“PASSES THE BUCK”
It may be we shall let most of the period of the differences with the
Red Cross remain in solution till the larger life and letters (by
William E. Barton).
Reverend Percy H. Epler,
(In 1915)
One of the “Committee to Advise,” and
Author of “The Life of Clara Barton.”
“REFUSES TO ANTE”
If there was any lack of consideration for Clara Barton, it would do
no good now to remember it.
Reverend William E. Barton,
(In 1922)
One of the “Committee to Advise,” and
Author of “The Life of Clara Barton.”
Years were to Clara Barton merely opportunities of service, not
measures of life. This attitude prolonged her life and kept her young
in spirit.
At ninety (1911) there was no mark of physical infirmity upon her nor
was there any slightest slacking in the interest of the object for
which she long had cared.
Senility was farther removed from her at ninety (1911) than from most
women at sixty.
At the age of ninety-one (1912) there was not a physical lesion nor a
diseased organ in the body.
She lived to enter her tenth decade, and when she died (1912) was
still so normal in the soundness of her bodily organs and in the
clarity of her mind and memory that it seemed she might easily have
lived to see her hundredth birthday.
WILLIAM E. BARTON
“Her Cousin, the Author.”
(“William E. Barton is one of our third or fourth cousins.
Stephen E. Barton,”)
Clara Barton’s Nephew, and Dedicatee of
Barton’s “Life of Clara Barton.”
At no time in her life has Miss Barton been in sounder bodily or
mental health or better able to continue the work to which her years
of experience and natural endowments have preeminently fitted her.
Moreover, the nation’s confidence is Miss Barton’s, and no hand can
better guide its Red Cross work than hers.
Red Cross Committee, officially, to Congress.
Written report unanimously concurred in.
(In 1903.)
Year after year your President has framed and offered her resignation
to the preceding Board and Committees. These have been resolutely met
by appointment for life. CLARA BARTON.
Miss Barton has resigned three times before this time (May 14, 1904)
but every time we have elected her again unanimously; and twice we
have elected her for life and every member, 315 in number, voted for
her. W. H. SEARS, Secretary for Clara Barton.
I certify that at the meeting of the American National Red Cross, held
in Washington, D. C, December 9, 1902, on motion to elect Clara Barton
President of the organization for life, a standing vote was taken,
resulting as follows: Ayes 28, noes 3, the three negative votes
being....
S. W. BRIGGS, Secretary, Red Cross Committee.
It is the Red Cross, without the glamor of war or disaster, to attract
your interest, that I bring to you to nourish and protect.
CLARA BARTON.
When the Government accepted the Red Cross, perhaps a bit arrogantly,
I felt that my end was accomplished and that I was ready to give it
up. CLARA BARTON.
It is a pride as well as a pleasure to hand to you an organization
perfectly formed, thoroughly officered, with no debts and a sum of
from $12,000 to $14,000 available to our treasury as a working fund.
(Amount realized $15,541.89. The Author.) CLARA BARTON (on May 14,
1904, in offering her resignation as President).
It would be strange, if after so many years of earnest effort for the
relief of human suffering, during which time I have always lived and
moved in the full glare of the public gaze, I could not now safely
trust my character and good name to the care of the American people.
CLARA BARTON.
[Illustration:
MRS. JOHN A. LOGAN
Clara Barton is the greatest woman of this, or any other, age.—MRS.
JOHN A. LOGAN, the Vice-President under Clara Barton; the President
of the American Red Cross Society, May 14, 1904–June 16, 1904.
It is an unspeakable joy to me that the toil-worn, weary mantle, that
drops from mine, falls upon the shoulders of my vice-president, the
woman so cherished in our own country and honored and trusted in
other countries.
CLARA BARTON.
]
CLARA BARTON’S RESIGNATION
At a meeting of the American National Red Cross, held December 10, 1901,
President Clara Barton said: “at that meeting (July 10, 1900) I brought
my armor, worn and rusted, and reverently laid it at your feet with the
request that I be released. You declined to permit me to retire. I again
lay my armor before you, recommending the filling of this most eminent
position in your gift by someone better fitted than I ever have been to
assume its duties, and wear its honors.” The Red Cross again refused to
accept the resignation.
The so called “charges” against Miss Barton were made December 10, 1903.
