Chapter C: S. YOUNG in The Richmond Terminal (2)

In 1902 a party of friends visited Clara Barton in her Glen Echo Red Cross home. In our party were two gentlemen from Mexico. One of the latter, an Englishman, had lived in the “Land of the Montezumas” for many years. He described to Miss Barton the people, their peculiar customs, their love of music and the other arts, their beautiful Moorish architecture, their lofty mountains and fertile valleys. Then he portrayed the characteristics of Porfirio Diaz, the then popular ruler of the Mexican Republic.

Miss Barton was much interested. She said that for some time she had been doing what she could to get the Mexican Government to organize, under the Geneva Convention, a Red Cross Society. With the tact of a diplomat and the strategy of a general she laid out her plan of campaign. She asserted that in no other country could so much good be done by the Red Cross as in Mexico.

She wanted the influence of President Diaz. How could she get it? Through whom? And of what assistance could her Mexican guests be to her? That her guests might become interested in the Red Cross she described in detail her work, how she got the necessary funds, the supplies, and how they were distributed. She explained that whenever there was suffering from flood, fire, famine—suffering anywhere in the world from any cause—she would issue a call, setting forth the fact and needs. Immediately thereafter, the good people would respond with money, food, clothing. In some cases money and material were sent to her personally, and sometimes to her as President of the Red Cross.

Also she would send out an appeal for assistants who would serve without pay on any certain field of disaster. At that time the Government did nothing whatever for the Red Cross; had not contributed towards it so much even as the value of a postage stamp. Then the people were being educated along the lines of humanity, and which Clara Barton said was the most important work of the Red Cross Society. As the result of such education and of its then growing importance, she predicted that sometime it would be the largest organization in the United States. In fulfillment of this prediction, in the World War, the people on one occasion, in a few days, responded to a Red Cross call for $100,000,000.

CLARA BARTON

The President (now In Memoriam) of the National First Aid Association
of America.
]

HARRIETTE L. REED

With statesmanlike ability Clara Barton directed the affairs of
panic-stricken citizens paralyzed by the fearful calamities which
had overtaken them and rendered them powerless.—HARRIETTE L. REED
(Sister Harriette). Also known as Mrs. J. Sewall Reed, First Acting
President of the National First Aid Association of America, June 6,
1912–April 2, 1920.
]

The historic pictures on this page were taken each on the occasion of
the organization of the National First Aid Association of America, in
Boston, in 1905.

See page 257.

LXXXII

_In re_ a bill before Congress (1902) proposing an annuity of $5,000
for Clara Barton during life, in an official letter to Congress, she
protested as follows: “Any grant of Government moneys, either in aid
of this body (Red Cross) direct, or of myself as its President, would
be subversive of its principles and methods, and not to be desired.”
THE AUTHOR.

If those now (1904) at variance with me on Red Cross matters will meet
me in the same spirit by which I am animated, we cannot fail to adjust
all difficulties to our mutual satisfaction, and to the advantage of
the cause all should have at heart. CLARA BARTON.

Unless one is actually going down hill with a load, it is easier to
stop than to go on. CLARA BARTON.

I have nothing to gain from the Red Cross, and never have had.

CLARA BARTON.

In Red Cross work I have no ambitions to serve, and certainly no
purposes. CLARA BARTON.

I am glad that after thirty years our country has been awakened to the
thought that it could confer an honor on the Red Cross; and I wish you
could know how entirely indifferent I am to the _personal_ “honors”
conferred. CLARA BARTON.

No private individual in the world’s history has ever before been able
to command through a long term of years, and a continuous succession
of almost a score of great public disasters, the unlimited confidence
of the whole people, so that the response to each successive call has
been instant and in generous amount.

Contributions in money and supplies have been received for the relief
of the sufferers by these national calamities of more than $1,900,000.

The Officers and Members of the American National Red Cross (in
1903)—in a Memorial to Congress—From House Document No. 552, Volume
49, 58th Congress.

HONORARY PRESIDENCY FOR LIFE—PROPOSED ANNUITY

Miss Mabel T. Boardman, after the retirement of Clara Barton, became Chairman of the Executive Committee of the American Red Cross Society. In the following excerpts from letters in 1903, she certifies to the _integrity_, good name and fame, of Clara Barton, this being at the time the “MOTHER OF THE RED CROSS” was offered the Honorary Presidency for life, with an annuity of $2,500:

“The character of Miss Barton nobody has assailed.

“No such assault was made, nor intended, upon Miss Barton’s character.

“No loss of confidence in Miss Barton’s personal integrity is meant.

“A proposition of —— which I should not for a moment have thought of assenting to, if I had believed Miss Barton wanting in integrity.

“Believe me, there is no desire for one moment to humiliate Miss Barton nor to withdraw her from any honor due her for past services in the interest of humanity. The very fact of our trying to get up a fund for Miss Barton to place her in an honorable position—is sufficient evidence that there was no purpose to attack Miss Barton personally.

“I feel that by accepting the position of Honorary President for life (with an annuity given as a token of appreciation of her past services) Miss Barton will be placed in a most dignified and honorable position.

“Mr. Foster, Mr. Glover, Mr. Chas. Bell, Mr. Walsh and my Father will act as guarantors of the annuity for the first year.

