reached me, and before you had taken pains to inquire into the proofs
relied on to support the assertions which were the basis for your
arraignment of the Red Cross.
I have sent copies of this letter to the Catholic press of the United
States, in the belief that the readers of the original charge are
entitled to know what are the actual facts respecting the measures taken
by those applying the generous contributions of American Catholics and
non-Catholics to insure the rearing and instruction of the earthquake
orphans in the faith of their fathers.
The American Ambassador in Rome is a member of the permanent Executive
Committee of the American Red Cross Italian Orphanage.
Yours, very sincerely,
GEO. W. DAVIS,
_Chairman, Central Committee_.
_Disposal of Balance of Italian Fund._
As the American Red Cross was desirous of bringing to an end its Italian
relief work, an inquiry was made of our Embassy in Rome as to the best
use to be made of a small balance of funds still in hand. It was advised
to contribute this amount to the Queen of Italy for the benefit of
her relief work in the model village of Regina Helena, built for the
refugees near Messina, and in which her majesty is deeply interested. In
acknowledgement of this gift of $5,000 the following letter was sent to
the American Ambassador:
COURT OF HER MAJESTY, THE QUEEN,
ROME, July 3, 1909.
EXCELLENCY: Her majesty, the Queen, has charged me to request
you to thank the American Red Cross for the relief it has so
generously given to the refugees of the Sicilian disaster.
COUNT P. DI TRINITA.
_Testimonials of Gratitude._
On June 19 the American Red Cross received from the Italian Red Cross
a beautiful gold medal and diploma as tokens of appreciation of the
assistance rendered by America after the earthquake in Sicily and
Calabria.
Cuts of the medal are shown herewith, and below are printed the letter
of the President of the Italian Red Cross transmitting the medal and
diploma, and the letter of the President of the American Red Cross in
acknowledgment.
ROME, ITALY, April 19, 1909.
ILLUSTRIOUS SIR: In the never-to-be-forgotten calamity by
which she was overcome Italy has found but one solace. It was
to feel, to know, that the sorrow was universal, and that the
heart of the world throbbed in unison with hers.
Touching evidence of human solidarity came to us from every
part of your glorious Republic, but every burst of charity was
outdone by the Red Cross, over which you preside, sir, and
which assisted her Italian sister with a supreme munificence of
relief.
May you find the medal and diploma we now send you as tokens
of our gratitude, of which, however, they are but a modest
outward sign, acceptable. More durably than in the metal is
our gratefulness engraved in the hearts of the Italians, whose
mindful blessings will stand as the sacred heritage of the
generations to come.
R. TAVERNA,
_President, Italian Red Cross_.
To the PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN RED CROSS, _Washington, D. C._
WASHINGTON, D. C., June 22, 1909.
SIR: I have received your courteous communication of April
19 last, with which you transmit a gold medal and diploma,
presented by the Italian National Red Cross to the American
National Red Cross, as testimonials of gratitude for the
contributions furnished by the latter for the sufferers from
the earthquakes in Calabria and Sicily.
As President of the American National Red Cross it affords me
great pleasure to accept these testimonials in behalf of the
association, not only because of their beauty and intrinsic
worth, but as tokens of the humanitarian spirit which joins the
world in fraternal kinship in times of great distress.
Not less valued that they are the sentiments of generous
appreciation on the part of the Italian Red Cross, to which you
give expression in your communication.
I beg you to be so good as to convey to the Italian Red Cross
the thanks and appreciation of the American Red Cross for their
considerate action, and am,
Very cordially, yours,
WM. H. TAFT,
_President, American National Red Cross_.
COUNT R. TAVERNA, _President, Italian Red Cross_.
_Translation of Inscription on Medal Received from the Italian Red Cross._
[Illustration]
Inscription of the circle around the medal: To the well deserving of the
Italian Red Cross.
Inscription on medal: To the American National Red Cross: most generous
cooperation in the relief of the sufferers of the earthquake in Calabria,
Sicily, 1908.
_Translation of Inscription on Diploma Received from the Italian Red
Cross Society._
ITALIAN RED CROSS.
Under the high patronage of their Majesties, the King and the
Queen, and of her Majesty, the Queen Mother.
Association incorporated by law of May 30, 1882. No. 768, Side
Series.