The case was heard before the Proctor Red Cross Committee on May 3,
1904. Only one witness testified and, as elsewhere stated, he refused to
be cross examined whereupon his statements were discredited, the case
summarily dismissed for want of evidence, and on motion of the committee
itself. Miss Barton previously had been re-elected, almost unanimously,
to succeed herself.
The “remonstrants” discredited, their “charges” found baseless, Miss
Barton vindicated, on May 14, 1904, she again offered her resignation[7]
of the Presidency, this time in favor of Mrs. General John A. Logan, and
insisted on its acceptance. Her friends protested her resignation;
insisted she should not resign but should hold the position for life.
Miss Barton persisted in sacrificing herself for what she _then_ thought
would be in the interest of harmony, and the cause nearest her heart.
The following is the personal explanation of her then attitude of mind.
Footnote 7:
Clara Barton resigned the presidency May 14, 1904. Mrs. John A. Logan
succeeded to the presidency, holding the office until June 16, 1904.
Mrs. Logan nominated W. H. Taft as her successor. Mr. Taft declining
then to serve, Admiral W. K. Van Reypen, according to Red Cross
official records, acted as president pro tern until January 8, 1905,
when Mr. Taft accepted the presidency.
“In initiating measures for the conciliation of opposing interests and
views, it may seem to some of my friends that I have overlooked just
grounds of personal offence in imputations wantonly made upon my honor
and integrity. I do so knowingly and willingly, and because the cause
that the American Red Cross is meant to promote stands first in my
affections and my desires. It would be strange if it did not—if the
cause for which I have devoted myself for half a century were not deemed
by me worthy of any possible sacrifice of personal pride or personal
interest.”
’Tis not the house and not the dress,
That makes the saint or sinner,
To see the spider sit and spin,
Shut with her walls of silver in,
You would never, never, never guess,
The way she gets her dinner.
Had she entered the spider’s web of the society “remonstrant”; had she
accepted the proposed annuity—and proposed honor of Honorary President,
and thrown her child to the sharks, Clara Barton’s frail bark would have
been towed into port, in peace. Instead, with her never failing courage
she took to the life boat, on a stormy sea, and survived the storm to
hand over her Red Cross child not to an unworthy, but to her Country and
humanity.
LXXXIV
No cynic will find a flaw in what Miss Barton did.
Boston (Mass.) _Record_.
The spiteful factionist, to be found in every cause—even the cause of
Christ himself—formed an opposition to Miss Barton.
Harrisburg (Pa.) _Telegram_.
Truth hath a quiet breast. SHAKESPEARE.
Great souls suffer in silence. SCHILLER.
Silence is the Mother of Truth. EARL OF BEACONSFIELD.
Come, let us have peace. U. S. GRANT.
Peace to the land forevermore. CLARA BARTON.
I never spoke a discordant word in my life, meaningly.
CLARA BARTON.
Like her Master, whom she followed, Clara Barton opened not her mouth.
KATE BROWNLEE SHERWOOD.
And when He was accused by the chief priests and elders He answered
nothing. ST. MATTHEW.
NO RED CROSS CONTROVERSY
“There has been no Red Cross controversy,” says Clara Barton, “as the
sensational press has termed it, inasmuch as the Red Cross has taken no
controversial part. It has only spoken when it _must_, and as little as
possible, and its President not at all, nor ever will.
“When it is necessary for me to defend myself before the _American
people_, let me fall. I should not value the defense thus gained, and I
trust I shall never feel it needful.”
In her later years the following was oft quoted by Clara Barton:
The stars come nightly to the sky,
The tidal wave unto the sea
I’ll rail no more ’gainst time or tide,
For lo! my own shall come to me.
LXXXV
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. CLARA BARTON.
This is what the Red Cross means, not an order of knighthood, not a
commandery of it, not a secret society, not a society at all by
itself, but the powerful, peaceful sign and the reducing to practical
usefulness of one of the broadest and most needed humanities the world
has ever known. CLARA BARTON.
I hope that all the patriotic and humane men, women and children of
the United States who are able to do so, will give it (the Red Cross)
their support by becoming members of our national organization.
EX-PRESIDENT THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
I hereby commend the plan of the Red Cross to secure a large
membership in this country. I hope the American people will prove as
patriotic in this respect as are the people of other nations, so that
we may be as well prepared as they to render relief in the misfortune
of war or to mitigate the suffering caused by pestilence, famine,
fire, floods, mine explosions and other great disasters.
