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Title: The American National Red Cross Bulletin, Vol. I, No. 2, April, 1906

Author: American National Red Cross

Release date: October 4, 2021 [eBook #66464]

Language: English

Original publication: United States: The American National Red Cross

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE AMERICAN NATIONAL RED CROSS BULLETIN, VOL. I, NO. 2, APRIL, 1906 ***

The American National Red Cross Bulletin (Vol. 1, No. 2)


The American
National Red Cross
Chartered by Congress, January 5th, 1905
Bulletin No. 2
Issued by the Central Committee, April, 1906
Office of the Corporation
Room 826, Colorado Building
Washington, D.C.

 

CONTENTS.

Preface 2
Japanese Famine Fund 3
Japanese Red Cross Reports 12
Charter of the American National Red Cross 7
Notes from Red Cross Branches 21
Addresses of Branch Secretaries 23
Applications for Membership 24

1THE AMERICAN NATIONAL RED CROSS
OFFICERS
President,
HON. WILLIAM H. TAFT.
Treasurer,
HON. CHARLES HALLAM KEEP.
Counselor,
HON. JAMES C. McREYNOLDS.
Secretary,
CHARLES L. MAGEE.
Chairman of Central Committee,
BRIGADIER-GENERAL ROBERT M. O’REILLY,
Surgeon-General, U.S. Army.
BOARD OF CONSULTATION
BRIGADIER-GENERAL ROBERT M. O’REILLY,
Surgeon-General, U.S. Army.
SURGEON-GENERAL PRESLEY M. RIXEY,
U.S. Navy.
SURGEON-GENERAL WALTER WYMAN,
U.S. Public Health and Marine Hospital Service.
CENTRAL COMMITTEE, 1905-1906

Brigadier-General Robert M. O’Reilly, Surgeon-General, U.S. Army, War Department, Washington, D.C.

Hon. Robert Bacon, Assistant Secretary of State, Department of State, Washington, D.C.

Major Jefferson R. Kean, Assistant Surgeon-General, U.S. Army, Washington, D.C.

Medical Director John C. Boyd, U.S. Navy, U.S. Naval Museum of Hygiene and Medical School, Washington, D.C.

Hon. James C. McReynolds, Assistant Attorney-General, Department of Justice, Washington, D.C.

Hon. Charles Hallam Keep, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, Treasury Department, Washington, D.C.

Judge W. W. Morrow, San Francisco, Cal.

Mr. Samuel Mather, Western Reserve Building, Cleveland, Ohio.

Miss Mabel T. Boardman, 826 Colorado Building, Washington, D.C.

Hon. James R. Garfield, Commissioner of Corporations, Department of Commerce and Labor, Washington, D.C.

Hon. A. C. Kaufman, Charleston, S.C.

Mr. Charles G. Washburn, Worcester, Mass.

John C. Pegram, Providence, R.I.

General Charles Bird, Wilmington, Del.

Col. William Cary Sanger, Sangerfield, N.Y.

Judge Lambert Tree, 70 La Salle St., Chicago, Ill.

James Tanner, Commander-in-Chief, Grand Army of the Republic, Washington, D.C.

Surgeon-General Walter Wyman, U.S. Public Health and Marine Hospital Service, Treasury Department, Washington, D.C.


2

PREFACE

The second Quarterly Bulletin of the American National Red Cross contains an account of the work of raising funds for the benefit of the Japanese famine sufferers. The Central Committee desires to call attention to the great advantages such an organization as the Red Cross provides at such times. Where the Society had already organized State Branches these Branches were ready, through their officers, to notify the public that the Red Cross would receive contributions for this purpose and that local Red Cross treasurers would receive the same. Moreover, all expenses for the collection of these contributions, save those that were borne by the “Christian Herald” in the collection of its most generous contributions, of which further mention will be made, have been met by the funds of the Society, so that every penny contributed has been sent directly by the State Department, through the United States Embassy at Tokyo, to the Japanese Red Cross for use in its famine relief work.

As the Japanese Red Cross has consented to undertake the disposition of all famine relief funds sent through the American National Red Cross, a brief report of some of the work lately accomplished by this remarkable organization will be of interest and short accounts published by this Society have been reprinted in this Bulletin.

The April Quarterly Bulletin having to go to press early in March, it is impossible to publish the list of contributors to the Famine Fund, but it is hoped this may be done in the following number.

The American National Red Cross should have a large sustaining membership to enable it to create a thoroughly efficient organization and at the same time to accumulate an Emergency Fund to meet immediately the first relief work after any sudden disaster in any of the States or Territories.


On March 7, the Red Cross received a communication from the State Department to the effect that the Governor of the Islands of French Oceanica, which on February 8th met with a most serious disaster from a cyclone, had solicited subscriptions for the aid of the people there. As the Red Cross was collecting contributions for the Japanese Famine Fund, it most reluctantly had to decline to act in this second matter of relief work. If the Society had a membership, as it should have in this country, of a hundred thousand, it would receive into its Emergency Fund fifty thousand dollars annually which would enable it to render aid at such times of distant disaster without issuing special appeals and this without costing its members anything in addition to their annual membership dues of one dollar. This large membership must be obtained by the efforts of the present members, and if each member would do whatever he or she may be able to do towards increasing the membership, the American National Red Cross would soon have an organization worthy of the United States and always have in its treasury a fund that would enable it to reply promptly to any such appeal as that forwarded to it by the Department of State.


3

JAPANESE FAMINE FUND

Acting upon receipt of a letter with enclosures from Judge W. W. Morrow, President of the California Red Cross Branch, the Central Committee sent out Saturday, February 10th, to the secretaries of the Red Cross Branches the following appeal:

“Through the California Branch, the American National Red Cross has received from American residents in Japan an appeal for the famine-stricken people in three northern provinces of that country. In one province the rice crop has yielded only 12 per cent. of the average, and the sentence of death hangs over a quarter of a million of people if forgotten and unaided. In the eastern portion of another province the yield is only 15 per cent. and 500,000 people are in great distress and on the verge of absolute starvation, and in the third province it is certain that over 100,000 persons cannot live without speedy and prolonged aid.