Under Articles 115 and 116 of the Organic By-Laws, upon the
motion of the Honorable President of the Association of the
Central Committee, in its deliberations of the 3d of April,
1909, has been awarded the Diploma of Honor to the American
National Red Cross. Rome, April 3, 1909.
R. TAVERNA,
_President of the Association_.
_A Token of Gratitude from the Italian Government._
On May 17 Miss Boardman received a letter from Baron Mayor des Planches,
the Italian Ambassador at Washington, of which a translation is given
below, with Miss Boardman’s reply:
WASHINGTON, D. C., May 17, 1909.
DEAR MISS BOARDMAN: Have you seen the _Literary Digest_ of the
15th, which betrays an official secret? The Minister of Foreign
Affairs, M. Tittoni, has written me that the government of
the King desired to send you a decoration, but unfortunately
the statutes of our chivalresque orders do not permit the
decoration of women. Our gratitude toward you will be testified
by an artistic gift, which we hope you will accept as a
souvenir of the benefits you have rendered.
Believe me, dear Miss Boardman, very sincerely,
E. MAYOR.
WASHINGTON, D. C., May 17, 1909.
DEAR MR. AMBASSADOR: I have not seen the _Literary Digest_ to
which you refer. Permit me to express my deep appreciation of
the intention of his majesty’s government to present to me some
testimonial in recognition of the American Red Cross work in
Italy.
It has been for some time the intention of our society to
take under consideration the question of permitting members
to receive gifts or testimonials because of any special
work of relief in which they have taken part. Therefore,
should the plan of his majesty’s government to present to me
some testimonial be as yet not so advanced as to cause any
embarrassment if not carried out, I would be glad to have it
held in abeyance until the question is decided.
But as there exists no regulation of this nature at present,
if this plan has been so advanced that my not receiving this
testimonial would cause any embarrassment to his majesty’s
government, or to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, please take
no action in the matter.
Permit me to again express to your excellency my sincere
appreciation, and to say whatever should be decided I shall
always value the intention of such kindly recognition of the
American Red Cross and its work on the part of the Italian
government.
Please accept, Mr. Ambassador, the expression of my highest
esteem and my heartiest good wishes for the return of
prosperity to Sicily and Calabria.
Yours, sincerely,
MABEL T. BOARDMAN.
To this letter the Ambassador replied that the testimonial had already
been completed, and he begged that no action against its acceptance be
taken.
[Illustration: THE ELIZABETH GRISCOM HOSPITAL AT VILLAGIO DE REGINA
ELENA. IN PROCESS OF CONSTRUCTION.]
A beautiful reproduction in yellow gold of the ancient civic crown of
Rome, sent in a most artistic leather jewel case, was later presented
to Miss Boardman, in the name of the Italian government, by the Marquis
Montagliari, the Italian Charge d’Affairs, in the absence of the
Ambassador. On a plate in the case is engraved:
To Miss Mabel Boardman
Of the American Red Cross Society.
The Italian Government as a Token of Gratitude.
1908-1909.
A translation of the graceful letter of the Minister of Foreign Affairs,
Signor Tittoni, which accompanied the gift, is given below:
ROME, June 16, 1909.
ILLUSTRIOUS LADY: The royal Ambassador has already expressed,
and will reiterate, to you the sentiments of our gratitude for
the highly generous work inspired by you, and accomplished
with such intelligent love, during the terrible disaster which
overwhelmed our country at the end of the last year.
Now I desire to address you personally, offering to you, in the
name of the government and the Italian people, an object which
is inspired by our artistic traditions, and which will serve
to recall to you the benefactions rendered and the memory which
we preserve thereof.
We have wished to see in the action, so prompt, so efficacious,
so vast, and so enduring of the American Red Cross, something
more than a simple evidence of human fraternity. We love to
consider it a fresh proof of the spiritual ties by which
the United States feel themselves bound to the Mother
Italy; therefore this action has been doubly dear to us.
To you belongs so large a share of the merit, allow us to
see personified in yourself all the feminine grace of the
institution which has known how to give expression to these
ties in the form most acceptable to the grateful beneficiaries.
With the most cordial regards, yours, most devotedly,
TITTONI.