EX-PRESIDENT W. H. TAFT.
A large, well-organized and efficient Red Cross is essential. It is
both a patriotic and humane service that is rendered by every citizen
who becomes a member of the American Red Cross.
EX-PRESIDENT WOODROW WILSON.
I perceive that in creating an institution that shall be National and
of the people the foundations must be as broad and as solid as the
whole nation. CLARA BARTON.
The Red Cross has become well known and well beloved. Of all the great
humanitarian institutions of this country the Red Cross is surely
among the greatest. CLARA BARTON.
Though we may leave our task unaccomplished, the task may be glorious
in design if not in completion, and speak of us sincerely and with
more fitting substance than words could ever compass or suggest. CLARA
BARTON.
The Red Cross is the Big Brother of the Fighting Man.
GENERAL LEONARD WOOD.
The Red Cross is the most generally recognized humanitarian movement
in the known world. CLARA BARTON.
The Red Cross has awakened the senses, and attuned the public ear to
the cry of distress wherever emanating. CLARA BARTON.
The Treaty of Geneva takes its powers from the common consent of the
United Governments of the civilized world.
CLARA BARTON.
Human intelligence has devised the provisions of the Red Cross, and it
is peculiarly adapted to popular favor. CLARA BARTON.
It is probable that no sign nor figure in the secular world is sacred
to so many people as is the Red Cross of Geneva. CLARA BARTON.
The insignia, which has given its name to the Treaty of Geneva, has
become universally known and respected. CLARA BARTON.
The Red Cross never leads, but follows, in all military matters.
CLARA BARTON.
The Red Cross has given rise to most valuable inventions and, under
its humane impulses, sanitary science has made rapid progress.
CLARA BARTON.
Inspired by the love of humanity and the world-wide motto of the Red
Cross: “In time of peace and prosperity, prepare for war and
calamity.” CLARA BARTON.
[Illustration:
© _Clinedinst, Washington, D. C._
AMBASSADOR BAKHMETEFF
The veneration in which Russians of every class hold the name of Clara
Barton.—RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR BORIS BAKHMETEFF (in Boston in 1917).
The Ambassador requested me to transmit to you the expression of every
loyal Russian appreciation for the splendid work done by the
American Red Cross during the last war, and especially for its
assistance to the needy in Russia.—G. GAGARINE, First Secretary to
the Embassy (in Washington in 1920).
]
Some forty nations are in the Red Cross treaty, and from every
military hospital in every one of these nations floats the same flag.
CLARA BARTON.
Of all existing organizations, there is possibly not one that has
causes for sentiment of higher devotion and more prayerful gratitude
than the Red Cross, which owes its very life to pity and help for the
woes of the world. CLARA BARTON.
The Red Cross means not national aid for the needs of the people, but
the people’s aid for the needs of the nation.
CLARA BARTON.
History records the wonderful achievements of the Red Cross, greatest
of relief organizations, though it cannot record the untold suffering
which has been averted by it. CLARA BARTON.
I desire to enroll all to whom this message may come as subscribing,
or sustaining, members of the Red Cross; and I wish this idea to
spread and grow until it develops into a great National Red Cross
movement. Then my hope will be realized. And when the call shall come
I can lay the burden of my work tenderly and lovingly into the lap of
the whole people, with whom I have labored so many years, and who will
keep and cherish it always because it is the sacred cause of humanity
they hold. CLARA BARTON.
In France recently there was found in the mails an unstamped postcard
addressed, “Clara Barton, Heaven,” and on the card was written, “You
certainly founded a wonderful institution,” and signed “A Soldier.”
_Press Dispatch._
No country is more liable than our own to great overmastering
calamities, various, widespread and terrible. CLARA BARTON.
Seldom a year passes that the nation, from sea to sea, is not by the
shock of some sudden, unforeseen disaster, brought to utter
consternation and stands shivering like a ship in a gale, powerless,
terrified and despairing. CLARA BARTON.
Through Clara Barton’s influence the International Congress of Berne
adopted the “American Amendment.”
MARY R. PARKMAN, Author.
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.
CLARA BARTON.