“As to the annuity;—five or six responsible gentlemen, such as Messrs. Bell, Glover, and others, would sign a letter guaranteeing to Miss Barton, for the first year, an annuity of $2,500, and pledging themselves to have set on foot a movement to raise a Red Cross fund, within a year, out of which should be paid to Miss Barton a similar annuity during life.

“People are continually urging that a complete investigation be made of Red Cross expenditures and methods, beginning with the Johnstown disaster, the Armenia disaster, Russian famine, Sea Islands, etc.; but we do not want to have to do this, and will not, if Miss Barton in the true interest of the Red Cross, and in the true interest of her own name and fame, will consent to take the distinguished position of Honorary President.” (The foregoing are excerpts from a letter by Miss Mabel T. Boardman under date of February 20th, 1903, and found in Document 552, House Documents, Volume 49,—58th Congress.)

Under date of February 18, 1903, Honorable John W. Foster, of the Red Cross Society, the ex-Secretary of State, in a letter says: “We have canvassed the matter of a proper person to succeed Miss Barton as President (she accepting the place of Honorary President,) and the best fitted person for the position seems to be Admiral Van Reypen.... It is presumed he would be acceptable to Miss Barton. As to the annuity: five or six responsible gentlemen—will sign a letter guaranteeing to Miss Barton for the first year an annuity of $2,500 and pledging themselves to have set on foot a movement to raise a Red Cross fund, within a year, out of which should be paid to Miss Barton a similar annuity during life.” (From House Document No. 552, Volume 49, 58th Congress.)

The official records show that the highest representative of a former Administration, the minority and majority in the so called “controversy” unanimously commended the name of Clara Barton; and in writing the minority, through Miss Mabel T. Boardman, unanimously solicited Clara Barton to become, and to remain for life, Honorary President of the Red Cross.

NOTE.—For reasons which seemed good to Clara Barton and her friends
the foregoing named annuity and _honor_ were declined. THE AUTHOR.

LXXXIII

Clara Barton’s services in the Franco-German war, as a member of the
Red Cross, were memorable throughout both continents. Holyoke (Mass.)
_Telegram_.

There are old soldiers, veterans of the German battlefield, who still
live and tell with tear-dimmed eyes of Clara Barton’s work among the
wounded and the dying. Sioux Falls (S. D.) _Press_.

O, reputation! dearer far than life. SIR WALTER RALEIGH.

A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches.

PROVERBS.

Good name, in man or woman, is the immediate jewel of their souls.
OTHELLO.

Why persecutest thou me? ACTS.

Those about her
From her shall read the perfect ways of honor.
KING HENRY VIII.

Miss Barton witnessed the work of the Red Cross during 1870. MABEL T.
BOARDMAN—In “_Under the Red Cross Flag at Home and Abroad_.”

In 1870–71 Clara Barton attached herself by invitation to the foreign
Red Cross, and in that relation was actually in the Red Cross work
during the entire Franco-Prussian war.

Red Cross Committee.

My physical strength had long ceased to exist, but on the borrowed
force of love and memory I strove with might and main—I walked its
hospitals day and night; I served in its camps, and I marched with its
men; and I know whereof I speak.

CLARA BARTON.

During the eighteen months of European experience I worked with the
Red Cross on my arm. The horrors and sufferings of Weissenburg,
Woerth, and Hagenau, Strasbourg, Metz, Sedan and Paris—poor twice
shattered Paris—and every besieged and desolated city of France fell
under my observation and shared the labor of my hands through eighteen
hard and dreadful months.

CLARA BARTON, in public address at Cape May.

Truth, like the sun, submits to be obscured; but, like the sun, only
for a time. BOVEE.

Our dearly beloved and most honored Clara Barton! She understood fully
the meaning of the Red Cross, and knew well how to put into action the
great and beautiful, though difficult, duties of the Red Cross. How
shall I forget what she was to us here in the year 1870, helping us
during the time of war we had to go through with then! God grant her
peace eternal! There where her beautiful soul will live in the glory
of Christ.

LUISE, Grand Duchess of Baden (1912).

OMISSION OF, OR ACQUIESCENCE IN, THE TRAGEDY OF 1904

“PASSES THE BUCK”

It may be we shall let most of the period of the differences with the
Red Cross remain in solution till the larger life and letters (by
William E. Barton).

Reverend Percy H. Epler,
(In 1915)
One of the “Committee to Advise,” and
Author of “The Life of Clara Barton.”

“REFUSES TO ANTE”

If there was any lack of consideration for Clara Barton, it would do
no good now to remember it.

Reverend William E. Barton,
(In 1922)
One of the “Committee to Advise,” and
Author of “The Life of Clara Barton.”

Years were to Clara Barton merely opportunities of service, not
measures of life. This attitude prolonged her life and kept her young
in spirit.

At ninety (1911) there was no mark of physical infirmity upon her nor
was there any slightest slacking in the interest of the object for
which she long had cared.

Senility was farther removed from her at ninety (1911) than from most
women at sixty.

At the age of ninety-one (1912) there was not a physical lesion nor a
diseased organ in the body.

She lived to enter her tenth decade, and when she died (1912) was
still so normal in the soundness of her bodily organs and in the
clarity of her mind and memory that it seemed she might easily have
lived to see her hundredth birthday.

