nurses. Used cargo for both U.S. Army and Cubans at
Guantanamo, Siboney, the front and Santiago.
SCHOONER "MARY E MORSE."--Carried 800 tons of ice to
Santiago, used on transports carrying returned soldiers
and sick men. Afterward carried transferred cargo of
"Port Victor" to Baracoa and Jibarra for distribution
among Cuban hungry.
SCHOONER "NOCOMIS."--Carried 700 tons of ice to Porto
Rico.]
[Illustration: OFFICERS OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE AMERICAN NATIONAL
RED CROSS.]
On the same day, Admiral Sampson, in his reply, pointed out why, as
commander of the blockading squadron, his instructions would not permit
him to admit food into Cuba at that time.
U.S. FLAGSHIP "NEW YORK," FIRST RATE.
KEY WEST, FLORIDA, _May 2, 1898_.
MISS CLARA BARTON,
_President, American National Red Cross, Key West, Fla._:
DEAR MADAM: I have received, through the senior naval officer
present, a copy of a letter from the State Department to the
Secretary of the Navy, a copy of a letter of the Secretary of the
Navy to the commander-in-chief of the naval force on this station,
and also a copy of a letter from the Secretary of the Navy to the
commandant of the naval station at Key West.
2. From these communications it appears that the destination of the
steamship "State of Texas," loaded with supplies for the starving
reconcentrados in Cuba, is left, in a measure, to my judgment.
3. At present I am acting under instructions from the Navy
Department to blockade the coast of Cuba for the purpose of
preventing, among other things, any food supply from reaching the
Spanish forces in Cuba. Under these circumstances it seems to me
unwise to let a ship-load of such supplies be sent to the
reconcentrados, for, in my opinion, they would be distributed to the
Spanish army. Until some point be occupied in Cuba by our forces,
from which such distribution may be made to those for whom the
supplies are intended, I am unwilling that they should be landed on
Cuban soil.
Yours, very respectfully,
W.T. SAMPSON,
_Rear Admiral, U.S. Navy_,
_Commander-in-Chief U.S. Naval Force,
North Atlantic Station_.
The Red Cross had been requested to hasten south to take food into Cuba,
but the admiral had been instructed to keep it out. Nothing remained to
do but to inform the government at Washington, and the committee in New
York, regarding the situation as developed by this correspondence, and
await farther instructions, which was done by cablegram addressed to the
chairman of the Central Cuban Relief Committee in New York:
KEY WEST, FLA., _May 3, 1898_.
Herewith I transmit copies of letters passed between Admiral Sampson
and myself. I think it important that you should immediately present
this correspondence personally to the government, as it will place
before them the exact situation here. The utmost cordiality exists
between Admiral Sampson and myself. The admiral feels it his duty,
as chief of the blockading squadron to keep food out of Cuba, and
recognizes that from my standpoint my duty is to try to get food
into Cuba and this correspondence is transmitted with his cordial
consent. If I insist, Admiral Sampson will try to open communication
under a flag of truce, but his letter expresses his opinion
regarding the best method. Advices from the government would enable
us to reach a decision. Unless there is objection at Washington, you
are at liberty to publish this correspondence if you wish.
CLARA BARTON.
In a few days the following cablegram was received in reply:
WASHINGTON, _May 6, 1898_.
CLARA BARTON, _Key West_:
Submitted your message to President and cabinet, and it was read
with moistened eyes. Considered serious and pathetic. Admiral
Sampson's views regarded as wisest at present. Hope to land you
soon. President, Long and Moore send highest regards.
BARTON.
(S.E.)
We too hoped to land soon, but the opportunity never came, and the
"State of Texas" whose finely assorted cargo was primarily intended for
the starving reconcentrados, did not get to Cuba until she went with the
transports conveying the invading army, and, after doing good service in
the relief of the sick and wounded at El Caney and Siboney, she entered
the harbor of Santiago, the first American ship to reach the city.
While these things were transpiring, preparations were being made by the
Red Cross, in accordance with the provisions of the Treaty of Geneva, to
render auxiliary medical and hospital service during the war. Upon the
declaration of war, a special committee was appointed, composed of Dr.
J.B. Hubbell, Mr. John Hitz and Mr. Stephen E. Barton, to wait upon the
President of the United States, the Secretaries of State, War and Navy,
and the Surgeon General, to give oral notice of the intention of the Red
Cross to be ready to furnish any supplemental aid that might be required
by the armies in the field.
