January 7 and returning to that port on the 17th, distributed 115,500
lire in cash, and supplies to the value of 230,000 lire.
DISTRIBUTION OF CASH.
30,000 lire to the Prefect of Catania (5,000 to be distributed at the
discretion of Madame Ferri), 30,000 to the hospitals of Catania, 1,000 to
the Little Sisters of the Poor of Catania, 35,000 to Syracuse, 5,000 to
Acireale, 4,000 to Taormina, 6,000 to Giardini, 10,000 for distribution
among small villages outside of Taormina du Giardini, towards Messina,
1,000 to Archbishop of Messina, 20,500 to Palermo.
KIND AND QUANTITY OF SUPPLIES.
2,000 metres tent canvas, 4,500 woolen blankets, 250 sheets, 1,400 metres
of sheeting, 1,230 woolen shawls, 2,130 overcoats, ulsters and capes,
1,570 pairs of shoes, 2,100 suits of clothes for men and boys, 3,500
pairs of stockings, 350 skirts, 5,200 metres of dress goods and other
cloth, 5,000 pieces of underwear, 700 shirts and blouses, 300 pairs
pantaloons, 1,400 hats and caps, 5,000 kilograms flour, 20,000 galletti
(hard biscuit), 8,000 kilograms potatoes, 6,800 kilograms macaroni,
3,180 tins of preserved meat, 60 cases of sterilized milk (50 quarts per
case), 1,200 litres olive oil, 530 litres marsala, 210 litres cognac,
etc., 1,350 kilograms cheese, 1,000 kilograms dried fish, 351 kilograms
tobacco, 530 kilograms sausage, 1,225 kilograms of sardines, etc., 550
kilograms lard, 4,000 kilograms beans, 700 shovels, 700 picks, 300
galvanized iron buckets, 1,700 kilograms of rope, assorted size, 100
saws, 10 petroleum stoves, 50 cases petroleum, 1 ton candles, 2,000 cakes
soap, cooking utensils, tableware, miscellaneous tools, matches in large
quantities, 27 cases of medical supplies, 1,200 mattresses stripped from
the bunks of the _Bayern_, 350 sheets and pillow cases, 230 coverlets.
At Catania lumber sufficient for the construction of 25 houses (13 × 13
feet, including flooring) was purchased, loaded on board the _Bayern_,
and delivered to the Italian authorities at Reggio.
* * * * *
_Lieutenant-Commander Belknap commends in the highest terms the work
done by all the members of this Red Cross Relief Expedition, including
Drs. Bastinelli, Scelba, Egidi and Alessandrini, the nurses, Avvocato
Girodana, Messrs. Hooper, Gay, Cutting, Flint, Captain Mitzlaff, the
other officers and the crew of the Bayern and Mr. Anniser, the North
German Lloyd agent at Rome, for his personal assistance. The Navigazione
Generale Italiana also rendered much assistance at Civita Vecchia.
To all of these the American Red Cross extends its hearty thanks and
appreciation of their valuable aid in this relief expedition._—EDITOR.
OTHER MEASURES OF AMERICAN RED CROSS RELIEF
Besides the contributions to the Italian Red Cross, the sending of a
Special Representative—Mr. Bayard Cutting—the providing of the Relief
Ship, the maintenance of the Agricultural Orphanage Colony, the purchase
of materials for some six hundred houses and the construction of these
houses and those furnished by the United States Government, the American
Red Cross has sent to Mr. Griscom, our Ambassador at Rome, $20,000 for
Calabrian relief and $50,000 to be used at his discretion in conjunction
with the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Mr. Griscom says:
“After consultation, I asked him to appoint an Italian Committee to do
rehabilitation work on the lines we adopted at Chelsea. He appointed
his wife Chairman, and with her Countess Taverna, wife of the President
of the Italian Red Cross; the Duke of Teuanova, one of the largest
land owners in Sicily; the Marquis of San Fernando, one of the largest
land owners in Calabria, and Mr. Teneraani, the head of the principal
charities of Rome. This is a very strong Committee, and they are doing
splendid work—acting rapidly and efficiently. The Committee calls itself
‘Comitato Offerto Americano,’ a ‘Committee of American Offerings.’ This
Committee operates wherever they find or hear of deserving refugees,
particularly professional men, and a considerable portion of this money
is spent at the scene of the disaster as well as in Rome, Naples, etc.”