YOUR EXCELLENCY: Permit me to express, through you, to the
Italian government and to the people of Italy my most profound
appreciation of the honor conferred upon me by the presentation
of the beautiful reproduction of the civic crown of Rome, as
a token of gratitude for the sympathy and assistance of the
American Red Cross after the terrible disaster in Sicily and
Calabria.
It was with a sense of the greatest sorrow and the sincerest
sympathy that the people of the United States, through their
Red Cross Society, found means to express in tangible form
these heartfelt emotions. To many of our people Italy is the
motherland, and to many others she has given so rich a treasury
of art and literature that we must remain forever in her debt.
Stricken by one of the great and mysterious forces of nature,
thousands of her people were destroyed and thousands were
left homeless, suffering, and in dire distress. Our people,
overwhelmed by her misfortune, were glad, in the spirit of
brotherly love, to take some share in her assistance.
That the Italian government selected as a token of gratitude an
object around which clusters the great traditions of ancient
Rome moves us deeply, and will be an inspiration for our Red
Cross to continue constant in its efforts to conquer suffering
and be worthy of such recognition.
Permit me to express my own gratitude, and to say that what
little I have been able to do personally has been done with
sincere affection for Italy and her people, and because of the
sympathetic and hearty support of our people and Red Cross
officers.
With earnest wishes for the prosperity of your country, and for
the speedy rehabilitation of the stricken communities, and with
cordial regards and many thanks for your excellency’s most kind
communication, I am
Yours, sincerely,
MABEL T. BOARDMAN.
Senator TITTONI, _Minister of Foreign Affairs, Rome, Italy_.
On June 10, 1909, the Executive Committee adopted the following
resolution:
WHEREAS, It has sometimes occurred that members of the American
Red Cross, engaged in some special work, have been presented
with gifts because of appreciation of this work; and,
WHEREAS, The Executive Committee of the American Red Cross
considers that this is an unwise custom to permit to continue;
and,
WHEREAS, The American Red Cross itself provides a medal of
merit for recognition of especially meritorious relief work;
_Be it resolved_, That hereafter no member of the American
Red Cross shall be permitted to receive any valuable gift in
recognition of special relief work in which he or she has
taken part, and that no testimonial or medal shall be accepted
without authority of the Executive Committee.
PORTUGUESE EARTHQUAKE RELIEF
[Illustration]
LISBON, PORTUGAL, August 5, 1909.
_The American National Red Cross, Washington, D. C._
GENTLEMEN: Through His Excellency, Colonel Page Bryan, American Minister
at Lisbon, we have just received your new contribution of $300 for our
Earthquake Relief Fund, your credit on that account having thus risen to
$1,300.
We beg to present to you our earnest thanks for this generous
manifestation of your sympathy and take the liberty of enclosing a photo
showing the design of the houses you kindly have aided us to build for
160 families of the poorest classes in the four villages destroyed by the
earthquake.
Very faithfully, yours,
PELA SOCIEDADE PORTUGUEZA DA CRUZ VERMELHA,
G. L. SANTOS FERREIRA, Secretary.
CANAL ZONE RED CROSS
By Major C. A. DEVOL, U. S. Army.
Of the three great classes of Red Cross work, war relief, international
relief and emergency relief, the last is the field in which the Canal
Zone Branch is making itself peculiarly useful.
[Illustration: PRESIDENT TAFT ADDRESSING AUDIENCE OF RED CROSS MEMBERS AT
THE Y. M. C. A., CULEBRA.]
On the Canal Zone there is less need of such an organization in some ways
than there would be in a community of 50,000 people in the United States,
because here the government, through the Isthmian Canal Commission,
maintains a good system of hospitals and district physicians, and also
because there are few people here who cannot work, and almost none who
cannot get work if they want it. But there is a limit beyond which the
Commission may not go in the expenditure of government funds, and,
broadly, that limit is that it may not aid people who are not employed on
the Canal work. To the cases that lie outside this limit the Red Cross
addresses itself.
[Illustration: VIEW OF HOSPITAL GROUNDS FROM ENTRANCE, ANCON.]
[Illustration: WRECK OF STEAM SHOVEL NO. 261. BAS OBISPO, DECEMBER 12,
1908.]
An instance arose recently in Colon, where a family was destitute because
it had been deserted by the husband and father. The mother and three
children were kept alive by private subscription until the Red Cross was
organized. The Red Cross then sent the family to New York, where the
members of the Masonic order came to their relief and sent them to the
mother’s home in England. The Commission could not help in such a case,
but the Red Cross could, and did.