INTERNATIONAL RED CROSS—AMERICAN RED CROSS—AMERICAN AMENDMENT
The International Treaty of Geneva—Red Cross—dates from August 23rd,
1864. The Red Cross is a Confederation of Societies in different
countries for the amelioration of the condition of wounded soldiers in
arms, in campaigns on land and sea. The World Society originated with
Henri Dunant of Switzerland, after seeing the condition from neglect of
the wounded at the battle of Solferino, Italy, on June 24, 1859. Gustave
Moynier, also of Switzerland, called a meeting at Geneva, Switzerland,
and the organization followed—August 23, 1864.
France was the first nation to adopt the treaty, this being September
23, 1864. The United States was the thirtieth in the list of nations
adopting the treaty, this being on March 1, 1882. Up to the present time
49 nations have acceded to the Treaty of Geneva. In this list are the
following possessing a National Red Cross Society:
1. Wurtemberg
2. Belgium
3. Prussia
4. Denmark
5. France
6. Italy
7. Spain
8. Hessie (Grand Duchy)
9. Portugal
10. Sweden
11. Norway
12. United States
13. Saxony
14. Baden
15. Switzerland
16. Russia
17. Austria
18. Netherlands
19. Bavaria
20. Turkey
21. Great Britain
22. Montenegro
23. Serbia
24. Roumania
25. Greece
26. Peru
27. Argentine
28. Hungary
29. Bulgaria
30. Japan
31. Congo
32. Venezuela
33. Uruguay
The following are governments that have signed the Geneva convention but
have not Red Cross Chapters recognized by the International Committee:
34. Bolivia
35. Brazil
36. Chili
37. Colombia
38. Cuba
39. Ecuador
40. Guatemala
41. Haiti
42. Panama
43. Siam
44. Luxembourg
45. Mexico
46. Persia
47. Honduras
48. Nicaragua
49. China
Anticipating the adoption of the treaty by the United States, in July
1881 the American Association of the Red Cross was organized,
seventy-five persons present with Clara Barton the President. The United
States Senate having acceded to the Treaty of Geneva, its ratification
was proclaimed by President Arthur July 26, 1882. This association was
incorporated April 17, 1883, under the name American National Red Cross;
reincorporated by Act of Congress, the charter signed by President
McKinley June 6, 1900. That charter was repealed and a new charter
substituted, the same being adopted by an Act of Congress and approved
by President Roosevelt January 5, 1905. Under the new charter the name
continued to be The American National Red Cross. Section 4 of this Act
was amended by an Act of Congress, and approved by President Taft June
23, 1910. This amendment relates to the collection of moneys by
authorized agents, the use of the Red Cross emblem or any other insignia
colored, and similar matters. A second amendment was adopted by Congress
and approved by the President December 12, 1912, and relates to the time
of the annual meeting.
The American National Association of Red Cross (organized in July 1881)
was independent of the Treaty of Geneva; it was a private association,
but Miss Barton was constantly urging this Government’s adhesion to the
Red Cross Treaty of Nations. In compliment to Clara Barton, she was
invited to address a meeting at Dansville, New York. As a result there
was formed on August 2, 1881, the first local Society of the Red Cross
in the United States of America.
In September 1881, the Michigan forest fires occurred. This became the
first test of the merits of the Red Cross work in America. Miss Barton
was at this time also invited to make an address on this subject to the
citizens of Syracuse, New York. A proposition to organize an auxiliary
in that city was made at the close of the meeting. The amount there
raised for the relief of the Michigan sufferers was $3,807.28, the new
Red Cross Auxiliary Society numbering 250 members. This, in brief, is
the history of the inception of the Red Cross and the two auxiliaries in
America.
[Illustration:
ELUTHEROS K. VENIZELOS
Although I never met Miss Barton, her achievement in establishing the
American Red Cross is such as to win for her the lasting gratitude
of many millions of people all over the world.
Greece, in particular, will never forget the noble work accomplished
here by the American Red Cross. Its aid has been invaluable during
the world war and I am therefore glad to be given this opportunity
to pay this small tribute to the founder and first President of this
splendid organization.
ELUTHEROS K. VENIZELOS,
The Ex-Premier of Greece.
]
Of the Michigan forest fires Clara Barton said: “So sweeping has been
the destruction that there is not food enough left in its wake for a
rabbit to eat, and indeed there is no rabbit, if there were food.”
In the spring of 1882 for hundreds of miles there overflowed the raging
waters of the Mississippi, destroying homes and causing great suffering.