WILLIAM E. BARTON
“Her Cousin, the Author.”
(“William E. Barton is one of our third or fourth cousins.
Stephen E. Barton,”)
Clara Barton’s Nephew, and Dedicatee of
Barton’s “Life of Clara Barton.”

At no time in her life has Miss Barton been in sounder bodily or
mental health or better able to continue the work to which her years
of experience and natural endowments have preeminently fitted her.
Moreover, the nation’s confidence is Miss Barton’s, and no hand can
better guide its Red Cross work than hers.

Red Cross Committee, officially, to Congress.
Written report unanimously concurred in.
(In 1903.)

Year after year your President has framed and offered her resignation
to the preceding Board and Committees. These have been resolutely met
by appointment for life. CLARA BARTON.

Miss Barton has resigned three times before this time (May 14, 1904)
but every time we have elected her again unanimously; and twice we
have elected her for life and every member, 315 in number, voted for
her. W. H. SEARS, Secretary for Clara Barton.

I certify that at the meeting of the American National Red Cross, held
in Washington, D. C, December 9, 1902, on motion to elect Clara Barton
President of the organization for life, a standing vote was taken,
resulting as follows: Ayes 28, noes 3, the three negative votes
being....

S. W. BRIGGS, Secretary, Red Cross Committee.

It is the Red Cross, without the glamor of war or disaster, to attract
your interest, that I bring to you to nourish and protect.

CLARA BARTON.

When the Government accepted the Red Cross, perhaps a bit arrogantly,
I felt that my end was accomplished and that I was ready to give it
up. CLARA BARTON.

It is a pride as well as a pleasure to hand to you an organization
perfectly formed, thoroughly officered, with no debts and a sum of
from $12,000 to $14,000 available to our treasury as a working fund.
(Amount realized $15,541.89. The Author.) CLARA BARTON (on May 14,
1904, in offering her resignation as President).

It would be strange, if after so many years of earnest effort for the
relief of human suffering, during which time I have always lived and
moved in the full glare of the public gaze, I could not now safely
trust my character and good name to the care of the American people.
CLARA BARTON.

MRS. JOHN A. LOGAN

Clara Barton is the greatest woman of this, or any other, age.—MRS.
JOHN A. LOGAN, the Vice-President under Clara Barton; the President
of the American Red Cross Society, May 14, 1904–June 16, 1904.

It is an unspeakable joy to me that the toil-worn, weary mantle, that
drops from mine, falls upon the shoulders of my vice-president, the
woman so cherished in our own country and honored and trusted in
other countries.

CLARA BARTON.
]

CLARA BARTON’S RESIGNATION

At a meeting of the American National Red Cross, held December 10, 1901, President Clara Barton said: “at that meeting (July 10, 1900) I brought my armor, worn and rusted, and reverently laid it at your feet with the request that I be released. You declined to permit me to retire. I again lay my armor before you, recommending the filling of this most eminent position in your gift by someone better fitted than I ever have been to assume its duties, and wear its honors.” The Red Cross again refused to accept the resignation.

The so called “charges” against Miss Barton were made December 10, 1903. The case was heard before the Proctor Red Cross Committee on May 3, 1904. Only one witness testified and, as elsewhere stated, he refused to be cross examined whereupon his statements were discredited, the case summarily dismissed for want of evidence, and on motion of the committee itself. Miss Barton previously had been re-elected, almost unanimously, to succeed herself.

The “remonstrants” discredited, their “charges” found baseless, Miss Barton vindicated, on May 14, 1904, she again offered her resignation[7] of the Presidency, this time in favor of Mrs. General John A. Logan, and insisted on its acceptance. Her friends protested her resignation; insisted she should not resign but should hold the position for life. Miss Barton persisted in sacrificing herself for what she _then_ thought would be in the interest of harmony, and the cause nearest her heart. The following is the personal explanation of her then attitude of mind.

Footnote 7:

Clara Barton resigned the presidency May 14, 1904. Mrs. John A. Logan
succeeded to the presidency, holding the office until June 16, 1904.
Mrs. Logan nominated W. H. Taft as her successor. Mr. Taft declining
then to serve, Admiral W. K. Van Reypen, according to Red Cross
official records, acted as president pro tern until January 8, 1905,
when Mr. Taft accepted the presidency.

“In initiating measures for the conciliation of opposing interests and views, it may seem to some of my friends that I have overlooked just grounds of personal offence in imputations wantonly made upon my honor and integrity. I do so knowingly and willingly, and because the cause that the American Red Cross is meant to promote stands first in my affections and my desires. It would be strange if it did not—if the cause for which I have devoted myself for half a century were not deemed by me worthy of any possible sacrifice of personal pride or personal interest.”

’Tis not the house and not the dress,
That makes the saint or sinner,
To see the spider sit and spin,
Shut with her walls of silver in,
You would never, never, never guess,
The way she gets her dinner.

Had she entered the spider’s web of the society “remonstrant”; had she accepted the proposed annuity—and proposed honor of Honorary President, and thrown her child to the sharks, Clara Barton’s frail bark would have been towed into port, in peace. Instead, with her never failing courage she took to the life boat, on a stormy sea, and survived the storm to hand over her Red Cross child not to an unworthy, but to her Country and humanity.