“Already thousands in these provinces are reduced to shrub roots and the bark of trees by which mere life may for a time be sustained, but at the least calculation 680,000 people are now facing extreme conditions. What this means for their poor women and children, we who live in the center of this oncoming misery find no words to describe.

“Hundreds of thousands of persons are on the verge of starvation and winter is adding its rigors to the distress. Snow having hidden away the roots and herbs of the forests from the hands of the stricken people, speedy death or physical anguish worse than death confronts them.

“During the late war, the great European Red Cross Societies did much to aid the Japanese Red Cross in its work of caring for the sick and wounded, but our American National Red Cross, just beginning its reorganization, could be of no assistance. Now the opportunity arises for us to send to those brave famine-stricken people some assistance from our abundance. The American National Red Cross will gladly receive and forward to the Japanese Red Cross to be used for the relief of these provinces such contributions as the public at large or any of its own members desire to make.

“All contributions in this city can be sent to...................
Treasurer of the..............................Red Cross Branch.”

About the same time information was received by the State Department at Washington through our consuls in Japan of the very serious conditions in these northern provinces, and with his accustomed promptness President Roosevelt issued a public appeal, as follows:

“The famine situation in northern Japan is proving much more serious than at first supposed, and thousands of persons are on the verge of starvation. It is a calamity such as may occasionally befall any country.

“Nations, like men, should stand ever ready to aid each other in distress, and I appeal to the American people to help from their 4abundance their suffering fellowmen of the great and friendly nation of Japan. I recommend that contributions for this purpose be sent to the American National Red Cross, which will forward such funds to the Japanese Red Cross to be used as the Japanese Government may direct.

“Contributions can be made to the local Red Cross treasurers or sent direct to Hon. Charles Hallam Keep, Red Cross Treasurer, United States Treasury Department, Washington, D.C.

“Theodore Roosevelt.”

Mr. Eki Hioki, the Japanese Chargé d’Affaires, was requested to inquire if the Japanese Red Cross would undertake the disposition of the funds forwarded by the American National Red Cross, and after communicating with his Government sent the following reply:

“I have the pleasure to inform you that I have received a cable message, in reply to mine, from the Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs, to the effect that the Japanese Red Cross Society will be delighted to take charge of the disposition of the relief fund which the American National Red Cross may send hereafter.

“Very truly yours,

“Eki Hioki,

“Chargé d’Affaires.”

The “Christian Herald” of New York, having already been aware of the distress in Japan, had begun among its Christian readers a subscription for the purposes of relief, and no sooner did the President’s appeal appear than the American National Red Cross Treasurer, Hon. Charles Hallam Keep, received from Dr. Louis Klopsch, Editor of the “Christian Herald,” a most prompt and generous check for $10,000, already contributed by its readers, to be forwarded to the Japanese Red Cross to be used exclusively for the purchase of food supplies. This amount was immediately cabled by the State Department, through our Embassy at Tokyo. A few days later the “Christian Herald” followed its first donation by another check for $10,000, sent directly to the State Department to be forwarded without delay, as the need was so great, to the Japanese Red Cross for the purchase of food. The readers of the “Christian Herald” may justly feel that by their promptness and generosity they have saved many of their fellowmen from suffering and death by starvation, and this will be sincerely appreciated in Japan.

In these northern provinces many of the people are living upon briquettes made of 75 per cent. straw and 25 per cent. foreign rice, or upon roots, bark of trees, acorns, etc. The Japanese Government, in spite of its immense war debt, has been remitting or postponing taxes and at the same time trying to raise money for the purpose of providing work for the able-bodied so as not to pauperize them, and food and clothes for the children, old people and sick; but without outside aid the herculean task will be too heavy a burden.

Mr. Frederick Palmer, the War Correspondent representing “Collier’s Weekly,” served through the Russo-Japanese war with the soldiers 5from the famine-stricken districts in the northern provinces of Japan. He knows these people, their sterling qualities and the bitterness of their need, and of them he says:

“From the heart of the famine-district came the second division of the Japanese Army, known as ‘The Division which always attacks.’ It exemplified in its character the fine and simple qualities of the people of the Sendai country, their loyalty, pride, courage, industry, and equability of temper. The second of the divisions to leave Japan for the field, it marched through Korea in midwinter to the Battle of the Yalu, and it was the strong, dependable arm of General Kuroki’s army which never gave ground to the close of the campaign.

“Not until December and January of this year, the third winter since their departure, would transportation arrangements permit the division’s departure from Manchuria, which was a bleak and inhospitable land to these simple country boys who were accustomed to their own beautiful landscape, their clean mats and ornamental gardens. No heroes ever received a sadder welcome home, for they returned to find their mothers and sisters and wives wanting food. The absence of the men who had served their country so well meant the absence of so many able-bodied tillers of the soil. This and a cold and unusually rainy summer made the rice crop the scantiest for generations.

“These proud northern people have not the facility of city people in accepting charity. If you went into their houses you would find that they would deny that they were hungry and possibly offer you their last bowl of rice to show that they needed no help. The home department of the Japanese Government is taking measures of practical relief by offering employment on public works which will increase the acreage for rice growing and otherwise improve the agricultural resources of the region. The opportunity is offered for foreigners to supplement the government aid by private aid which will be sympathetically and practically administered by the Japanese Red Cross Society. If it be the duty of the Red Cross to soften the cruel consequences of war, then it has here a duty as imperative as under the more sensational surroundings of the battle field.”

On February 28th The American National Red Cross transmitted to the State Department $5,000, which immediately cabled this amount, through the United States Embassy at Tokyo, to the Japanese Red Cross to be applied to the famine relief work.

In a second appeal issued by the foreign relief committee of northern Japan, this committee says:

“When we issued our first appeal to the foreign communities of Japan in December, the impending calamity was on so vast a scale that we ourselves could hardly believe the official statements of 680,000 people in starving condition. Since then the members of our committee have been through the provinces, and now we must say that the above figures are too weak to represent the existing misery and that the wretchedness and suffering are simply appalling. As to the score of villages, the conditions of all we visited are pitiable in the 6extreme. There are able-bodied men clothed in thin, ragged garments, who have to face the piercing winds and snow to bring in from the mountains the coal and wood on the price of which labor their thinly-clad families are trying to eke out a living. There are mothers giving their very lives to keep their babies warm, themselves exposed to stinging blasts that must rapidly shorten life. There are even cultured old men and women, who in former days were in comparative comfort, but now are reduced to physical destitution that no words can describe. There are children bare-footed in the snow, whose scanty clothing and pinched faces tell the sad tale of only one meal a day and that of straw and daikon leaves in which is mixed a little cheap rice flour.