Again the new association responded to the cries of distress. While the
National Association was in session, devising ways and means for
extending relief, a messenger came from the U. S. Senate announcing that
the United States had acceded to the Treaty of Geneva. “Through all the
past years, during which the Red Cross has sought recognition,
protection and cooperation of the Government,” says Clara Barton, “it
has been but for one purpose—to be ready.” The relief of suffering in
national disasters, hitherto unknown in the history of the world through
Miss Barton had become popular among the American people.
The ratifying powers at Berne accepted the National American Red Cross
with the proposed Clara Barton amendment, generally known as the
American Amendment. The system for relief work in national disasters,
made popular in the United States through Clara Barton, was later
approved and adopted by the International Red Cross Committee of the
Treaty of Geneva. It has therefore become a part of the Red Cross system
of all Treaty nations. These nations, representing a population of more
than one billion of human beings, or four-fifths of the human race, are
now enjoying the beneficence of the constructive genius of Clara Barton.
LXXXVI
Clara Barton—one of God’s noblest. Augusta (Ga.) _Journal_.
One of the world’s greatest.
Sacramento (Cal.) _Record-Union_.
Honored in three continents. St. Paul (Minn.) _Dispatch_.
Her movement spanned the globe.
Springfield (Mo.) _Republican_.
The preferring of charges against Clara Barton, and her subsequent
investigation, is one of the rankest instances of injustice in the
history of this country. Unfounded charges, political spite and the
hope of remuneration,—the charges were refuted and the schemers were
discredited, but politics had triumphed and Miss Barton was cast
aside. Los Angeles (Cal.) _Examiner_.
It was demanded of Clara Barton that she give an accounting of goods
and food distributed to dying and wounded on the battlefield. The
unspeakable Turk never did anything as bad as this.—But that
investigation was only an exigency, an excrescence, a malformation, a
wart on the nose. _The Fra_, East Aurora, N. Y.
Squint-eyed slander. BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER.
Slanderous as Satan. SHAKESPEARE.
Slander expires at a good woman’s door. EWALD.
’Twas slander filled her mouth with lying words,
Slander, the foulest whelp of sin.
POLLOCK—_Course of Time_.
Slander, meanest spawn of Hell—
And woman’s slander is the worst.
TENNYSON—_The Letters_.
’Tis slander “whose breath
Rides on posting winds and doth belie
All corners of the world.” CYMBELINE.
If the end brings me out all right what is said against me won’t
amount to anything. ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
Truth is generally the best vindication against slander.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
Speak not evil of the dead. CHILO.
They that slander the dead are like envious dogs that bark, and bite,
at bones. ZENO.
A poor lone woman. SHAKESPEARE.
Done to death by slanderous tongues. SHAKESPEARE.
Speak me fair in death. SHAKESPEARE.
And thereby hangs a tale. SHAKESPEARE.
The greater the truth the greater the libel. LORD MANSFIELD.
The greatest friend of truth is Time. COLTON-LACON.
Truth is the daughter of Time. MAZZINI.
Truth is Truth. TENNYSON.
There is nothing so powerful as truth. DANIEL WEBSTER.
Truth pierces the clouds; it shines like the sun and, like it, is
imperishable. NAPOLEON.
The happiest women, like the happiest nations, have no history.
GEORGE ELIOT.
All error, false hate, malice, evil company and their kindred, are
sure to find their true value, and though apparently successful are
doomed to die at last. CLARA BARTON.
The Almighty has his own purposes. ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
We never know the uses the Master will put us to. His designs are
known only to himself. CLARA BARTON.
When you come to the certain conclusion that only truth and justice
are eternal, you will find it easy to wait and let the Heavens rule.
CLARA BARTON.
Nothing but truth lives. CLARA BARTON.
My Lord will help me. JOAN OF ARC.
God shows me the way I shall go. JOAN OF ARC.
We are all lost! We have burned a saint.
TRESSART, Secretary to Henry VI.
Would that my soul were where I believe the soul of that woman is.
JOHN ALESPIE,
PETER MAURICE.
(Two of the judges that condemned Joan of Arc.)
First in the list of American great women is Clara Barton; first in
her ideals; first in her achievements. In America, she ranks with
Jeanne d’Arc, of France, to whom the English are now (1818) placing a
monument in Manchester.
CORRA BACON-FOSTER, Author, _Clara Barton, Humanitarian_.
Joan of Arc was rather tall, well shaped, dark, with a look of
composure, animation and gentleness. GUIZOT.