I have read it because it speaks the silent sentiment of a body of
people, few of whom are here, and few of whom you know. From far off
scattered homes they watch the flickering blaze of this new bonfire,
with an anxious tender interest you little dream of. Below its sparkling
flame they see the embers from which it springs. They live over again
the terrible fields of woe where the sufferers suffered, and the dying
died; where, in the moment of consternation paralyzing the whole land,
they stood, the sudden vanguard of order and relief, till other help
could reach—never asking for help—never shouting for aid nor money, but
trusting to the great hearts of the people to render what they had to
render, when they should understand the need. This, friends, was First
Aid, and the people were the doctors. We held life in the injured till
they could be reached.
“Did our method fail? Let the old friends answer. Was a more
satisfactory relief record ever made? Let the swollen Ohio and
Mississippi, Johnstown, the Sea Islands, Armenia, and Galveston make
reply. It was the foundation of knowledge through experience gained
there and then that makes this work and this day possible. These are the
smouldering embers watched from afar.
“But this, friends, is the giving, and the teaching of mere material aid
for human suffering; all to be done over and over again to the end of
time, and no one the wiser, no one knowing any better what to do than
before. This was charity. Blessed be it for ‘the greatest of these is
charity.’ Leave it to do its work in its own way.
“But out of this has come to us another feature of human beneficence,
having its foundation in knowledge; when one shall know, not only how to
give, but how to do, and possibly prevent; when every man may understand
his wounded brother’s need and how to meet it; when the mother shall
know how to save her child in accident; when even the child shall be
taught how to lessen the pain or to save the life of its playmate—then
comes the real help.
“Think, friends, what it would be—yes, what it will be, when all the
rough, sturdy men of danger, living every hour in the face of accident
and death, shall know what to do in the moment for his writhing
companion in toil; when the homes—the children in the streets and in the
schools—shall all possess the knowledge which this method of human
beneficence teaches—this is First Aid—this is what it stands for—the
lessons which it inculcates and its faithful apostles teach.
“So young, so tiny, this beginning seems to you, scarcely meriting the
attention or the aid of busy people.
“But, watch it, busy men and women, it will bear watching.
“We are here today to learn something of what it has accomplished in a
year.... I am dumb with amazement. The very thought of the diligence—the
tirelessness—the cheerful alacrity—the bravery with which obstacles have
been attacked—the courage with which they have been overcome—the single
handedness—the small means and the great results astonish, and gratify
me. So much for so little. Let me step aside and give place to the
report which will tell us all.”
The association is today what its name implies—The National Association
of First Aid in America. It is to the American people what the St. John
Ambulance Association is to England, and the St. Andrews Ambulance
Association is to Scotland. It is a college of National First Aid
instruction—offering one textbook, one course of lectures, one
examination, one diploma in kind for all.
For the past nine years, since the death of the Founder, it has given
service the Clara Barton way—promptly, efficiently, thoroughly—and its
classes send forth each year hundreds of National First Aid graduates
who are capable men and women, and who wear the little medallion of
National First Aid service (which only a graduate may purchase and
wear), out into a world of suffering humanity. Word of their activities
comes back to national headquarters from many fields—even from far off
India, South America, and the Hawaiian Islands. One graduate sent back
word from the Soudan, Africa, “What would we have done without National
First Aid when there is only one medical doctor to every 500,000
natives?”
Clara Barton said of The National First Aid Association of America:
“Another work reaches out its hands to me and I have taken them. The
humane and far sighted are pressing to its standard—the standard of
organized First Aid to the Injured.”
The true history of Clara Barton should not leave out the work of The
National First Aid Association of America, Clara Barton’s last work. If
so, the history of the great philanthropist becomes an unfinished
record. The association stands today as a working memorial to Clara
Barton. It continues to serve the American people under her name.
Without ostentation it continues its humane service, making friends,
sending forth efficient graduates, and carrying systematic and organized
First Aid instruction to every part of the country.
By a leading cosmopolitan newspaper: “It is said that every year more
than 11,000,000 persons, about one-tenth of the total population of the
United States, fall downstairs, get run over, drown, lean too far out of
the window or peer into a gun they ‘didn’t think was loaded,’ meeting
death or injury in these and kindred ways. Statisticians say that, when
war claims a victim, accident takes four victims.”
It is estimated that 100,000 fatal accidents occur annually in the
United States, and 500,000 accidents occur that render the victims
incapable of earning their own living. Hundreds of thousands are being
trained in first aid classes; and likewise many hundreds of thousands of
victims of accidents on the railways, in the factories, and on the
farms, are receiving the benefits of first aid assistance. The First Aid
Division of the American Red Cross is affiliated with the Young Men’s
Christian Association, the Young Women’s Christian Association, the Boy
Scouts of America, the Girl Scouts of America, and also allied with many
other humanitarian and patriotic associations.