From the Calabrian mountain villages came urgent appeals for help, so Mr.
Griscom—
“Sent Mr. Nelson Gay, who has lived in Italy for some years, to make a
tour of Calabria, and he was accompanied by an officer of the General
Staff. He had a wonderful trip and his report is the basis of our
present operations. As he went along he telegraphed me his needs and his
requisitions were filled in Rome or from France. The majority of his
requests were complied with and the goods delivered to him and to the
Generals indicated by him in Calabria within forty-eight hours after
the receipt of his telegram. This includes the twenty-four hour railway
haul, so you see we have our system of operations fairly perfected. The
Director-General of Italian Railways gives our shipments the right of way
over everything. After Mr. Gay had been there a few days with General
Parditi at Palmi, Calabria, the General telegraphed his appreciation of
what had been done there to the Prime Minister and the Secretary of War.
Mr. Gay visited about forty towns in Calabria, including the highest and
most inaccessible villages. To some he brought the first succor since the
earthquake.
“I am now sending Mr. Winthrop Chanler, who is accompanied by four or
five young Italian noblemen, to Calabria to carry out the most elaborate
piece of work yet projected. We are to rebuild one whole town—Gallina.
Calabria—about three hundred wooden houses, and to deliver and build
three hundred other houses of lighter construction in the highest towns
of the Calabrian Mountains. We work through the military authorities and
at their request, but we conduct the work ourselves. In the meantime
our young Italians will use our money to rehabilitate the inhabitants
in their trades and professions, under Mr. Chanter’s direction. We
are buying a shipload of lumber very cheaply in Naples and sending it
ourselves to the spot. This is the use I am making of the last $20,000
the Red Cross has entrusted to me. From Gay’s report three hundred houses
are needed, at about $100 a house, which will make $30,000. I have the
recent grant of $20,000 and the unexpended balance from the Relief Ship
appropriation is $17,000, making a total of $37,000. This leaves $7,000
for expenses of hospitals, etc. These operations will all be done in
the name of the American Red Cross. Mr. Chanler will lay out the town,
establish police and sanitary regulations and hurry the building in
accordance with a plan I have outlined. I am sending down a young Italian
doctor to establish a little hospital and keep the place sanitary. We
work through the military authorities, who supply the carpenters and
laborers except when we employ people for the sake of giving them work.
The rehabilitation is to go on while the houses go up and the young
Italians, with Mr. Chanler, are especially to do this work. They are
to search out the most deserving merchants and give them a start. I
sincerely hope this project of mine will appeal to the Red Cross as
it does to the Italian people. If a small part of my expectations are
realized the money will be well spent. I may say here that the people
in the earthquake zone have now plenty to eat and are clothed so that
the greatest remaining need is shelter. They are dying from cold and its
consequences—pneumonia, bronchitis, consumption, etc. The wood we are
sending from America is a drop in a bucket. Mr. Gay reports that the
military estimates of 600,000 homeless people are not exaggerated. It
would take $12,000,000 to provide them with cheapest temporary houses,
and the Italians have not this amount to dispose of. In the meantime
people are living in half-ruined homes in imminent peril of being killed
by any little earthquake, and the earth continues to quake frequently.
Our new work begins in two days and will take a month or two.”
This letter was written February 21st. In referring to the Orphanage
Colony, Mr. Griscom says:
“Yesterday the Queen sent for me a second time to reiterate her thanks.”
She expressed her deep interest in the American Red Cross and desired to
learn more about the Society.
In a previous letter Mr. Griscom, whose splendid work has done so much to
render Red Cross contributions of use, says in conclusion:
“I may say personally, I have had the most valuable and interesting
experience of my lifetime; and when I return to the United States I will
become one of the most loyal supporters in the Red Cross work in America.”
ITALIAN RELIEF NOTES
MISS DAVIS AT SYRACUSE.
All reports and private letters received by the American Red Cross from
the scene of disaster speak in the very highest terms of the work done
at Syracuse by Miss Katherine B. Davis, who happened to be in Sicily at
the time of the earthquake. Speaking of her work in private letters, Miss
Davis says:
“Of course, you know what the papers have told of the terrible disaster
to the towns along the Straits of Messina. I was at Girgenti the morning
of the shock. It was strong enough to wake me, but it was not till
thirty hours later that I, with the English ladies with whom I was
traveling, heard of the disaster. A priest with the Red Cross badge got
into a compartment on the train and told us.