Following the usual custom, the American National Red Cross was about to
issue a statement to the American people for funds and materials to
support its ministrations to the sick and wounded, when a resolution was
passed by the board of directors of the New York Red Cross Hospital, of
which institution Mr. William T. Wardwell is president, proposing the
formation of a Relief Committee. The purpose of this committee was to
raise funds and supplies, in the name of the Red Cross, and to act as a
national auxiliary in the capacity of trustees and temporary custodians
of the contributions of the people in support of the work to be done by
the American National Red Cross.
The tender of the proposed Relief Committee, thus voluntarily formed,
was provisionally accepted by Mr. Stephen E. Barton, subject to the
official acceptance by the American National Red Cross. Upon this
provisional acceptance the Relief Committee proceeded to organize, and
its membership was enlarged by the addition of men well known in social
and financial circles of the City and State of New York.
The name adopted by the committee: "The American National Red Cross
Relief Committee," was perhaps unfortunate, in some respects, inasmuch
as it created a certain confusion in the minds of the people, who were
often unable to distinguish between the parent organization, the
American National Red Cross, and the Relief Committee of New York. The
committee having completed its organization, the tender of its services
during the war was made and accepted in the following terms:
NEW YORK, _May 3, 1898_.
GENTLEMEN: We have before us the official communication in which
your secretary, Mr. John P. Faure, transmits to us for action
thereon, the following resolution from your executive committee:
_Resolved_, That the secretary be and he hereby is instructed to
officially notify the American National Red Cross of the fact of the
organization of this committee, requesting official acknowledgment
and acceptance by the American National Red Cross, of the tender of
financial co-operation and support offered by this committee.
In reply we would say that it gives us great pleasure to accept your
generous offer of financial co-operation and support. In carrying
out the object of your offer, you are authorized to make such a
public appeal, in the name of the American National Red Cross, as
you may think best.
For the purpose of unifying all effort, and concentrating all
financial and material support to the American National Red Cross,
we also confidently entrust to you, in consultation with our own
executive committee, the work of inviting, through your committee,
the co-operation of all Red Cross Relief Committees throughout the
United States.
Very truly yours,
The American National Red Cross,
CLARA BARTON, President,
GEO. KENNAN, Vice-President,
STEPHEN E. BARTON, Second Vice-President.
The acceptance of this offer made necessary the formation of an
executive committee of the American National Red Cross, with
headquarters in the city of New York, whose function it would be to
represent the Red Cross in its official dealings with the government at
Washington, the American people and the Relief Committee, and to devise
ways and means for the administration of the contributions of the
people, through the appointment and direction of official
representatives of the Red Cross in the camps. The executive committee
was at once appointed and consisted of the following members: Stephen E.
Barton, Charles A. Schieren, Hon. Joseph Sheldon, George W. Boldt and
William B. Howland, and organized with Mr. Barton as chairman and Mr.
Schieren as treasurer.
* * * * *
On the fourteenth day of May the Relief Committee addressed the
following letter to the President of the United States, reciting the
formal offer of the American National Red Cross to supplement the field
and hospital service of the army and navy, and reiterating their tender
of co-operation and financial support:
NEW YORK, _May 20, 1898_.
_To the President_:
SIR: In accordance with the request made by you to the special
committee appointed by the American National Red Cross Relief
Committee, during its recent visit to you, the undersigned members
of said special committee beg leave to submit the following
statements for your consideration:
The American National Red Cross Relief Committee of New York,
organized with an unlimited number of co-operating and auxiliary
bodies throughout the country, for the purpose of providing
financial and material sustenance to the work of the American
National Red Cross, Miss Clara Barton, president, begs leave to
represent to the Government of the United States as follows, viz:
_First._--That the American National Red Cross is the duly
incorporated committee representing the work of the Red Cross in its
civil capacity, and is recognized as such by the Government of the
United States, the governments of other countries and the
International Committee at Geneva.
_Second._--That we are informed that the said American National Red
Cross has given formal notice to the Departments of State, War and
Navy and the Surgeons-General of the army and navy of its readiness
to respond to any calls for civil aid to supplement the hospital
work of the army and navy, in accordance with the provisions of the
resolutions of the Geneva Conference of 1863 and the Geneva
Convention of 1864, and their amendments.
_Third._--That, in order to guarantee the fullest effectiveness of
the aid thus offered by the civil Red Cross, this committee hereby
gives you official notice that it stands ready, together with other
co-operating committees, to furnish all necessary money and material
to support the work of the said American National Red Cross, as
hereinbefore outlined.
We beg to request, Mr. President, that you take the necessary action
to have the several departments of the government duly notified of
this financial guarantee of the assistance tendered by the American
National Red Cross, to the end that the fullest reliance may be
placed upon its offer, should the extent of the present war over tax
the preparations of the medical departments of the army and navy.
Please favor us with a prompt acknowledgment of this letter and
information as to your action thereon.