LXXXIV

No cynic will find a flaw in what Miss Barton did.

Boston (Mass.) _Record_.

The spiteful factionist, to be found in every cause—even the cause of
Christ himself—formed an opposition to Miss Barton.

Harrisburg (Pa.) _Telegram_.

Truth hath a quiet breast. SHAKESPEARE.

Great souls suffer in silence. SCHILLER.

Silence is the Mother of Truth. EARL OF BEACONSFIELD.

Come, let us have peace. U. S. GRANT.

Peace to the land forevermore. CLARA BARTON.

I never spoke a discordant word in my life, meaningly.

CLARA BARTON.

Like her Master, whom she followed, Clara Barton opened not her mouth.
KATE BROWNLEE SHERWOOD.

And when He was accused by the chief priests and elders He answered
nothing. ST. MATTHEW.

NO RED CROSS CONTROVERSY

“There has been no Red Cross controversy,” says Clara Barton, “as the sensational press has termed it, inasmuch as the Red Cross has taken no controversial part. It has only spoken when it _must_, and as little as possible, and its President not at all, nor ever will.

“When it is necessary for me to defend myself before the _American people_, let me fall. I should not value the defense thus gained, and I trust I shall never feel it needful.”

In her later years the following was oft quoted by Clara Barton:

The stars come nightly to the sky,
The tidal wave unto the sea
I’ll rail no more ’gainst time or tide,
For lo! my own shall come to me.

LXXXV

A Greek Red Cross on a field of white should tell any soldier of any
country within the treaty that the wearer was his friend and could be
trusted; and to any officer of any army that he was legitimately
there, and not subject to capture. CLARA BARTON.

This is what the Red Cross means, not an order of knighthood, not a
commandery of it, not a secret society, not a society at all by
itself, but the powerful, peaceful sign and the reducing to practical
usefulness of one of the broadest and most needed humanities the world
has ever known. CLARA BARTON.

I hope that all the patriotic and humane men, women and children of
the United States who are able to do so, will give it (the Red Cross)
their support by becoming members of our national organization.
EX-PRESIDENT THEODORE ROOSEVELT.

I hereby commend the plan of the Red Cross to secure a large
membership in this country. I hope the American people will prove as
patriotic in this respect as are the people of other nations, so that
we may be as well prepared as they to render relief in the misfortune
of war or to mitigate the suffering caused by pestilence, famine,
fire, floods, mine explosions and other great disasters.

EX-PRESIDENT W. H. TAFT.

A large, well-organized and efficient Red Cross is essential. It is
both a patriotic and humane service that is rendered by every citizen
who becomes a member of the American Red Cross.

EX-PRESIDENT WOODROW WILSON.

I perceive that in creating an institution that shall be National and
of the people the foundations must be as broad and as solid as the
whole nation. CLARA BARTON.

The Red Cross has become well known and well beloved. Of all the great
humanitarian institutions of this country the Red Cross is surely
among the greatest. CLARA BARTON.

Though we may leave our task unaccomplished, the task may be glorious
in design if not in completion, and speak of us sincerely and with
more fitting substance than words could ever compass or suggest. CLARA
BARTON.

The Red Cross is the Big Brother of the Fighting Man.

GENERAL LEONARD WOOD.

The Red Cross is the most generally recognized humanitarian movement
in the known world. CLARA BARTON.

The Red Cross has awakened the senses, and attuned the public ear to
the cry of distress wherever emanating. CLARA BARTON.

The Treaty of Geneva takes its powers from the common consent of the
United Governments of the civilized world.

CLARA BARTON.

Human intelligence has devised the provisions of the Red Cross, and it
is peculiarly adapted to popular favor. CLARA BARTON.

It is probable that no sign nor figure in the secular world is sacred
to so many people as is the Red Cross of Geneva. CLARA BARTON.

The insignia, which has given its name to the Treaty of Geneva, has
become universally known and respected. CLARA BARTON.

The Red Cross never leads, but follows, in all military matters.

CLARA BARTON.

The Red Cross has given rise to most valuable inventions and, under
its humane impulses, sanitary science has made rapid progress.

CLARA BARTON.

Inspired by the love of humanity and the world-wide motto of the Red
Cross: “In time of peace and prosperity, prepare for war and
calamity.” CLARA BARTON.

© _Clinedinst, Washington, D. C._

AMBASSADOR BAKHMETEFF

The veneration in which Russians of every class hold the name of Clara
Barton.—RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR BORIS BAKHMETEFF (in Boston in 1917).

The Ambassador requested me to transmit to you the expression of every
loyal Russian appreciation for the splendid work done by the
American Red Cross during the last war, and especially for its
assistance to the needy in Russia.—G. GAGARINE, First Secretary to
the Embassy (in Washington in 1920).
]

Some forty nations are in the Red Cross treaty, and from every
military hospital in every one of these nations floats the same flag.

CLARA BARTON.

Of all existing organizations, there is possibly not one that has
causes for sentiment of higher devotion and more prayerful gratitude
than the Red Cross, which owes its very life to pity and help for the
woes of the world. CLARA BARTON.

The Red Cross means not national aid for the needs of the people, but
the people’s aid for the needs of the nation.