“Yesterday and today a Russian and an English warship have brought here
six hundred of the wounded and more are expected tomorrow. It is like
what it must be after a battle. Many of them are horribly mutilated.
There are no hospital accommodations, and you cannot buy a ready-made
garment in the town. There is only one trained nurse in town—an English
girl, who escaped in her night dress from Messina. She is a heroine and
is working day and night assisting with the amputations. I am afraid
she will break down. I was with an English woman last night who had to
have both legs amputated at one o’clock this morning. Her husband, two
children, a brother and a sister were killed. But I cannot stop to write
you tonight of the many pathetic cases I have seen. We have four thousand
refugees, one thousand of whom are seriously wounded. The German Red
Cross, of Berlin, and the Italian, from Brescia, got here on Monday of
this week, the 11th. They have taken over the barracks hospital, the
worst of all, and such a transformation! They are doing fine work, with
splendid fellows in charge. It was unspeakably horrible until they came.
After the first few days in the hospitals I found I could do better work
in helping the refugees to help themselves, and soon started the women
from Messina to making clothing.
“Fortunately, there is a sewing machine agency here, and the Mayor of
the town is of the right sort. He placed a room in the Municipio at my
disposal, and an alderman—or whatever corresponds to alderman—who speaks
some English, selected the women for me, and I pay them a franc and a
half a day. We now have sixty-eight employed, in three different places.
No ready-made garments could be purchased in the town, and the need
for clothing was extreme. I soon used up my own money and what I could
collect from people at the hotel, but, fortunately, Bayard Cutting, Jr.,
came on Wednesday, and liked the work so much that he gave me $600 from
the relief funds to pay wages, and has had me appointed the Red Cross
representative here.
“I have persuaded the Mayor to start relief work for the men, road
building or what not, he to furnish the tools and oversight, and we (the
American Red Cross) will pay the wages. We begin tomorrow. In short, I
am organizing all I can on the good Charity Organization Society plan of
making the able-bodied needy work for what they get.
“My personal impression of the situation is that the worst is yet to
come, when the temporary relief ceases.
“I shall never forget the horrors I have seen and heard, and I was not at
Messina!”
DR. METCALF AT MESSINA.
Dr. Francis Metcalf, formerly of the United States Army, who, during
the Spanish War was a surgeon on the U. S. A. Hospital Ship _Relief_,
in a personal letter written January 15th from Capii to Surgeon-General
Torney, U. S. A., says:
[Illustration: EMBARKING THE INJURED.]
[Illustration: DR. METCALF AT MESSINA.]
“Of course, I volunteered immediately to go to Reggio and Messina and
stated my former service on the _Relief_. I was accepted and was the only
American there, excepting a couple of correspondents and the vice-consul.
To avoid red tape and the questioning of orders I stuck the old insignia
(the Red Cross) on a riding suit. Technically I suppose that violated
the proprieties, but it wasn’t much of a time for technicalities and it
avoided a lot of palaver. At any rate, I didn’t discredit the corps of
which you are the head.
“Unfortunately, I was not able to do as much as I should have liked to
do. I did accomplish a little, though, more especially in the embarcation
of the wounded. They were all being carried up the longest and narrowest
sidestairs I have ever seen alongside a ship, sometimes head first, more
often with the head down and banged and jostled unmercifully. They were
lying alongside for hours, seasick and unhappy, until I tried the old
_Relief_ trick. I enlisted the aid of the ships’ officers and used a
boat fall, clearing out the small boats in short order and sending the
patients up without suffering until I had every gangway crowded. Nothing
you have read in the papers nor experienced in San Francisco can give you
an adequate idea of the situation down there. It was just one infernal
smash and not less than a hundred thousand dead at Messina alone. The
wounded were in horrible condition, as gangrene was almost universal.”
MISS BROCKIUS AT TAORMINA.
Miss Brockius, in a letter to a friend in this country, writes:
“If I wrote for hours I could not tell you of the horrors we have seen
in the last three days. During the first the long trains came in perhaps
every hour with the wounded and the dying, huddled together with the
refugees, all with that frightened look of horror in their faces. When
they thought the people were dying they would be taken off at our station
and we had arranged the waiting room into a place to receive them. When
the tables were all full they would have to go on the floor—poor, poor
people, sometimes you could hardly see for the blood that they were
human beings, and they were mangled beyond words. Some had both legs and
both arms broken, and many had not eaten for days, and their thirst was
terrible.
“We worked over one poor thing for hours, for the doctor said she had no
bones broken, and she seemed very young and strong, but she must have
been injured internally, for she died without becoming conscious. One man
was taken off here who had been in the ruins for four days, of course
with nothing to eat. He had to be fed at first with a drop of milk at a
time, and in several hours he was able to walk to the carriage. One young
fellow’s eyes were glassy with hunger, and after we had given him some
hot broth we could see that awful look go away, but, poor thing, he had
lost his memory entirely, and did not even know where he had been.
“It is so hard for us, not knowing much of the language, to tell what
they want. A poor dying soldier was begging me to let him kiss something
that was around his neck in a bag, and I couldn’t understand until a
priest told me what he wanted.
“Many were in open coal cars and, as it has rained almost constantly
since the catastrophe, the suffering must have been frightful.
“One man who went to Messina to help dig out the people told us it was
much worse than a field of battle, for there were so many children lying
there injured.”
APPRECIATION OF ITALIAN OFFICIALS.
Premier Giolitti, in speaking of the American people’s generosity, said:
“What the United States has done on this occasion is magnificent, and
shall not be forgotten. The United States stands first, outdistancing all
others in sympathy and generosity.
“Our gratitude is so great that we cannot find words in which to express
it. Besides, appreciation on our part is heightened by the fact that so
many of our compatriots have found hospitality in America.
“With us it is traditional to consider Americans, who visit Italy in such
great numbers, as our best friends, since we love their country and their
race, because of its liberal organization and its progressive principles.”
Signor Tittoni, the foreign minister, said: “Never before on any occasion
has occurred such a demonstration of sympathy as that of America. It
includes all classes and conditions from the President to the humblest
citizen. Nothing could more tightly bind together the two countries or
render their friendship closer.”
SOLIDARITY OF RED CROSS SOCIETIES.
In a letter of February 2nd to the Central Committee of the American
Red Cross from M. Ador, Vice-President of the International Red Cross
Committee of Geneva, he says:
“The large contributions received by you for the victims of the
earthquake in Sicily and Calabria are a splendid testimony of your
benevolent activity and the solidarity which unites our Societies of the
Red Cross in times of peace as in times of war.”
THE POPE’S BLESSING AND THANKS.
The following is a copy of a newspaper clipping relative to the
disbanding of the American Relief Committee, at a meeting of which Mr.
Samuel L. Parrish stated that the Pope had bestowed his blessing upon the
American Society:
RELIEF COMMITTEE DISBANDS.
At 4 o’clock this afternoon there was a strong shock at Reggio.
Shocks are still occurring at Reggio and Messina.
The American relief committee, which was organized for the
purpose of directing the American charities in connection with
the earthquake sufferers, has been dissolved. The Italian
authorities have now everything well in hand.
In cash alone the relief committee on the steamer _Bayern_
distributed $30,000. The vast supply of provisions on board the
steamer proved all too small for the innumerable calls made
upon the relief party’s resources, but the distribution was
made as widespread as possible.
During the sitting of the committee today Samuel L. Parrish
informed the other members that he had been received in private
audience by the Pope, who said that he admired especially the
exemplary generosity of the American Red Cross, and wished to
have these sentiments conveyed to that noble institution.
Mr. Parrish also said that, wishing to satisfy the desire of
the Pope, he had written President-elect Taft, the President
of the American Red Cross Society, reporting the result of the
audience, and adding:
“The Pope gave his blessing to the American Red Cross,
expressing his gratitude and high appreciation of the work of
that association.”
Mr. Parrish’s letter to the President follows:
ROME, January 15, 1909.
Hotel d’Europe.
HONORABLE WILLIAM H. TAFT, President Red Cross, Washington, D.
C.
My Dear Mr. Taft:
I was this morning received in audience by the Pope, to whom
my sponsor, Monsignor Ugolini, explained in succinct form the
generous activity of the American Red Cross in connection with
the sufferers in the recent earthquake in Calabria and Sicily.