Respectfully,
LEVI P. MORTON,
HENRY C. POTTER, D.D., LL.D.,
WILLIAM T. WARDWELL,
GEORGE F. SHRADY, M.D.,
A. MONAE LESSER, M.D.
On May 24, the above communication was transmitted by the Secretary of
State to the Department of War, in the following letter in which he
explains the position of the American National Red Cross and its
national and international status:
DEPARTMENT OF STATE.
_The Honorable the Secretary of War_:
SIR: I have the honor to transmit to you copy of a letter addressed
to the President under date of the twentieth inst., by Messrs. Levi
P. Morton, Henry C. Potter, D.D., William T. Wardwell, George F.
Shrady, M.D., and A. Monae Lesser, M.D., a special committee
appointed by the American National Red Cross Relief Committee, in
regard to the work proposed to be undertaken by that organization
for the purpose of providing financial and material support to the
work of the American National Red Cross, of which latter Miss Clara
Barton is president.
The proposal has the President's cordial approbation in view of the
distinctive position of the American National Red Cross as the sole
central organization in the United States in affiliation with the
International Committee of Berne, and through it with the Central
Red Cross Committees which have been formed in every country which
has adhered to the Geneva Convention of 1864.
It is to be remembered that the Geneva Convention itself is largely
the outgrowth of American initiative. The American Sanitary
Commission, organized during the first years of the War of the
Rebellion, proved the efficacy of uniform and concentrated effort to
bring into play the benevolent influences of the people to aid the
military authorities in caring for the sick and wounded in war, and
its conspicuous success attracted attention abroad to such a degree
that, in obedience to a very general desire in European countries,
the Swiss Government, in 1863, invited an international conference
to formulate and adopt a general plan for the amelioration of the
suffering of the sick and wounded in war. As a result of that
conference arrangements were perfected for the organization of
central civil committees in the several countries to supplement the
work done by the military service of the armies in the field, thus
creating in nearly all the Continental States organizations similar
to the American Sanitary Commission. The following year another
conference was held at Geneva, under the auspices of the
International Committee, which resulted in the signing of the Geneva
Convention of 1864, to which the United States is a party. Still
another conference in 1868 resulted in the additional articles
extending the principles of the Geneva Convention to naval
operations, which have been adopted by this government and Spain as
a _modus vivendi_ during the present war.
Besides these truly international conventions, conferences held at
Geneva in 1867 and in 1869 still further perfected the organization
and operation of the International Committee of Berne and its
relations to the several civil central Red Cross Committees in the
adhering States, to the end that the latter might not alone
cooperate with the governments of their respective nations in time
of war, but should perform analogous relief work in each State in
time of pestilence, famine or other national calamity.
The American National Red Cross, incorporated under the laws of the
United States for the District of Columbia, constitutes the sole
legitimate and recognized local branch in this country of the great
international association, of which the International Committee of
Berne is the head. Of its conspicuous peaceful services in time of
national suffering at home and abroad, it is superfluous to speak.
Its relation to the military and naval hospital service in time of
war is now under consideration. Under the terms of the Geneva
conventions, its aid may be powerfully given to the military and
naval armies, with the added prestige which belongs to it as the
American branch of the International Red Cross. By the terms of the
Geneva Convention of 1864, the participation of its agents in the
active ambulance and hospital service of the armies and naval forces
of the United States is effected through the express neutralization
of its individual workers by the military and naval authorities and
the issuance to them of the stipulated armlet bearing the sign of
the Red Cross. Its assistance, however, is not limited to this
individual employment of its agents in the field; it stands ready to
co-operate in the equipment and supply of ambulances and medical
stores, drawing for its resources on the benevolence of the
community and systematizing effort and aid throughout the country by
the various local committees it has organized.
By Article II of the protocol of the Geneva Conference of 1863,
which created the International Committee of Berne and its
associated national committees, each National Central Committee is
to enter into relations with the government of its country so that
its services may be accepted if occasion should present itself, and
by Article III, on being called upon, or with the assent of the
military authorities, the respective Central Committee is to send
volunteer nurses to the field of battle, there to be placed under
the orders of the commanding officer. These articles sufficiently
show the character of the aid to be rendered in time of war by the
widespread organization of which the International Committee of
Berne is the head.
There is pending in Congress at the present time an act to
legitimize the national status of the American National Red Cross
and to protect its exclusive use of the insignia of the Red Cross
for the work it was organized to perform, and its early passage is
expected. Indeed, it would probably have become a law before now but
for a need of a slight amendment which this Department has advised.
The purpose of that act has the President's cordial approval.