CLARA BARTON.

History records the wonderful achievements of the Red Cross, greatest
of relief organizations, though it cannot record the untold suffering
which has been averted by it. CLARA BARTON.

I desire to enroll all to whom this message may come as subscribing,
or sustaining, members of the Red Cross; and I wish this idea to
spread and grow until it develops into a great National Red Cross
movement. Then my hope will be realized. And when the call shall come
I can lay the burden of my work tenderly and lovingly into the lap of
the whole people, with whom I have labored so many years, and who will
keep and cherish it always because it is the sacred cause of humanity
they hold. CLARA BARTON.

In France recently there was found in the mails an unstamped postcard
addressed, “Clara Barton, Heaven,” and on the card was written, “You
certainly founded a wonderful institution,” and signed “A Soldier.”
_Press Dispatch._

No country is more liable than our own to great overmastering
calamities, various, widespread and terrible. CLARA BARTON.

Seldom a year passes that the nation, from sea to sea, is not by the
shock of some sudden, unforeseen disaster, brought to utter
consternation and stands shivering like a ship in a gale, powerless,
terrified and despairing. CLARA BARTON.

Through Clara Barton’s influence the International Congress of Berne
adopted the “American Amendment.”

MARY R. PARKMAN, Author.

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.

CLARA BARTON.

INTERNATIONAL RED CROSS—AMERICAN RED CROSS—AMERICAN AMENDMENT

The International Treaty of Geneva—Red Cross—dates from August 23rd, 1864. The Red Cross is a Confederation of Societies in different countries for the amelioration of the condition of wounded soldiers in arms, in campaigns on land and sea. The World Society originated with Henri Dunant of Switzerland, after seeing the condition from neglect of the wounded at the battle of Solferino, Italy, on June 24, 1859. Gustave Moynier, also of Switzerland, called a meeting at Geneva, Switzerland, and the organization followed—August 23, 1864.

France was the first nation to adopt the treaty, this being September 23, 1864. The United States was the thirtieth in the list of nations adopting the treaty, this being on March 1, 1882. Up to the present time 49 nations have acceded to the Treaty of Geneva. In this list are the following possessing a National Red Cross Society:

1. Wurtemberg 2. Belgium 3. Prussia 4. Denmark 5. France 6. Italy 7. Spain 8. Hessie (Grand Duchy) 9. Portugal 10. Sweden 11. Norway 12. United States 13. Saxony 14. Baden 15. Switzerland 16. Russia 17. Austria 18. Netherlands 19. Bavaria 20. Turkey 21. Great Britain 22. Montenegro 23. Serbia 24. Roumania 25. Greece 26. Peru 27. Argentine 28. Hungary 29. Bulgaria 30. Japan 31. Congo 32. Venezuela 33. Uruguay

The following are governments that have signed the Geneva convention but have not Red Cross Chapters recognized by the International Committee:

34. Bolivia 35. Brazil 36. Chili 37. Colombia 38. Cuba 39. Ecuador 40. Guatemala 41. Haiti 42. Panama 43. Siam 44. Luxembourg 45. Mexico 46. Persia 47. Honduras 48. Nicaragua 49. China

Anticipating the adoption of the treaty by the United States, in July 1881 the American Association of the Red Cross was organized, seventy-five persons present with Clara Barton the President. The United States Senate having acceded to the Treaty of Geneva, its ratification was proclaimed by President Arthur July 26, 1882. This association was incorporated April 17, 1883, under the name American National Red Cross; reincorporated by Act of Congress, the charter signed by President McKinley June 6, 1900. That charter was repealed and a new charter substituted, the same being adopted by an Act of Congress and approved by President Roosevelt January 5, 1905. Under the new charter the name continued to be The American National Red Cross. Section 4 of this Act was amended by an Act of Congress, and approved by President Taft June 23, 1910. This amendment relates to the collection of moneys by authorized agents, the use of the Red Cross emblem or any other insignia colored, and similar matters. A second amendment was adopted by Congress and approved by the President December 12, 1912, and relates to the time of the annual meeting.

The American National Association of Red Cross (organized in July 1881) was independent of the Treaty of Geneva; it was a private association, but Miss Barton was constantly urging this Government’s adhesion to the Red Cross Treaty of Nations. In compliment to Clara Barton, she was invited to address a meeting at Dansville, New York. As a result there was formed on August 2, 1881, the first local Society of the Red Cross in the United States of America.

In September 1881, the Michigan forest fires occurred. This became the first test of the merits of the Red Cross work in America. Miss Barton was at this time also invited to make an address on this subject to the citizens of Syracuse, New York. A proposition to organize an auxiliary in that city was made at the close of the meeting. The amount there raised for the relief of the Michigan sufferers was $3,807.28, the new Red Cross Auxiliary Society numbering 250 members. This, in brief, is the history of the inception of the Red Cross and the two auxiliaries in America.

ELUTHEROS K. VENIZELOS

Although I never met Miss Barton, her achievement in establishing the
American Red Cross is such as to win for her the lasting gratitude
of many millions of people all over the world.

Greece, in particular, will never forget the noble work accomplished
here by the American Red Cross. Its aid has been invaluable during
the world war and I am therefore glad to be given this opportunity
to pay this small tribute to the founder and first President of this
splendid organization.
ELUTHEROS K. VENIZELOS,
The Ex-Premier of Greece.
]

Of the Michigan forest fires Clara Barton said: “So sweeping has been the destruction that there is not food enough left in its wake for a rabbit to eat, and indeed there is no rabbit, if there were food.”

In the spring of 1882 for hundreds of miles there overflowed the raging waters of the Mississippi, destroying homes and causing great suffering. Again the new association responded to the cries of distress. While the National Association was in session, devising ways and means for extending relief, a messenger came from the U. S. Senate announcing that the United States had acceded to the Treaty of Geneva. “Through all the past years, during which the Red Cross has sought recognition, protection and cooperation of the Government,” says Clara Barton, “it has been but for one purpose—to be ready.” The relief of suffering in national disasters, hitherto unknown in the history of the world through Miss Barton had become popular among the American people.

The ratifying powers at Berne accepted the National American Red Cross with the proposed Clara Barton amendment, generally known as the American Amendment. The system for relief work in national disasters, made popular in the United States through Clara Barton, was later approved and adopted by the International Red Cross Committee of the Treaty of Geneva. It has therefore become a part of the Red Cross system of all Treaty nations. These nations, representing a population of more than one billion of human beings, or four-fifths of the human race, are now enjoying the beneficence of the constructive genius of Clara Barton.

LXXXVI

Clara Barton—one of God’s noblest. Augusta (Ga.) _Journal_.

One of the world’s greatest.

Sacramento (Cal.) _Record-Union_.

Honored in three continents. St. Paul (Minn.) _Dispatch_.

Her movement spanned the globe.

Springfield (Mo.) _Republican_.

The preferring of charges against Clara Barton, and her subsequent
investigation, is one of the rankest instances of injustice in the
history of this country. Unfounded charges, political spite and the
hope of remuneration,—the charges were refuted and the schemers were
discredited, but politics had triumphed and Miss Barton was cast
aside. Los Angeles (Cal.) _Examiner_.

It was demanded of Clara Barton that she give an accounting of goods
and food distributed to dying and wounded on the battlefield. The
unspeakable Turk never did anything as bad as this.—But that
investigation was only an exigency, an excrescence, a malformation, a
wart on the nose. _The Fra_, East Aurora, N. Y.

Squint-eyed slander. BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER.

Slanderous as Satan. SHAKESPEARE.

Slander expires at a good woman’s door. EWALD.

’Twas slander filled her mouth with lying words,
Slander, the foulest whelp of sin.
POLLOCK—_Course of Time_.

Slander, meanest spawn of Hell—
And woman’s slander is the worst.
TENNYSON—_The Letters_.

’Tis slander “whose breath
Rides on posting winds and doth belie
All corners of the world.” CYMBELINE.

If the end brings me out all right what is said against me won’t
amount to anything. ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

Truth is generally the best vindication against slander.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

Speak not evil of the dead. CHILO.

They that slander the dead are like envious dogs that bark, and bite,
at bones. ZENO.

A poor lone woman. SHAKESPEARE.

Done to death by slanderous tongues. SHAKESPEARE.

Speak me fair in death. SHAKESPEARE.

And thereby hangs a tale. SHAKESPEARE.

The greater the truth the greater the libel. LORD MANSFIELD.

The greatest friend of truth is Time. COLTON-LACON.

Truth is the daughter of Time. MAZZINI.

Truth is Truth. TENNYSON.

There is nothing so powerful as truth. DANIEL WEBSTER.

Truth pierces the clouds; it shines like the sun and, like it, is
imperishable. NAPOLEON.

The happiest women, like the happiest nations, have no history.

GEORGE ELIOT.

All error, false hate, malice, evil company and their kindred, are
sure to find their true value, and though apparently successful are
doomed to die at last. CLARA BARTON.

The Almighty has his own purposes. ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

We never know the uses the Master will put us to. His designs are
known only to himself. CLARA BARTON.

When you come to the certain conclusion that only truth and justice
are eternal, you will find it easy to wait and let the Heavens rule.
CLARA BARTON.

Nothing but truth lives. CLARA BARTON.

My Lord will help me. JOAN OF ARC.

God shows me the way I shall go. JOAN OF ARC.

We are all lost! We have burned a saint.

TRESSART, Secretary to Henry VI.

Would that my soul were where I believe the soul of that woman is.

JOHN ALESPIE,
PETER MAURICE.
(Two of the judges that condemned Joan of Arc.)

First in the list of American great women is Clara Barton; first in
her ideals; first in her achievements. In America, she ranks with
Jeanne d’Arc, of France, to whom the English are now (1818) placing a
monument in Manchester.

CORRA BACON-FOSTER, Author, _Clara Barton, Humanitarian_.

Joan of Arc was rather tall, well shaped, dark, with a look of
composure, animation and gentleness. GUIZOT.

It is not true, I think, that Miss Barton has ever done anything to
disentitle her to a conspicuous recognition in the Red Cross Building.
EX-SECRETARY OF STATE RICHARD OLNEY (in 1917). (The eminent American
selected by the “Remonstrants” in 1903, and unanimously approved by
the Red Cross, to name the members of the Red Cross Proctor
Committee—to investigate the “charges.”)