A citizen of France, living near Tabernilla, and not employed on the
Canal work, was bitten by a mad dog a few weeks ago. He had no money to
pay his way to a Pasteur Institute; attempts to inoculate for hydrophobia
on the Isthmus have been of uncertain value, and the Commission could not
send a non-employee to the United States. The Red Cross appropriated $50
for his steamship fare to New York and he was successfully treated in the
Pasteur Institute in that city.
[Illustration: CULEBRA CUT. LOOKING SOUTH. FEBRUARY, 1905.]
A Spanish laborer who had lost both his legs on the Isthmus was sent to
New York by the Commission, where he was fitted with two cork legs and
then sent back to his home in Spain. The Red Cross gave him $50 to help
him on his way, for the Commission could not advance more than his actual
transportation and medical fees.
Not long ago a Boer, who had become naturalized as an American, was
declared so far gone with tuberculosis that he could not work on the
Isthmus nor remain here with safety. He had been in Mexico a few years
before, and felt sure that if he could return to the plateau region his
health would be restored. The Red Cross advanced him $150 to defray his
expenses—in other words, gave him another chance for his life.
A number of cases have been relieved where the necessity was just as
pressing but where a smaller amount was sufficient.
It is not improbable that there may be a call for immediate relief on a
larger scale before the Canal is completed and the Americans in this big
construction camp pass on to other work. If an accident occurs, it will
find a thorough organization with funds in hand and ready to begin work
without any preliminaries.
Lectures on first aid are delivered by the district physicians along the
line of the Canal to members of the police and fire departments. To what
extent this instruction will aid in time of emergency is conjectural, but
it should have the effect of adding instructed men to the corps of nurses
and doctors in case of a big accident. It is probable, however, that
there is no place on earth where the hospital corps is so well equipped
to give prompt aid as on the Canal Zone. On this account, the instruction
of the police and firemen is not likely to prove such a benefit as it
would in a less thoroughly organized community.
[Illustration: GATUN DAM SITE. LOOKING EAST FROM SPILLWAY. AUGUST, 1908.]
The Canal Zone Branch has already spent about $500 in its relief work,
and its balance on July 1, 1909, was $1,577.17.
The suggestion that a branch of the American National Red Cross be
organized on the Canal Zone was made by Miss Mabel T. Boardman, member
of the Executive Committee, to Major C. A. Devol, U. S. A., Chief
Quartermaster of the Isthmian Canal Commission, in a letter dated
October 26, 1908. At the request of Major Devol, Major Lynch, of the
Medical Department, U. S. A., author of the text-book, “How to Prevent
Accidents and What to Do for Injuries and Emergencies,” came to the
Isthmus in January, 1909, and addressed Red Cross meetings at Ancon,
Culebra, Gorgona and Cristobal. Major Devol accompanied Major Lynch, and
invited all persons interested to help organize a Canal Zone Branch. On
January 17, at a meeting held in the Hotel Tivoli, at Ancon, a permanent
organization was effected, with Major C. A. Devol as president; Mr
H. D. Reed, treasurer; Miss J. Macklin Beattie, secretary. The Canal
Zone was divided into fourteen districts, and the work of perfecting
district organizations was begun. At a meeting held in the Hotel
Tivoli, February 28, twelve district organizations were represented.
The central organization was perfected by electing Mrs. Lorin C.
Collins, Lieutenant-Colonel John L. Phillips, Major Chester Harding,
and Mr. A. Bruce Minear an executive committee; and Mr. W. W. Warwick,
auditor. A Committee on First Aid Lectures was appointed, consisting of
Lieutenant-Colonel Phillips and Mr. H. D. Reed.
A noteworthy event in the early history of the Canal Zone Branch was the
visit of President-elect Taft, National President of the Red Cross, to
the Canal Zone in February, 1909. On the night of February 3 he made an
address at the Commission Club house in Culebra, in which he outlined the
work of the Red Cross. The meeting was attended by over 1,200 members of
the Red Cross, and had a marked effect in arousing popular interest in
this most important work.
The Canal Zone has now a membership of 1,300, divided among fourteen
districts. The following are the officers of the district organizations:
Ancon—Dr. John L. Phillips, chairman.