“But there is no need of further statements in this line. Rather we rejoice that there is another side. Amid all this widespread wretchedness there is a strong spirit of hope and helpfulness. There is a village called Devil’s Head, snowed under eight feet, leaving 156 people without a particle of food of any kind. Immediately the neighbors, but little better off, raised 60 yen (about $30), by means of which pittance the lives of these 156 persons are insured for three weeks until other aid can come. It is a privilege, indeed, to send a grain of comfort to such people by our timely and sympathetic gifts, especially when such aid is so highly appreciated by all and so gratefully received by those who are losing hope. The one great thing needed to save the lives of children and aged is money. All that we earnestly desire is that every sympathetic heart should know the facts and use any channel that promises to bring speedy relief to even a few hundred among the many hundreds of thousands who are in dire distress.”

On March 6th the American National Red Cross sent, through the State Department, to the Japanese Red Cross, $5,000, and on March 8th the “Christian Herald” forwarded its third $10,000 contribution. On March 12th the Red Cross again sent $5,000 and on March 15 $5,000, so that the amount collected and sent by the Red Cross up to March 15th amounts to $20,000, and this with the $30,000 sent by the “Christian Herald” through the American National Red Cross makes a total up to the last given date of $50,000.

The Japanese Government has expressed its great appreciation of President Roosevelt’s appeal for its famine-stricken provinces, and press despatches show that the Japanese people also are deeply appreciative of the sympathy expressed in their trouble by the contributions from the American people.

This Society hopes, in some later issues of the Bulletin, to be able to give reports of the relief work done by the Japanese Red Cross.


Just as the Bulletin goes to press the American National Red Cross has received from the “Christian Herald” a check for $50,000 making in all $80,000 contributed through this paper for the Famine Fund and bringing the total amount sent to the Japanese Red Cross by March 16th up to $100,000.


7

CHARTER

[Public—No. 4.]

An Act to incorporate the American National Red Cross.

Whereas, on the twenty-second of August, eighteen hundred and sixty-four, at Geneva, Switzerland, plenipotentiaries respectively representing Italy, Baden, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, Portugal, France, Prussia, Saxony, and Wurttemberg and the Federal Council of Switzerland, agreed upon ten articles of a treaty or convention for the purpose of mitigating the evils inseparable from war; of ameliorating the condition of soldiers wounded on the field of battle, and particularly providing, among other things, in effect, that persons employed in hospitals and in according relief to the sick and wounded and supplies for this purpose shall be deemed neutral and entitled to protection; and that a distinctive and uniform flag shall be adopted for hospitals and ambulances and convoys of sick and wounded and an arm badge for individuals neutralized; and

Whereas, said treaty has been ratified by all of said nations, and by others subsequently, to the number of forty-three or more, including the United States of America; and

Whereas, the International Conference of Geneva of eighteen hundred and sixty-three recommended “that there exist in every country a committee whose mission consists in co-operating in times of war with the hospital service of the armies by all means in its power”; and

Whereas, a permanent organization is an agency needed in every nation to carry out the purposes of said treaty, and especially to secure supplies and to execute the humane objects contemplated by said treaty, with the power to adopt and use the distinctive flag and arm badge specified by said treaty in article seven, on which shall be the sign of the Red Cross, for the purpose of co-operating with the “Comité International de Secours aux Militaires Blessés” (International Committee of Relief for the Wounded in War); and

Whereas, in accordance with the requirements and customs of said international body such an association adopting and using said insignia was formed in the city of Washington, District of Columbia, in July, eighteen hundred and eighty-one, known as “The American National Association of the Red Cross,” re-incorporated April seventeenth, eighteen hundred and ninety-three, under the laws of the District of Columbia, and re-incorporated by Act of Congress in June, nineteen hundred; and

Whereas, it is believed that the importance of the work demands a repeal of the present charter and a re-incorporation of the society under the Government supervision: Now, therefore,

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That Clara Barton, Hilary A. Herbert, Thomas F. Walsh, Charles C. Glover, Charles J. 8Bell, Mabel T. Boardman, George Dewey, William R. Day, Nelson A. Miles, James Tanner, William K. Van Reypen, John M. Wilson, Simon Wolf, James R. Garfield, Gifford Pinchot, S. W. Woodward, Mary A. Logan, Walter Wyman, of Washington, District of Columbia; George H. Shields, of Missouri; William H. Taft, F. B. Loomis, Samuel Mather, of Ohio; Spencer Trask, Robert C. Ogden, Cleveland H. Dodge, George C. Boldt, William T. Wardwell, John G. Carlisle, George B. McClellan, Elizabeth Mills Reid, Margaret Carnegie, of New York; John H. Converse, Alexander Mackay-Smith, J. Wilkes O’Neill, H. Kirke Porter, of Pennsylvania; Richard Olney, W. Murray Crane, Henry L. Higginson, William Draper, Frederick H. Gillett, of Massachusetts; Marshall Field, Robert T. Lincoln, Lambert Tree, of Illinois; A. C. Kaufman, of South Carolina; Alexander W. Terrell, of Texas; George Gray, of Delaware; Redfield Proctor, of Vermont; John W. Foster, Noble C. Butler, Robert W. Miers, of Indiana; John Sharp Williams, of Mississippi; William Alden Smith, of Michigan; Horace Davis, W. W. Morrow, of California; Daniel C. Gilman, Eugene Levering, of Maryland; J. Taylor Ellyson, of Virginia; Daniel R. Noyes, of Minnesota; Emanuel Fiske, Marshall Fiske, of Connecticut, together with five other persons to be named by the President of the United States, one to be chosen from each of the Departments of State, War, Navy, Treasury, and Justice, their associates and successors, are hereby created a body corporate and politic in the District of Columbia.

Sec. 2. That the name of this corporation shall be “The American National Red Cross,” and by that name shall have perpetual succession, with the power to sue and be sued in courts of law and equity within the jurisdiction of the United States; to have and to hold such real and personal estate as shall be deemed advisable and to accept bequests for the purposes of this corporation hereinafter set forth; to adopt a seal and the same to alter and destroy at pleasure; and to have the right to have and to use, in carrying out its purposes hereinafter designated, as an emblem and badge, a Greek red cross on a white ground, as the same has been described in the Treaty of Geneva, August twenty-second, eighteen hundred and sixty-four, and adopted by the several nations acceding thereto; to ordain and establish bylaws and regulations not inconsistent with the laws of the United States of America or any State thereof, and generally to do all such acts and things (including the establishment of regulations for the election of associates and successors) as may be necessary to carry into effect the provisions of this Act and promote the purposes of said organization; and the corporation hereby created is designated as the organization which is authorized to act in matters of relief under said treaty. In accordance with Article seven of the treaty, the delivery of the brassard allowed for individuals neutralized in time of war shall be left to military authority.

Sec. 3. That the purposes of this corporation are and shall be—

First. To furnish volunteer aid to the sick and wounded of armies in time of war, in accordance with the spirit and conditions of the 9conference of Geneva of October, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, and also of the Treaty of the Red Cross, or the Treaty of Geneva, of August twenty-second, eighteen hundred and sixty-four, to which the United States of America gave its adhesion on March first, eighteen hundred and eighty-two.

Second. And for said purposes to perform all the duties devolved upon a national society by each nation which has acceded to said treaty.

Third. To succeed to all the rights and property which have been hitherto held and to all the duties which have heretofore been performed by the American National Red Cross as a corporation duly incorporated by Act of Congress, June sixth, nineteen hundred, which Act is hereby repealed and the organization created thereby is hereby dissolved.

Fourth. To act in matters of voluntary relief and in accord with the military and naval authorities as a medium of communication between the people of the United States of America and their Army and Navy, and to act in such matters between similar national societies of other governments through the “Comité International de Secours,” and the Government and the people and the Army and Navy of the United States of America.

Fifth. And to continue and carry on a system of national and international relief in time of peace and apply the same in mitigating the sufferings caused by pestilence, famine, fire, floods, and other great national calamities, and to devise and carry on measures for preventing the same.

Sec. 4. That from and after the passage of this Act it shall be unlawful for any person within the jurisdiction of the United States to falsely and fraudulently hold himself out as, or represent or pretend himself to be, a member of, or an agent for, the American National Red Cross, for the purpose of soliciting, collecting, or receiving money or material; or for any person to wear or display the sign of the Red Cross, or any insignia colored in imitation thereof for the fraudulent purpose of, inducing the belief that he is a member of or an agent for, the American National Red Cross. Nor shall it be lawful for any person or corporation, other than the Red Cross of America, not now lawfully entitled to use the sign of the Red Cross, hereafter to use such sign or any insignia colored in imitation thereof for the purposes of trade or as an advertisement to induce the sale of any article whatsoever. If any person violates the provisions of this section, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be liable to a fine of not less than one nor more than five hundred dollars, or imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or both, for each and every offense. The fine so collected shall be paid to the American National Red Cross.

Sec. 5. That the governing body of the said American National Red Cross shall consist, in the first instance, of a central committee numbering eighteen persons, to be appointed in the manner following, namely: Six by the incorporators herein named and twelve by the 10President of the United States, one of whom shall be designated by the President to act as chairman. It shall be the duty of the central committee to organize with as little delay as possible State and Territorial societies, including the District of Columbia, under such rules as the said committee may prescribe. When six or more State or Territorial societies have been formed, thereafter the central committee shall be composed as follows: Six to be appointed by the incorporators, six by the representatives of the State and Territorial societies at the annual meeting of the incorporators and societies, and six by the President of the United States, one of whom shall be designated by him as chairman and one each to be named by him from the Departments of State, War, Navy, Treasury, and Justice.

The first six members of the central committee elected by the incorporators at the first annual meeting, and the first six members of the central committee elected by the State and Territorial delegates, shall when elected select by lot from their number two members to serve one year, two members to serve two years, and two members to serve three years, and each subsequent election of members shall be for a period of three years or until their successors are duly elected and qualify. The six members of the central committee appointed by the President at the annual meeting shall serve for one year.

The President shall fill as soon as may be any vacancy that may occur by death, resignation, or otherwise in the chairmanship or in the membership of the central committee appointed by him. And any vacancy that may occur in the six members of the central committee herein provided to be appointed by the incorporators or in the six to be appointed by the representatives of the State societies shall be filled by temporary appointments to be made by the remaining members of the six in which the vacancy or vacancies may occur, such appointees to serve until the next annual meeting.

The central committee shall have power to appoint from its own members an executive committee of seven persons, five of whom shall be a quorum, who, when the central committee is not in session, shall have and exercise all the powers of the central committee.

The Secretary of War shall within thirty days after the passage of this Act call a meeting at a time and place to be designated by him in the city of Washington of the incorporators hereunder, giving at least thirty days’ notice thereof in one or more newspapers, and the annual meeting of said incorporators, their associates and successors, shall thereafter be held in said city on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in December, the first of said meetings to be held in December, nineteen hundred and five. Fifteen members shall constitute a quorum at any annual or special meeting.

Voting by proxy shall not be allowed at any meeting of the incorporators, annual or special, nor at any meeting of State or Territorial societies organized under the provisions of this charter.

Sec. 6. That the said American National Red Cross shall on the first day of January of each year make and transmit to the Secretary of War, a report of its proceedings for the preceding year, including 11a full, complete, and itemized report of receipts and expenditures of whatever kind, which report shall be duly audited by the War Department, and a copy of said report shall be transmitted to Congress by the War Department.

Sec. 7. That Congress shall have the right to repeal, alter, or amend this Act at any time.

Approved January 5, 1905.


An international convention has been called to be held at Geneva in June, for the revision of the Treaty of Geneva, sometimes called the Treaty of the Red Cross, to which convention the United States Government will send three representatives. Reports of the proceedings of this convention will be given in later numbers of this Bulletin.—Editor.


12

THE RED CROSS SOCIETY OF JAPAN HAS ISSUED THE FOLLOWING REPORTS OF THE RED CROSS WORK SINCE THE OUTBREAK OF THE RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR UP TO SEPTEMBER, 1905.

War is the most dreadful thing that mankind ever witnesses. It is a horror in itself. So many men have been killed, wounded and invalided on both sides in our present war in the course of ten months that one is aghast at the number of casualties.

The Red Cross Society of Japan has been strenuously performing its duty of caring for the sick and wounded ever since the war broke out regardless, as a matter of course, to which colors the sufferers belong only remembering the principles of Humanity and Brotherhood.

The first work we undertook on the outbreak of the war was to look after the Russian sailors, who had been wounded during the naval battle off Chemulpo, Korea.

The wounded sailors, who were on board the Russian cruiser, Varyag, numbering twenty-four persons were taken first to the French cruiser, Pascal, and then to a temporary hospital that had been hastily established at Chemulpo by our Society. For twenty-two days, those sailors were entirely under the care of the hospital, in which, of course, all necessary treatment was given to them. Unfortunately, however, two of the patients died and the rest when convalescent were brought to a hospital at Matsuyama, Japan. There we gave them further treatment, which resulted in their complete recovery, although five out of the twenty-two were unfortunately obliged to have their hands or legs operated upon and cut off.

Her Majesty the Empress hearing about these cases has graciously furnished them with artificial limbs. When they had so far recovered, the Japanese Government sent them back to their homes in Russia. The Russian Government sent us a letter of grateful thanks for what we had done, offering, in addition, through the French Consul at Seoul, Korea, to defray all the expenses incurred. As we refused the offer, the Russian Government subscribed 2,000.00 Yen instead to our relief funds, which we accepted with appreciation.


No sooner had we been instructed by the Army to get our two hospital ships, Hakuai Maru and Kosai Maru, in readiness than they were prepared for embarkation. The names of the vessels had been 13intimated to Russia by the authorities in accordance with the rules of the Hague Convention.

The Hakuai Maru on the 21st of February, and the Kosai Maru on the 25th of the same month, sailed for Ujina, thence forward being continuously engaged in the transportation of the sick and wounded of both belligerents between Japan and different ports in Korea and Manchuria.

The increase in the number of the sufferers has naturally kept pace with the progress of the war and in consequence nine more hospital ships had to be prepared in which twenty-one relief detachments of our Society are now working under the direction of an Army surgeon. On land, we have already dispatched over eighty-two relief detachments to districts where they are required in Korea and Manchuria and also to the hospital of both Army and Navy at home. Several of these detachments are solely engaged in caring for the Russian prisoners.

It may be well to state that one relief detachment consists of

2 Surgeons
1 Apothecary
1 Clerk
2 Chief nurses (men or women)
20 Nurses (men or women)

When several detachments are dispatched to one place, one Director, one Superintending surgeon and one Superintending nurse are placed as supervisors over all such detachments. Not infrequently, however, it becomes necessary to divide one relief detachment into two or more. All relief detachments to be sent to the front, it must be noted, consist of men only; those at home of women nurses; and those on board the hospital ships are of both sexes, namely, one detachment of women nurses and one or two detachments of men nurses, the number of which is fixed proportionately to the size of the capacity of the ships.

According to the regulations of our relief service in time of war, there are Patients’ Transport Columns but never before have they been used until the present war. We have now organized one such column on trial, selecting the stretcher-bearers out of the retired privates, who had once been trained in the Army and instructing them anew for two months; and we have sent them to the battle fields in Manchuria. This column consists of

1 Director
1 Surgeon
1 Clerk
2 Chief men nurses
3 Chief stretcher-bearers
3 Men nurses

14We may form some more columns if this is successful and has good results.

The total number of all the detachments as mentioned above and already sent out together with women nurses amounts to 3,266 persons and, moreover, we are prepared to dispatch as many more as are necessary at any moment.

All the women nurses of our society go through scientific and practical training for two and three years, the latter term being for the higher course of nursing, whilst the men nurses are required to take a ten months’ course of training.

Our Main Red Cross Hospital in Tokyo has now been appropriated to the use of the Army. It is, therefore, made a branch hospital of the Tokyo Military Reserve Hospital. Since the outbreak of the war, many additional barracks have been built on the wide ground of the Red Cross Hospital. Moreover, an estate we had purchased at Hiroshima for the purpose of building our hospital there has been put at the disposal of the Army and a temporary hospital has been erected.


The Ladies’ Volunteer Nursing Association of the Red Cross Society of Japan has become more active in many ways, the members have applied themselves with far greater earnestness and energy to the study of first aid and nursing under the direction of our medical men. Moreover, they are occupying themselves very busily every day making various kinds of bandages and caps for the patients, looking after them at the relief stations, which are prepared for those who are travelling, visiting them at the hospitals, helping them to write to their families at home and in various other serviceable ways. Theirs is a self-sacrificing work.

Since the outbreak of the war, the number of the members is daily increasing. Princesses, the wives of the Nobility and of the diplomatic staffs and other distinguished ladies have all joined.

Her Majesty the Empress has always been greatly interested in our relief work. On the 20th of last June, for instance, she paid a visit to the Ladies’ Volunteer Nursing Association and particularly looked at the members making bandages. On the 3d of September, she summoned our president to the palace and spoke to him very encouragingly about the Red Cross Work.


Our sister societies abroad have earnestly and practically extended their sympathy and kindness to us by offering gifts in various forms, which we have gratefully accepted. The following are the details of gifts we have received up to date:

9 cases of bandage materials and clothes from the Red Cross Society of Germany.

15515 cases of various kinds of wine and nourishment from the Red Cross Society of Italy.

2 sets of necessary articles for a field hospital taking in 100 patients from the French Relief Society for the Wounded Soldiers.

Franc 1,000 —The Red Cross Society of Servia.
£ 100 —The Red Cross Society of Portugal.
Lire 40 —The Red Cross Society of Greece.
Krone 1,351 —The Ladies’ Association of Copenhagen of the Red Cross Society of Denmark.
Franc 13,500 —The Ladies’ Association of France.

The Red Cross Society of Spain and the National Red Cross Society of America have kindly offered us their assistance. Besides these public gifts, many individual men and women have come forward and offered us their services to nurse the wounded soldiers.

We deeply regret that we are not able to accept these kind offers at present, simply because we have still a sufficient number of well equipped relief corps to meet all the emergencies we have had as yet to encounter.

However, the Government of Japan accepted the services of Mrs. McGee, an American lady, with nine nurses, and Mrs. Richardson, an English lady, to nurse the sick and wounded and instructed us to place them among some of our relief detachments. The American nurses have been working in the Hiroshima Reserve Hospital and on some hospital ships for a few months and sailed for their homes recently with Mrs. McGee.


At the close of this statement, we take great pleasure in adding that donations in various forms from every part of the world and from rich and poor have ever been flowing into the coffers of our Society. We have never failed to appropriate these gifts to our relief funds in compliance with the donors’ wishes.

We shall be always grateful for these practical expressions of sympathy and generosity which are extended to both belligerents, for whose comfort and relief, when sick and wounded, we are most earnestly praying and devoting ourselves. May Providence help our cause.


Since the issue of our last report on the Red Cross work, much progress has been made in all the different ways of alleviating the sufferings of the war-victims, seventeen Relief detachments on hospital ships and twenty-two on land being dispatched in addition to those which had previously been in service since the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese war. The following are the details of the institutions in which our Relief detachments are at present working:

16
Hospital Ships
These are owned and entirely managed by the Red Cross Society of Japan.
2
Relief detachments serving on board eighteen hospital ships owned by the Army
All these hospital ships together with the two Red Cross hospital ships are constantly in the service of transportation of the sick and wounded from the front to Japan and from one port to another at home. The number of the Relief detachment serving on board each hospital ship runs from 1½ to 3 Relief detachments according to the tonnage of the ship.
38
Relief detachments dispatched to the hospitals at home under both the Naval and Military authorities 78
Depot of Supply
This is at the base of Etape in order to distribute various supplies as are necessary for medical and relieving purposes.
1
Relief detachments at the front
These detachments consist of field hospitals and relief stations in Korea and Manchuria.
32
Column of Stretcher-bearers
The members of the column are located separately along with Etape lines serving in carrying the sick and wounded with stretchers, wagons, horses, etc.
1

In addition to such institutions, there are thirteen agencies at home and one at the front established by the Headquarters of the Society in order to facilitate the management of the whole Relief detachments at home and abroad, numbering 152 Relief detachments in all; and of Relief stations established in such ports and railway stations as are convenient and necessary for giving rest and refreshment to the sick and wounded on their homeward way and also medical treatment in cases of emergency, to say nothing of renewing bandages. These are worked voluntarily by the members of the branches of the Red Cross Society of Japan, surgeons, nurses and the members of the Ladies’ Volunteer Nursing Association.

The nurses of both sexes, dispatched up to date, number in all over 4,700, five Relief detachments out of which have been formed and placed entirely in the Russian prisoners’ hospitals and stations. The approximate amount of the expense for the work up to the end of this year is estimated to be as much as 5,160,000 Yen.


The members of the Ladies’ Volunteer Nursing Association of the Red Cross Society of Japan have constantly and strenuously rendered their services ever since the outbreak of the war in making bandages and caps for the patients, in looking after them at the relief stations, which we have already mentioned, in visiting them at the hospitals, 17in helping them to write to their families at home, in distributing among them books, magazines, newspapers and various things they could collect, in actually nursing the sick and wounded of both belligerents, if necessary, and in various other ways. The members of forty-one branches, together with those of the headquarters of the Association number nearly 10,000, including Princesses, the wives of the Nobility and of diplomatic staffs and other distinguished ladies who have joined.


Their Majesties, the Emperor and the Empress and their Highnesses, the Crown Prince and Princess have always been greatly interested in our relief work. Especially the Empress has graciously encouraged the members in various ways, giving, for instance, money to the Association and visiting it to look at the members making bandages. When she summoned Count Matsugata, the President, to the palace on the 3d of September of last year, the following was graciously spoken to him:—

It is gratifying that the Red Cross Society of Japan has dispatched a great number of Relief detachments, by whom both Japanese and Russian sick and wounded have been attended. We hope you will encourage these detachments in their work and that the relief work, true to the principle of philanthropy, will be thoroughly accomplished by them.

Again, on the 4th of March of this year when Baron Ozawa, Vice-President, paid an homage to the Empress previous to his departure from Japan for the front to visit the sufferers officially and to inspect all the Relief detachments there, she spoke to him as follows:—

Over one year has now passed away since the Red Cross Society has started its relief work. We can imagine how hard it must be for the members of the Relief detachments at the front especially at this coldest season of the year. Still, the care of the sick and wounded concerns my heart evermore. We wish you would convey to the Relief detachments my earnest hope that they will endure all the difficulties and work hard in alleviating the suffering of the patients.

Indeed, it is not little that the Japanese ladies have done for the prestige of the nation as well as for humanity during the Russo-Japanese war.


Our sister-societies have earnestly and practically extended their sympathy and kindness to us by offering gifts in various forms, which we have gratefully accepted. The following are the details of gifts we have received since last October up to this date. (Gifts from other institutions or individuals are omitted here).

The Central Office of the International Red Cross Society Franc 1,000
The Red Cross Society of Germany Medical materials, &c.
The Red Cross Society of Germany Woolen caps, &c.
18The Relief Society for Wounded Soldiers of France Medicines, bandages and other materials.
The Ladies’ Association of France Franc 5,000
The British Red Cross Society Yen 10,000
  or £ 1,000
The Red Cross Society of Austria Krone 50,000
The Red Cross Society of Hungary Krone 10,000
Golniezbanya Branch of the Red Cross Society of Hungary Krone 50,000

The Red Cross Society of Germany, with the permission of our Government, has kindly sent out Professor Dr. Adolph Henle and Dr. Otto Fittig accompanied by a nurse, Miss Margarethe von Sommogy, to our country to render assistance towards relieving the sufferings of the sick and wounded. Since last March, they have been working at a military branch hospital in Sendagaya, Tokyo, in co-operation with our own surgeons and nurses.


A party of American nurses under Mrs. McGee mentioned briefly in our last report, sailing from Seattle, Washington, U.S.A., on the 3d of March, arrived in Yokohama on the 22d of April, 1904. They commenced work on May 31st in the Hiroshima Reserve hospital where they remained till October 10th, 1904. During that time, they were in turn placed on board hospital ships that had been running between Japan and Manchuria.


In compliance with Mrs. McGee’s request, we sent her out to the Matsuyama Hospital, in which Russian prisoners had been placed and to a naval hospital at Kure; and to some districts in Korea where there were field hospitals.

She then returned to America together with the other nurses, who sailed from Nagasaki on the 21st of October, 1904. We offered to Mrs. McGee and to each one of the nurses the sum of Yen 200.00 as a token of our appreciation of their services.

The following nurses:

Miss Minnie Cooke,
Miss Mary Gladwin,
Miss Ella King,
Miss Elizabeth Kratz,
Miss Adelaide Mackereth,
Miss Adele Neeb,
Miss Sophia Newell,
Miss Genevieve Russell,

returned the money to the Society saying that they could not bear to carry any of the Red Cross money with them back to their homes.

As a further mark of our appreciation of their devotedness and 19earnestness in caring for the sick and wounded on land and sea, we invited the nurses to join the Society as Special Members.

(Special membership shall be offered to those who have rendered distinguished services or made a donation of not less than 200 Yen, to the Society.)

Miss Cooke, Miss King, Miss Mackereth and Miss Russell have made a subscription towards the Relief Funds of this Society since they returned home.


Mrs. Richardson, an English lady, worked in the hospitals in Tokyo and Hiroshima for about one year and half, arriving in Japan in April, 1904, and leaving Yokohama for England on the 15th of July, 1905. During this time she worked entirely at her own expense.

She made visits to the military hospitals in Nagoya, Osaka, Kokura, Kumamoto, Matsuyama, Kure and Sasebo and also to those in Dalny and Port Arthur. In April of this year, she was placed on board hospital ships carrying the sick and wounded from the front to Japan. Her sympathy and kindness had been shown, not only by her actually nursing the war-victims but also by her giving them such things as might interest and comfort them and by more than once making subscriptions towards the Relief Funds of the Society.

Upon her departure from Japan, the Empress received her at the palace. Prince Kan-in, Honorary President of the Red Cross Society of Japan, and Princess Kan-in, Honorary President of the Ladies’ Volunteer Nursing Association, gave her a farewell dinner at their residence.


As the fall of Port Arthur had been expected by all the people, we had sent previously 3,000 suits of patients’ dresses, together with a proper number of blankets and kept them at the nearest possible place to the fort so that we could be ready to provide the Russian wounded with such things when needed. These things, as we thought, have been of a great use. When Baron Ozawa took the opportunity of paying a visit to General Walaschof, the President of the Russian Red Cross Hospital at Port Arthur, the latter not merely expressed his high appreciation of what had been done by our Society (offering an honorable medal to Baron Ozawa and also one to Count Matsugata, the President), but also asked him if the Red Cross Society of Japan would take over the hospital from the Russian Red Cross Society. Baron Ozawa, however, refused the offer only accepting the medal conferred upon him.


At the close of this account, we take great pleasure in adding that donations, in various shapes from every part of the world and from rich and poor, annual subscriptions and the number of members have ever been increasing. The members of the Society numbering in all 1,035,000, include Japanese and foreigners in China, Korea, Hawaii, 20and in other foreign countries. Nevertheless, the expenditure we have had to defray for the Relief work increases to an amount those outside can hardly imagine. We have been trying to the utmost of our power to perform our duty of caring for the helpless patients of both belligerents ever since the war broke out, only remembering the principles of Humanity and Brotherhood and we will do so more and more hereafter under the guidance of Providence and through the assistance of friends.


21

NOTES FROM BRANCH SOCIETIES

The Connecticut Branch is organizing a subdivision in New Haven and expects to complete the organization in a few days with a membership of 150 or more. A large subdivision is also being formed at Norwich. The Bristol subdivision, which is the only one of its kind in the country, being composed entirely of boys, has sent a generous contribution to the Japanese famine fund. The “Hartford Courant” has been most energetic and successful in its collections for the famine fund and the National Treasurer has received a number of contributions from that paper.

General Charles Bird, U.S.A., President of the Delaware Branch, writes:

“The Delaware Branch of the American National Red Cross has effected a complete organization with a strong membership committee and a sub-committee to act with the Executive Committee in arranging for the enrollment of surgeons, physicians and trained nurses to be ready to respond to a call for any emergency. The work of these committees is hampered somewhat on account of a lack of public interest, growing out of the fact that there does not seem to be any active work for the Red Cross at present. Efforts are being made to increase the interest on the ground of being prepared for the emergency when it comes. The subdivisions in the lower part of the State are well organized and ready to work when calls are made upon them.”

The District of Columbia Branch is preparing to hold a mass meeting on March 30th at the Belasco Theatre in Washington, at which Secretary of War Taft and several other prominent speakers will deliver addresses on the subject of the Red Cross. It is also expected that two Army Surgeons who were present with the Russian and Japanese Armies in Manchuria will speak of what they saw of Red Cross work during the late war in the Far East.

Subdivisions of the Illinois Branch have recently been organized at Danville, Aurora and Rock Island, with a membership of over one hundred at Danville. Since the publication of the Annual Report of the Red Cross, Illinois has reported the enrollment of a number of doctors and nurses.

The Secretary of the Maine Branch reports that that Society is “slowly but surely improving and getting ready to do good work.” Earnest efforts are being made to increase the membership.

The Maryland Branch, like the District of Columbia Branch, contemplates holding a mass meeting on the 5th of April. These meetings are expected to arouse much interest and assist considerably in enlarging the membership.

The Massachusetts Branch “is too busily engaged with the famine fund to write much for the Bulletin.” The Bulletin is glad of this opportunity to congratulate the Massachusetts Branch upon its successful efforts in behalf of the Japanese famine sufferers. Massachusetts ranks first among the Branch Societies in amount contributed for this fund.

22The New York State Branch has appointed Mr. William Chauncy Langdon, Secretary of the Executive Committee, and Mr. Langdon is actively engaged in organizing subdivisions throughout the State. Subdivisions have already been formed in Albany, Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo, and Brooklyn, in Oneida and Westchester Counties, and in Islip Township of Long Island. The Oneida County Subdivision has the largest membership, 155, 12 of whom are life members. The total membership in New York State is 790.

The Cleveland Subdivision of the Ohio Branch reports the enrollment of a number of doctors and nurses.

On March 14th “The Pennsylvania Branch of the American National Red Cross” was organized, with headquarters in Philadelphia. The following officers were elected: President, Talcott Williams; treasurer, Mrs. A. J. Cassatt; vice-presidents, Captain John S. Muckle, Miss Anne Thompson, Hon. H. Kirke Porter, of Pittsburg; Hon. Vance McCormick, of Harrisburg; Bishop Alexander Mackay-Smith and George H. Frazier; secretary, Joseph Allison Steinmetz.

Money sent by the American National Red Cross to the Philippine Branch for the typhoon sufferers has been gratefully acknowledged by that Society. The practical sympathy thus shown for the unfortunate sufferers from that disaster conclusively and promptly proved the value of the Red Cross organization. The Philippine Branch has reported recently over one hundred members.

The Secretary of the Rhode Island Branch writes:

“The Rhode Island Branch is receiving cordial support from the community. The number of annual members is increasing, as is also the number of life members. The subscriptions for the relief of the Japanese sufferers have been liberal and gifts are still coming into the fund for that purpose.”

From letters and newspaper reports received from South Carolina, it is evident that the officers are actively engaged in building up the Society. We have also been informed that a considerable sum has been collected for the Japanese Famine Fund.

The Central Committee hopes soon to be able to report the formation of a State Branch in New Jersey and several other States.

The Executive Committee of the American National Red Cross some time ago appointed a sub-committee to select a design and material for a new form of Life Membership Certificate. These will be ready for issue soon, and life members who have received the old form of certificate will be furnished with the new certificate upon application.

A design of Red Cross pin to be worn by the members has been adopted, and arrangements will soon be completed whereby all members desiring pins or buttons will be able to procure them.


23

APPLICATION FOR MEMBERSHIP

Persons desiring to become members of the American National Red Cross should fill out, as indicated, the blank forms on last page of this Bulletin and mail to the Secretary of the Branch Society in the State where they reside, whose address is given below.

Persons residing in States or Territories where no Branch Societies have as yet been formed should send their applications to the Secretary of the American National Red Cross, Room 826, Colorado Building, Washington, D.C. These applications will be given prompt consideration as soon as such Branch Societies are organized.

Life membership dues, $25.00.
Annual membership dues, 1.00.

CALIFORNIA BRANCH: Mrs. Thurlow McMullin, 2200 California Street, San Francisco, Cal.

CONNECTICUT BRANCH: Mrs. Sara T. Kinney, P.O. Box 726, New Haven, Conn.

DELAWARE BRANCH: Miss Emily P. Bissell, 1404 Franklin Street, Wilmington, Del.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA BRANCH: Mr. Gist Blair, Corcoran Building, Washington, D.C.

GEORGIA BRANCH: Miss Anne Vane Jones, 224 Henry Street, Savannah, Ga.

ILLINOIS BRANCH: Mr. Honore Palmer, 1300 First National Bank Building, Chicago, Ill.

INDIANA BRANCH: Mrs. W. A. Woods, Claypool Hotel, Indianapolis, Ind.

MAINE BRANCH: Mrs. Frank H. Briggs, Auburn, Me.

MARYLAND BRANCH: Mr. George Norbury Mackenzie, 27 Builders’ Exchange Building, Baltimore, Md.

MASSACHUSETTS BRANCH: Miss Katherine P. Loring, Prides Crossing, Mass.

MICHIGAN BRANCH: Mr. Charles Moore, 705 Union Trust Building, Detroit, Mich.

NEW YORK STATE BRANCH: Mrs. Wm. K. Draper, Bristol Building, 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y.

OHIO BRANCH: Mrs. Dr. John Hewitt, Cumberland Building, Columbus, Ohio.

PENNSYLVANIA BRANCH: Joseph Allison Steinmetz, Independence Hall, Philadelphia, Pa.

PHILIPPINE BRANCH: Mrs. George A. Main, Manila, P. I.

RHODE ISLAND BRANCH: Prof. George Grafton Wilson, 15 Westminster Street, Providence, R.I.

SOUTH CAROLINA BRANCH: Mr. George Hoyt Smith, Charleston, S.C.

VERMONT BRANCH: Mr. Charles S. Forbes, S. Albans, Vt.

WYOMING BRANCH: Miss Winifred W. Woods, Cheyenne, Wyo.


24Application for Membership in the American National Red Cross.

I apply to be enrolled as a (Life/Annual) member of the ........................

Branch of the American National Red Cross.

Name................................................

Address.............................................

Life membership dues,  $25.00.
Annual membership dues, 1.00.
(Erase whichever membership is not desired.)

To the Secretary of the..................................Branch

The American National Red Cross.
....................................................
....................................................

Application for Membership in the American National Red Cross.

I apply to be enrolled as a (Life/Annual) member of the ........................

Branch of the American National Red Cross.

Name................................................

Address.............................................

Life membership dues,  $25.00.
Annual membership dues, 1.00.
(Erase whichever membership is not desired.)

To the Secretary of the..................................Branch

The American National Red Cross.
....................................................
....................................................

Application for Membership in the American National Red Cross.

I apply to be enrolled as a (Life/Annual) member of the ........................

Branch of the American National Red Cross.

Name................................................

Address.............................................

Life membership dues,  $25.00.
Annual membership dues, 1.00.
(Erase whichever membership is not desired.)

To the Secretary of the..................................Branch

The American National Red Cross.
....................................................
....................................................

25

FORM OF BEQUEST.

A will in the form following may be used to bequeath money for the purposes of this corporation. It would be well to have the same signed by three witnesses in the presence of the testator and of each other.

All legacies, not otherwise specified, go into the Red Cross Endowment Fund, the interest of which is applied to the Emergency Fund.

I, A. B., of ..................................................... (testator’s domicil), hereby make and publish the following as my last will and testament:

I give and bequeath to the American National Red Cross, a corporation in the District of Columbia, created by Act of Congress of the United States of America, its successors and assigns, the sum of

.................................................. Dollars.

(A. B.)..................................................

Signed, sealed, published and declared by the above named A. B. as and for his last will and testament, in the presence of us, who have hereunto subscribed our names at his request as witnesses thereto, in the presence of the said testator and of each other.

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