GROVER CLEVELAND

The President, March 4, 1885–March 4, 1889; March 4, 1893–March 4,
1897

Miss Barton, I want you to represent the United States at the
International Red Cross Conference at Carlsruhe, Germany.
FREDERICK T. FRELINGHUYSEN (in 1887),
Secretary of State, under Grover Cleveland.

I thank you, Mr. Secretary, but I cannot do so; I am ill.—CLARA
BARTON.

Miss Barton, all the country knows what you have done, and are more
than satisfied. Regarding your illness, you have had too much fresh
water, Miss Barton, I recommend salt.—FREDERICK T. FRELINGHUYSEN.
]

There is, and can be, no foundation for such a charge.... During all
the twenty-five years that Miss Barton has devoted herself to the Red
Cross work she has been in receipt of an individual income which it
has been her pleasure to use in defraying her own expenses and for
such helpers as the extensive correspondence compelled.

(Signed Red Cross Committee
By WALTER P. PHILLIPS Chairman,
SAMUEL M. JARVIS,
J. B. HUBBELL.)

(In a Memorial to Congress, March 3, 1903—from House Document No. 552,
Vol. 49, 58th Cong.)

Wherein ... was removed from his position, under Miss Barton, he said:
“I can stand a great deal of cuffing, but then my time will come, so
help me God I will not humbly submit to all I am having to bear.” ...
was brought to Washington from a distant State ... principal witness
for the “Remonstrants.” Mr. Stebbins and I were convinced that ...’s
object was blackmail.

W. H. SEARS, Attorney for Red Cross.

... conspired to supplant Miss Barton by destroying her name and fame.
Miss Barton resigned in my favor. Hoping to secure justice for Miss
Barton I accepted the Presidency, but finding that I would be unable
to assume the onerous duties as her successor, with Miss ...’s
insatiable desire to be at the head of the Red Cross, I resigned in
favor of a party Miss ... dared not oppose. Affidavit by MRS. JOHN A.
LOGAN. (From a book of 177 pages by General W. H. Sears, in a report
to the Library Committee of Congress, in 1916.)

... not one of whom (“remonstrants”) ever went to a field nor gave a
dollar, above fees; and half of whom were never known as members until
now they appear in protest against the management. CLARA BARTON
(1903).

As to the threat of an investigation, if there be any, Miss Barton
cannot assent that it be suppressed by any act of hers. Red Cross
Committee, 1903. From House Document No. 552, Vol. 49th, 58th
Congress.

The Red Cross up to this time, 1898, had kept clear of political
rings, and uncontaminated. Miss Barton was the acknowledged chief in
authority. The Society had begun to win the most enviable reputation;
it was growing to be a power; and politicians who had hogged
everything else, from a cross-roads postoffice to a foreign minister,
had begun to lay plans for displacing Miss Barton with a wife, niece,
or daughter of a Washington politician. Miss Barton was probably not
aware of this unholy scheme at this time. Perhaps, even if she had
been, it would not have disturbed the serenity of her countenance for
she was working for God and humanity. _Under the Red Cross; or the
Spanish-American War_ (Page No. 154, book published 1898; Author,
Doctor Henry M. Lathrop; Editor, John R. Musick.)

BLACKMAIL ALLEGED—“CONGRESSIONAL INVESTIGATION”—TRUTH OF HISTORY

Joan of Arc was born in 1410; Clara Barton in 1821—411 years later. The former became the leader of the armies of France; the latter, the leader of humanitarianism in America. Each was a patriot—self-sacrificing—serving not for self-glory, but for a great cause. The little clique of politicians and military aristocracy plied Joan of Arc for five months with “catch questions” on “trumped-up” charges, then condemned her to be burned at the stake. The little clique of politicians and social aristocracy plied Clara Barton with “catch questions” on “trumped-up” charges, then tried to condemn her to eternal ignominy. General Leonard Wood, humanity’s friend and chivalric, with whom Clara Barton served in the camp, the hospital, and on the battlefield, says: “There is a call for women actuated by the same spirit of service as a Deborah, a Joan of Arc, a Molly Pitcher—women who will carry forward the work begun by Clara Barton and Florence Nightingale.”

Let the ends thou aimest at be thy country’s
Thy God’s and Truth.

Clara Barton met her fate in the Nation’s Capital. Says _The Fra_: “The clique went before Congress and secured an amended charter to the Red Cross, which included none of Miss Barton’s friends. Because the name of Clara Barton headed the list, the bill was passed; the members of Congress supposed it was a bill that Miss Barton wanted. This was done without Miss Barton’s knowledge or consent. However, Miss Barton was ignored by the new organization. Her name has never been mentioned in their reports or publications; she has never been invited to attend any meeting of the Society which she had created, and established in this country.”

The Red Cross then was non politics, non society, non salary, non graft. President Clara Barton was obdurate, non pliable. She could not _be used_. Her virtues became her undoing. She was retired. From Europe, for inspiration in America, was brought the English heroine;—suppressed or belittled, the American Red Cross Mother in semi-official literature, “At Home and Abroad.” The _coup_ won—the conspiracy completely triumphed. And how the official records disclose.