Corozal—Alfred P. James, chairman.
Pedro Miguel—Ernest Bitely, chairman.
Paraiso—Harry Dundas, chairman.
Culebra—Mrs. C. A. Devol, chairman.
Gatun—Major William L. Sibert, chairman.
Cristobal—Dr. M. E. Connor, chairman.
Empire—W. M. Wood, acting chairman.
Las Cascadas—Mrs. Frank I. McAllister, acting chairman.
Bas Obispo—X. D. Holt, acting chairman.
Camp Elliott—Mrs. B. F. Fuller, acting chairman.
Gorgona—Mrs. Frank M. Morrison, acting chairman.
San Pablo—V. L. Kearney, acting chairman.
Tabernilla—C. D. Thaxton, acting chairman.
THE USE AND ABUSE OF THE RED CROSS BRASSARD
By G. H. RICHARDSON, M. D., Late First Lieutenant Medical Reserve Corps,
U. S. A.
In a War Department order issued on February 10, 1909, the importance
of regulating the issue of brassards to those entitled to neutrality by
virtue of the first paragraph of article 9, and articles 10 and 11 of
the Geneva Convention, was recognized. At the same time, and by the same
order, the Medical Department was authorized to provide and deliver the
“necessary certificates of identity to those persons attached to the
sanitary service who do not have a military uniform.”
It is generally understood that this order shall not be applicable in
time of peace; yet it would seem that, to make it effective and to
anticipate the confusion incident to a declaration of war, some plan
or system should be developed in the American Red Cross (which is the
sanitary service recognized by the War Department) whereby the individual
members could be definitely classified, and, when the occasion demanded,
the necessary brassards and cards of identity could be expeditiously
given them.
That this question should engage the attention of the American Red Cross
is apparent to those of us who were in San Francisco during the weeks
immediately following the disaster of April 18, 1906. On almost every
other man was seen the Red Cross emblem in some form, it being generally
known that those engaged in duties pertaining to this organization were
permitted to pass and re-pass the sentries on duty in different parts
of the city; for while we were not technically “under martial law,” yet
the streets were everywhere patrolled by armed men, some of whom were
directly under military control and others only partially so. It was in
passing one of these patrols that a personal friend of mine was shot and
killed for refusing, when challenged, to stop his automobile, on which
was flying a Red Cross flag. It is needless to say that not one-quarter
of those using the emblem were legally entitled to do so, and much harm
was done the organization by those who wore the brassard for personal
gain and benefit.
Only by the study of past experience can we judge what the future will
produce; and if we expect the general public ever to recognize and
respect the brassard we should begin at once a campaign of instruction
which will explain its legitimate use and the reasons for regulating its
issue.
It would be of incalculable benefit in time of war, or when martial law
was declared, to have brassards and cards of identification already
issued and recorded, for they could readily be re-stamped or copied by
the Medical Department, as provided for in the order quoted, with the
result that much time would be saved and much confusion avoided.
REPRESSION OF THE ABUSE OF THE RED CROSS INSIGNIA
At the time of the Eighth International Red Cross Conference held in
London, June, 1907, Professor Louis Renault presented in the name of the
Central Committee of the French Red Cross a report upon the “Repression
of the Abuse of the Red Cross Insignia.” In this report Professor
Renault showed that for twenty years this question had not ceased to be
considered. This abuse continues in certain countries—ours among the
number—because of insufficient legislation. Still, important steps have
been taken, and if to-day the work has not been completed it is on the
right road. At the International Convention of 1906, at Geneva, when the
revised treaty was accepted it contained special paragraphs referring
to the protection of the insignia and name which all the countries
of the world have agreed upon to designate the hospital formations
and their personnel protected by this treaty. The countries signing
this treaty obligated themselves, in case their present laws do not
provide sufficient protection to the Red Cross name and insignia, to
apply to their respective legislative bodies for the further necessary
legislation. The report of Professor Renault had for its object to
call attention to these promises that had been made. The honor and the
interest of each country demand that they be kept. The Swiss Federal
Council has lately prepared a law which it will present to the Chambers
to preserve to this emblem of humanitarian neutrality, which the Cross of
Geneva represents, all its moral value and its noble signification.
_Action of American Medical Association._