The Pope then gave his blessing to the American Red Cross, and
while expressing his gratitude and high appreciation of the
work of the Association, desired that his benediction might be
known to its members. In seeking to fulfill this request, I
know of no better method than to thus simply state the fact to
you.
Yours sincerely,
(Signed) SAMUEL L. PARRISH.
AMERICAN RED CROSS RECEIPTS BY STATES
FOR ITALIAN EARTHQUAKE RELIEF TO MARCH 13, 1909, WITH PER CAPITA
CONTRIBUTIONS ACCORDING TO CENSUS OF 1909.
Attention is particularly invited to the remarkably generous contribution
of California.
Mills
per capita
New York $316,836.57 43.53
California 200,996.82 135.34
Illinois 97,475.04 20.21
Missouri 40,809.42 13.13
Connecticut 39,459.66 43.43
Massachusetts 37,061.45 13.21
New Jersey 31,417.38 16.67
Wisconsin 26,934.83 13.01
Rhode Island 24,048.65 56.11
Pennsylvania 19,416.51 3.08
District of Columbia 16,538.90 59.33
Maryland 16,496.16 13.88
Ohio 14,343.97 3.45
Washington 13,734.76 26.50
Michigan 12,450.49 5.10
Iowa 10,749.98 4.81
Indiana 9,285.00 3.68
Utah 6,506.00 23.50
Virginia 5,892.95 3.17
Maine 4,269.75 6.14
New Hampshire 4,054.84 9.85
Alabama 3,907.77 2.13
South Carolina 3,902.32 2.91
Texas 2,109.68 .69
Nebraska 2,002.30 1.87
Nevada 1,955.92 46.20
Louisiana 1,864.00 1.34
Montana 1,781.71 7.32
Minnesota 1,777.16 1.01
Kansas 1,652.00 1.12
West Virginia 1,222.59 1.27
Vermont 1,153.90 3.35
North Carolina 1,148.35 .60
Delaware 1,076.00 5.82
Arizona 794.27 6.46
South Dakota 778.82 1.93
Colorado 653.95 1.21
Kentucky 407.90 .18
Tennessee 395.57 .19
Oregon 381.67 .92
New Mexico 309.75 1.58
Oklahoma 238.00 .59
Florida 222.48 .42
Georgia 205.86 .09
Mississippi 123.36 .07
Arkansas 83.04 .06
North Dakota 77.00 .24
Idaho 19.73 .12
Wyoming 16.26 .17
Porto Rico 5.00
“Anonymous,” not credited to States 11.25
Quebec 10.00
Mexico 5.00
British Columbia 1.00
Nova Scotia 1.00
“Christian Herald,” New York 55,000.00
------------- ------
Total $1,034,073.74
HOW NEW YORK RAISED FUNDS FOR ITALY
The experience of the New York State Branch in raising relief funds
for a considerable number of disasters shows that several simple
but indispensable things must be done in order to ensure adequate
contributions—adequate, that is to say, to the emergency needs, and,
as it will no doubt interest many Red Cross members to know what these
things are and how they have been done, a brief description of the last
appeal is offered.
When on the morning of December 29th last word came to the State
Headquarters in New York City from Mr. Magee, the national secretary,
authorizing and directing an appeal to the public for funds wherewith
to meet the needs of stricken Sicily and Calabria, the secretary of the
State Branch, Mrs. William K. Draper, and the state field agent were
with the office secretary. For such an emergency there is a recognized
program of work. The first thing to be done, of course, was to publish
the appeal. At once, within an hour, notices were sent to all of the
local newspapers. This notice stated that the American Red Cross had
appealed to the people of the United States in behalf of the earthquake
sufferers; that all funds sent to the State Treasurer, Mr. Jacob H.
Schiff, at the State Headquarters would be forwarded with the utmost
expedition through the federal state department to the Italian Red Cross,
and that all persons sending their contributions in this way would have
the fullest assurance that the money would reach the desired destination,
and would learn later from official Red Cross reports how it was spent.
Subsequently three ladies, members of the State Branch, visited all of
the newspaper offices in the city and enlisted the co-operation of the
editors in keeping before the public the function and record of the Red
Cross, and the name and address of its local treasurer. It was realized
that in order to get the best results the name and address ought to be
printed every day by the papers in a conspicuous position. Unless this
were done day after day, many persons inclined to give would forget this
detail and let the occasion pass.