In referring to me the annexed letter from the special committee of
the American National Red Cross Relief Committee the President has
requested me to take such steps as may be necessary and effective to
recognize the American National Red Cross as the proper and sole
representative in the United States of the International Committee,
and, as such, corresponding to the central committees which have
been constituted in the several States which have adhered to the
Geneva Convention. So far as international correspondence with the
Swiss Government in relation to the deliberations of the Geneva
Conference is concerned, this government has uniformly recognized
the American National Red Cross as the only civil body in the United
States which is regularly affiliated with the International
Committee of Berne for the purpose of carrying out the arrangements
elaborated by the various conferences held at Geneva, and the
representatives of the American National Red Cross at those
conferences have uniformly attended with the sanction of the United
States Government. No additional recognition or sanction is needed
in that quarter.
I have therefore the honor to inform you, by direction of the
President, that this government recognizes, for any appropriate
co-operative purposes, the American National Red Cross as the Civil
Central American Committee in correspondence with the International
Committee for the relief of the wounded in war and to invite similar
recognition of its status by your department with a view to taking
advantage of its proffered aid during the present war so far as may
be available.
Respectfully yours,
WILLIAM R. DAY,
_Secretary of State_.
The foregoing letter from the Secretary of State defines the position of
the American National Red Cross, as uniformly recognized by the
Government of the United States, and by the International Committee
representing all the treaty nations. The treaty contemplates that there
shall be in each country one national organization of the Red Cross,
with power to organize an unlimited number of subordinate branches, or
auxiliaries, all directly tributary to the national body. As the
personnel and equipment of the Red Cross are expressly neutralized and
protected by the treaty, it was essential to the security of all, that
the civil power and responsibility should be concentrated. It was for
this reason that the president of the International Committee, in his
letter of March 24, 1882, urged that:
It is important that we be able to certify that your government is
prepared to accept your services in case of war; that it will
readily enter into co-operation with you and will encourage the
centralization, under your direction, of all voluntary aid.
We have no doubt that you will readily obtain, from the competent
authorities, an official declaration to that effect, and we believe
this matter will be merely a formality; but we attach the greatest
importance to the fact, in order to cover our responsibility,
especially in view of the pretensions of rival societies which might
claim to be acknowledged by us. It is your society and none other
that we will recognize.
It will be seen that, in the opinion of the International Committee, not
recognition alone, but cordial co-operation on the part of the
government is of vital importance. In each country, the National Red
Cross, or national committee as it is sometimes called, is the only
civil medium contemplated by the treaty, through which the people of the
respective countries may lawfully communicate with the armies in the
field, for the purpose of rendering such auxiliary medical and hospital
service, and other relief, as may be required. It must be constantly
born in mind, in order to clearly understand the operations of the Red
Cross, that our government and the people are bound, not only by the
solemn provisions of the treaty, but also by the resolutions of the
international conferences, composed of delegates authorized by their
respective governments. Thus, the Secretary of State in his letter says:
The American National Red Cross constitutes the sole legitimate and
recognized local branch, in this country, of the great International
Association, of which the International Committee at Berne is the
head. This government has uniformly recognized the American National
Red Cross as the only civil body in the United States which is
regularly affiliated with the International Committee of Berne, for
the purpose of carrying out the arrangements elaborated by the
various conferences held at Geneva, and the representatives of the
American National Red Cross at those conferences have uniformly
attended with the sanction of the United States Government. No
additional recognition or sanction is needed in that quarter.
[Illustration: ADMIRAL WILLIAM T. SAMPSON.]
[Illustration: GOVERNOR GENERAL'S PALACE, HAVANA.]
The American National Red Cross is, consequently, the recognized source
from which is derived all civil authority to use the official insignia
and to work under the Red Cross as auxiliary to the army and navy. The
national Red Cross, in each country, is responsible to its own
government and, through the International Committee, to all the nations
of the treaty, for the integrity of its branches. Auxiliaries of the Red
Cross must therefore receive their charters or certificates of authority
from the parent organization, which, in turn, is held to a strict
observance of all its treaty obligations. Hence the use of the name or
of the insignia of the Red Cross by civil societies, in relief work,
without the sanction of the national organization, is an imposition and
a violation of the treaty. Without such official permission or charter,
no auxiliary can have any rightful existence, as a branch of the
American National Red Cross.
After having secured for the people by treaty the right, through their
own national organizations of the Red Cross, to contribute to the relief
of the sick and wounded in war, the delegates to the international
conventions at Geneva continued their labors until there was added to
the functions of the Red Cross, the power to administer relief, in times
of peace, on fields of national disaster. Out of compliment to the
president of the American National Red Cross, who advocated this
extension, the addition to the treaty is known as "The American
Amendment." Referring to it, the Secretary of State in his letter
continues: