Part 61

We now reach a point where I may name some directions in which the government might properly extend its protecting and its helping hand. The International Committee of Geneva makes the National Committee of America the recognized medium of communication with our government. It sends its official communications to the president of the American National Red Cross, with directions that this officer present the same to our government, and duly transact the required business. But unfortunately, there is opened no legalized medium through which the Red Cross is expected to confer with the government, through either its executive or its legislative branches. "What is everybody's business is nobody's business." The entire system has each time to be explained to busy men, precedents to be found, and, however willing and anxious, no one can be quite certain if he is right. The naming of two or three gentlemen from your own honorable body to act permanently as a committee on the affairs of the Red Cross would remedy all this, and render simple and efficient what is now complicated and awkward. It would then be _some_body's business. The subject would be understood, the needs comprehended, suitable advantages taken, mistakes avoided, time saved, prestige given both at home and abroad, and the unavoidable communications between the committee and government officials come to be regarded as legitimate business, and not as favors personally sought and graciously listened to.

I regard the appointment of this committee as a most important step, if _any_ steps are to be taken--perhaps indispensable, in view of certain measures which must come officially before Congress.

At the last two International Conferences resolutions were passed requesting that each government within the treaty take firm measures for the protection of the international insignia of the Red Cross, from misuse and abuse by unauthorized persons and parties, as methods of popular advertising for speculation and gain. The patent office is besieged by applicants demanding the Red Cross for trademarks.

It becomes our duty on behalf of these conferences to present these resolutions to the government, together with the statements of the various countries through their delegates, and to ask its consideration, and its official action, in common with that of other nations. Our duty to the government demands this as well.

The great query which confronts us, and often with a tinge of seeming reproach, is: "Why is so little known of your organization? Why is it not written up, and circulated among the people for general information? Even the army knows nothing of it. Where shall we find something published about it?" And these inquiries come from the officers of the Regular Army, the National Guard, the Grand Army, and the medical fraternity in general, not to mention the people at large.

There is probably no one in the land who would more gladly see these questions favorably met, and the information go out, than the parties supposed to be responsible for this dereliction. It has sometimes occurred to me that a little "dangerous surplus" might be safely disposed of in that way without compromising any leading issues.

Governmental bureaus, with full powers, have been commenced requiring less of actual labor, method, skill, clerical ability, and official expenses than are expected and provided yearly at the private headquarters of the American National Red Cross, and with less of general demand for them, and smaller visible results.

Fortunately its president has been always able to furnish space for the Red Cross headquarters in her home, and as it was her child, she has naturally and willingly provided for it. But, gentlemen, children grow! In no other country does the organization of the Red Cross stand as an ordinary benevolent society. In all others its relation to the government is defined, pronounced, and its prestige assured. This is wise and just, and only this can make it of greatest service to the government and to the people.

It is a peculiar institution, without nationality, race, creed or sect, embracing the entire world in its humanizing bond of brotherhood, without arbitrary laws or rules, and yet stronger than armies, and higher than thrones.

I desire to have it better comprehended and more fittingly appointed in our great and advancing country. I would like to see for it a headquarters which, in point of activity, would be a national honor to us. The Red Cross of America should successfully undertake some difficult problems. Hospital and emergency work naturally fall to it. It has come to be the first thought of by any community suddenly overtaken by disaster.

With all our misdirected, criminal and incendiary immigration, which nothing seems to hinder, with our dangerous foreign leaders and teachers, our strikes, mobs and dynamite, who can foresee the moment when the United States flag shall be called to make peace and hold it? And wherever that symbol goes, the Red Cross must follow, and only one step in the rear. The first man who falls must see it on the arm that raises him, and the last must know it has not left him. The National Red Cross of America is not without possibilities for occupation, and these neither theoretical nor sentimental.

Gentlemen, there are some points in reference to which I desire to guard against misapprehension on your part. Of all things, I would not have you get the impression that I desire to foist the Red Cross upon the government for support. That, because I say it is liable to equal a government bureau in point of work and care, I desire to have it made a government bureau. Nothing is more impossible. I would not have you feel that we have carried it to a certain extent, and now want the government to take it up. These things could not be; it would at once defeat the very objects of the organization, which mean _people's help for national needs_, _not_ national help for people's necessities. Still, there is a certain fitting and customary connection between the two, which it is proper to recognize. Certain protection of the rights and welfare of the organization, which it is suitable and for the interest of the government to maintain, as, for instance, the protection of the insignia. Its acts of incorporation--some aid in the circulation of information respecting it, its charters, etc., through its official printing bureaus, and some direct channel of communication, and advice opened between the government and the organization, as customary in other countries, and without which I think we cannot reasonably hope to stand upon a respectable basis in their estimation.

If Germany can place Count Stolberg, one of its highest official dignitaries and officers, at the _active_ head of its Red Cross, we can scarcely do less than to permit a small advisory committee of our legislature to at least _confer_ with ours.

These are all very small and inexpensive demands upon a government like ours, and from their apparent unimportance, likely to remain unconsidered. Still, they _are_ important to the work that seeks them. With these assured, the National Committee can safely permit the people to take their place in the work, and if the time never comes when the country has need of the help for which they organize, it will be only a too fortunate land.

The part which I have thus far been privileged to take in this work has but one merit. It has been faithful, and I believe, unselfish. With better judgment, greater strength, wealth, power and prestige, or the ready help of those who had, I might have accomplished more. I have nothing to gain from it, and never have had. I have no ambitions to serve, and certainly no purposes. I regret only the years which have gone by in feeble, unaided effort, which, I feel, with stronger help, might have been more serviceable.

All I am worth to it to-day is the experience I have gained. I have no more time for trials, nor proof, and of these, no more are needed. The facts are established. I have stated what is needed of the government, before it can go on, and I ask your kind consideration of the same.

TO THE COMMITTEES OF THE RED CROSS.

AN ACKNOWLEDGMENT.

To our tireless Executive Committee, and to the great and energetic Red Cross Relief Committee of New York, who undertook the concentration of the war relief and the administration of the generous gifts of the people, and who have so faithfully stood by me in the work during all these months, no words can adequately express my gratitude and the appreciation of the National Committee.

For them no task was too great; no requisition was ever refused. To their zealous labors is due, in a great measure, whatever success may have attended the Red Cross in its mission for the relief of the sick and the wounded.

TO THE AUXILIARIES OF THE RED CROSS

AND

THE NURSES WHO WENT TO THE WAR.

To the army of women, brave, generous and true, who either as auxiliaries at home, or as nurses at the field, who made up that magnificent array of womanhood, ready for sacrifice on the altar of humanity and their country--no words of mine can do justice. The monument deserved and traced in that glowing pen picture of the melting tribute of another pen, I beg to place here with my tears of acquiescence, to sanction every line.

A TRIBUTE TO THE RED CROSS NURSES.

By FRANKLIN B. HUSSEY, of Chicago.

* * * * *

The war is over. Now let us rejoice. Now erect your tablets and monuments to the heroes of the war--the living and the dead. Write their names on the long roll of honor: Dewey, Schley, Hobson and Wainwright, Roosevelt, Lee, Wheeler and all the rest, and alongside their names write those of the private soldier and the "man behind the guns." They "remembered the Maine." And while we rear our symbols of marble and of bronze to commemorate their brave deeds, there is one we must not, we cannot, forget.

When our brave boys left home and marched proudly down to war they did not go alone, for the gentle presence of woman walked beside them, to assuage with her soft touch the grim horrors of carnage. A few days ago the busy thoroughfares of our city resounded with the music and fanfares of a great jubilee. I saw the towering fronts of the thronging palaces of trade put off their accustomed garb of work-a-day gray and drab and bedeck themselves in carnival attire, while stretched across from roof to roof for miles hung festoons of glittering lights, banners and flags in a bewildering chaos of red, white and blue. I saw triumphal arches spanning the streets, adorned with the portraits and names of patriots, but I saw not hers of whom I speak.

Under those arches, attended by all the pomp and splendor of the trappings of war, keeping step to the glad music of victory, marched ten thousand men, at their head the Chief Executive of the nation. I saw senators and judges, diplomatic representatives and statesmen, generals and heroes of the army and navy, veterans and volunteer soldiers pass in glittering procession, while a million voices shouted loud huzzas that told of a nation's tribute of gratitude to all those who had contributed to the great victory; but for her I looked in vain.

At night I saw a great feast spread, honored by the presence of the nation's leader and all those who had ridden in the grand pageant. The toasts went round and the glasses clinked, but never a word of her of whom I speak.

Not that she was forgotten; not but that cheers would have rung out at the mention of her name; but because she went about her duty of self-sacrifice so simply, so modestly, without even a thought or expectation that any one would ever know or care whether she lived to come back from the death-laden fever swamp, or not, her part in the great victory had been, for the time being, overlooked; and while gifted tongues are paying their tributes of burning eloquence to our heroes, without seeking to detract one whit from their glory and fame, which they so richly deserve, may I draw nigh, with uncovered head, and cast a flower at _her_ feet? She asks no recognition. She seeks no praise; but on some sunny slope of one of our wooded parks I want to see a simple shaft uplifted in memory of the girl with a red cross on her arm. She went forth to war with no blare of trumpets or beat of drums; the first to go, the last to return; she carried neither sword nor musket, but only the gentle ministrations of a woman's hand and heart; not to make wounds, but to heal them. If you seek fitting words in which to embody her record, go ask those whose fevered brows her cooling palms have pressed, whose bloody wounds her hands have stanched, but the lips that could best tell her noblest deeds lie cold and still, wrapped in the sleep that heeds no bugle call. She carried balm and healing not only to broken and bleeding bodies, but to broken and bleeding hearts as well, and stood through long pestilential nights, like a ministering angel of heaven, beside the weary pillow of pain, and when all that human hands could do had been done, and the dying soldier murmured last words to mother, wife or sweetheart, hers the ear that caught the last faint whisper, hers the fingers that penned the last letter home, hers the voice that read from the thumb-worn page, "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.... Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death"--while with his hand clasped in hers, his soul passed on through the "valley" and the "shadow" up to "the sandals of God." Yes, raise aloft her statue in the streaming sunlight. Let some great sculptor, catching aright the inspiration of his theme, outline that slender form--that woman's form, with melting heart and nerves of steel, against the soft blue of the summer sky, with her lint and bandages in one hand and her Bible in the other, the sign of the cross upon her sleeve, and the glory of the countenance of the "Son of Man" reflected on her face, and underneath let these words be traced:

To the nurses of the Red Cross--those angels of the battlefield--who ministered to our soldiers and sailors, the thanks of a grateful nation; for "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these, ye have done it unto Me."

* * * * *

AS THE SUN WENT DOWN.

Two soldiers lay on the battlefield At night when the sun went down, One held a lock of thin, gray hair And one held a lock of brown.

One thought of his sweetheart back at home, Happy and young and gay, And one of his mother left alone, Feeble and old and gray.

Each in the thought that a woman cared, Murmured a prayer to God, Lifting his gaze to the blue above There on the battle sod.

Each in the joy of a woman's love, Smiled through the pain of death, Murmured the sound of a woman's name, Tho' with his parting breath.

Pale grew the dying lips of each, Then, as the sun went down, One kist a lock of thin, gray hair, And one kist a lock of brown.

ANON., in _Town Talk_.

UNWRITTEN THANKS.

Dear readers, I pray you accept this last word from me: "Poor even in thanks"--the thanks with which the heart is burdened but cannot speak. The acts of kindness shown during these waiting, and oft weary years, that crowd and clamor for expression, would duplicate this volume many times, and the cherished names that the hand struggles to write, would turn these pages into a biographical dictionary.

Let me pray, then, that every person who takes up this volume and recalls a kind act done me, or a friendly, encouraging word spoken in all the years of the busy period which it covers, shall read between the lines, the cherished memory, the thanks, and the blessing so richly deserved and so fully given.

A WORD OF EXPLANATION.

May this book before quite leaving the hands of its author be permitted this word of explanation.

Its subject took its rise in, and derived its existence from, war. Without war it had no existence. The watchword, indeed one might almost say, the "war cry" of our country and of our people was "_peace_." War was obsolete--out of date--out of taste--in fact, out of the question: hence there existed no need for providing relief for it; and thus the Red Cross has stood, unrecognized in the shadows of obscurity all the eighteen years of its existence among us, waiting for the sure, alas, too sure, touch of war, to light up its dark figure, and set in motion the springs of action.

A few believed, and like disciples, waited with it. If at any time, during that period, one had presumed to offer to the American public a book treating exclusively upon the Red Cross, the production would have found neither publishers nor readers; but now that the stroke of war has fallen and the interest comes home to ourselves, neither can wait for the book to be properly written, hence the unfinished and unsatisfactory condition in which it must present itself.

CONCLUSION.

In the foregoing pages is outlined the history of the American National Red Cross in peace and in war.

We have seen it grow year by year, from the persistent, almost unaccountable rejection of the Treaty of Geneva by our government for eighteen years. We have seen it beginning in the cordial recognition of Blaine, and Garfield, and Arthur, gradually increasing in the amount and scope of its labors, growing, in the slowly gained influence and support of public confidence, to its present condition of general recognition in all parts of our own country, and in the warm appreciation of all the nations that have acceded to the Treaty of the Red Cross. There is, we are happy to believe and to assure our readers everywhere, a warmth and an enthusiastic appreciation of the Red Cross that brings added honor to the country, and that everywhere recommends the principles and the practices for which the sacred symbol stands. No American citizen will hereafter travel in foreign lands any less securely since the American National Red Cross has been before him in Russia, and in Armenia, and in the high conferences where the treaty nations by their representatives from time to time assemble.

It is founded in the soundest and noblest principles, in the deep needs of human nature, and in the enduring instincts and feelings of mankind. It has come to quicken into fresh, new growth the best things in human life. Like the Banyan tree, wherever an auxiliary branch of the Red Cross exists, it will so drop roots into human character and life, that it will make it a parent trunk in turn to send out influences that shall bring other affiliating branches, so that it shall at last cover the earth with its grateful shade, beneath which the tramp of armed men shall cease, and the battle flags be furled. Then, 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.

The future of the Red Cross then will be worthy of the labors and sacrifices in which it originated, worthy of the care and tender solicitude with which its growth and progress has been watched and tended.

Into the hands of the coming generations it will be given as the best legacy that the All Father has at any time given to His children--the spirit and the power symbolized and consecrated forever by the Red Cross of Geneva.

NOTES.

AMERICAN NATIONAL RED CROSS.

The Red Cross is often referred to by the press and by many of our friends in correspondence, as a "society." From this practice, it appears that a misapprehension exists regarding the official title of the national organization in this country, and a few words of explanation seem necessary.

As contemplated by the Treaty of the Red Cross, and provided by the regulations of the International Committee, there is formed in each of the countries adopting the Treaty of Geneva, one Central National Committee of the Red Cross, with headquarters at the seat of government.

In this National Committee of each country, authorized by the International Committee and recognized by its own government, is centred the power of organization and direction of all matters connected with the administration of relief contributed by the people in the name of the Red Cross. This authority includes the sole right to form innumerable branches, subject to the direction of the National Committee. These branches, created by the National Organization, may be known as Auxiliary Societies of the Red Cross, or by any other appropriate name, but the central national organization is not a society; it is a National Committee.

Therefore, in referring to or addressing the parent organization, it is improper to use the term "society." It should be remembered that the Central National Committee of the Red Cross for the United States of America, has, for sake of convenience, been incorporated under the title: THE AMERICAN NATIONAL RED CROSS.

RELIEF OF WOUNDED IN WAR.

The Central National Committee of the Red Cross in each country, being duly accredited by the International Committee and officially recognized by its own government, is the lawful means of communication between the people and the armies in the field, acting as the administrator of the contributions of the people for the relief of the sick and wounded in war.

CORRESPONDENCE IN TIME OF WAR.

When hostilities are in progress, and the usual means of communication between the belligerent countries are suspended, prisoners of war are enabled to communicate with their homes through the medium of the Red Cross of neutral nations. Thus, for example, during the late Spanish-American war the prisoners on board the prize ships at Key West were, by an arrangement made with the authorities of the United States Government, permitted to write to their friends and relatives. The letters were, of course, first viséd and certified by the American National Red Cross, and those addressed to persons within the Spanish lines were forwarded through the Red Cross of Portugal.

WOUNDED AS PRISONERS OF WAR.

Formerly a wounded man, as such, had no particular rights which any one was pledged to respect. Now, however, the Treaty of Geneva provides that the wounded immediately become neutral and are entitled to the care and consideration of their captors. There is also preserved to them the right to send messages through the lines, informing their friends of their whereabouts and condition.

THE RED CROSS AND LOCAL CHARITY.

The National Committee of the Red Cross and its branches, not being a local benevolent institution, the Red Cross takes no part in the distribution of local charity, when the distress is such that it is within the power of the community itself to relieve. Therefore, members of auxiliary societies when engaged in the usual charities of a local nature, should not act as the representatives of the Red Cross. The Red Cross in times of peace can only be called into action when a disaster occurs which is of such magnitude as to be considered national in its character, and beyond the control of the immediate community.

NO REFLECTION UPON THE GOVERNMENT.