Washington is the rendezvous of “in full dress” criminals—character-assassins,—“that strange bedlam composed largely of social climbers and official poseurs.” They carry a stiletto, half truth, but in desperate cases make use of slander, of forty-five calibre. Their prospective victims range from rich Uncle Sam down to a poor lone woman, of charity. They ply their vocations sometimes, through envy, for self-glorification; sometimes, through ambition, for self-exaltation. While Washington was having the _honor_ of dishonoring the great American philanthropist, a western town was offering as a present to her a fifty thousand dollar home, just to have the honor of her presence there. Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley, Miss Barton’s three cospirits and co-workers for humanity, met their fate while guarded by detectives; under certain customs prevailing in the West and South, as there is no protection from slander against a woman, “Chivalry” would have come to the rescue of defenseless Clara Barton.

There is an official Red Cross report to Congress, made in 1903, said report on file in House Document No. 552, Vol. 49, 58th Congress, statements of historic interest relating to the status of Red Cross affairs about that time. _In re_ the proposed annuity of $2,500 and the Honorary Presidency for Life, should Clara Barton consent to permit the minority membership _thereafter to control the Red Cross_, and other matters relating thereto, appear the following in that report:

Since the filing of their (the remonstrants) Memorial in Congress, at
least two thousand newspapers, in the country and out of it, have
openly published these damaging statements, without the slightest
knowledge of the facts.

The memorial includes an ex parte statement.—It is greatly to be
regretted that such action should have been taken—without giving a
hearing to the majority of the organization, or to Miss Barton
herself.

From a photograph taken at St. Petersburg, Russia, July, 1902, at the
time the Decoration of the Red Cross was conferred on Clara Barton
by the Czar and Empress Dowager.
]

From a photograph taken in 1904, at the time when occurred the
so-called “investigation” of Clara Barton, at Washington, D. C.
]

From a photograph taken in Washington, D. C., in 1878.
]

From a photograph taken in 1897, just before leaving the United States
for her work among the Reconcentrados in Cuba.
]

From a photograph taken in 1882, just after Clara Barton had completed
the organization of the American Red Cross.
]

While there were seven States represented by members actually present
(at the meeting), the entire list of signers to the Memorial (by the
remonstrants), with one exception, were residents of Washington, D. C.

With one exception, not one of the twenty-five members has ever taken
part in Red Cross Field work for a single day;—and she valuing her
services, however, at $50.00 per week for two weeks, making a sum of
$100, which was allowed and paid by the board; nor were there any
records to show that, aside from their membership fees aggregating
about $160, they have ever contributed to the funds of the Red Cross,
while individual signers of this Memorial have drawn from it more than
500, in aggregate amount.

Clara Barton has never been a pensioner on the Red Cross Society, and
certainly could not assent to be placed in that relation. We may, too,
reasonably ask how these sticklers for correct form in all proceedings
can find authority, being only a small minority of the membership, to
offer such terms; and how can they undertake to barter its offices,
privileges, and funds for a compliance with their demands? They admit
they can stop the proceedings in Congress—for a consideration—thereby
indirectly admitting the purpose of their movement from the beginning.
The mere statement of the situation will suggest its difficulties. The
majority in control of the body is at a loss to know where and how,
under the charter or any of its bylaws, past or present, there can be
authority for such proceedings.

“That it was physically withstood,” says Clara Barton after her retirement, “was beyond either the expectation or the intention;” “still stamping on me;” “so long as I am _personally_ unharmed I expect nothing more.” Fortunately for her country her life was spared, by her “enemies,” eight years more; for in that eight years she did a work many times more difficult than to have kept running her perfected and well-oiled Red Cross machinery. She brought into existence a new organization, of possible greater benefit to the American people than the Red Cross, an organization with headquarters in Boston and branch societies everywhere from Maine to California.

And why should she not have done so? About the time of her retirement (in 1903) there was filed with Congress by a committee of the Red Cross an official report, unanimously concurred in by the committee, in which report appears the following: “At no time in her life has Miss Barton been in sounder bodily or mental health, or better able to continue the work to which her years of experience and natural endowments have preeminently fitted her. Moreover, the nation’s confidence is Miss Barton’s, and no hand can better guide its Red Cross work than hers. While every right minded person will deplore the mental suffering, anxiety, and personal humiliation inflicted upon one of the noblest women that ever lived, it cannot be supposed that she will abandon her life work on such a demand as this, or that she will retire from the office to which she has been almost unanimously elected, while under fire; nor would her friends permit it if she were so disposed.—We find nothing in the opposition except malice, resentment, and the jealousy of a few people whose ambition has been thwarted.”

Tis eminence that makes envy rise;
As fairest fruit attract the flies.

Successful with her new organization, the Red Cross a few years later (in 1910) formed in its society a department to carry on relief as then carried on in Miss Barton’s new organization, the department being of like name—The First Aid Division. In her new field of humane service, Clara Barton expended from her personal funds about $5,000, besides five years of hard work, before she achieved success.

She was herself again; she was on the “firing line”; she had the support of her former Red Cross field forces,—not one had deserted her. She didn’t flee her “enemies” to Mexico, but to the “Hub”;—where, and in which vicinity, she had enjoyed social amenities with the Julia Ward Howes, the Wendell Phillips’, the George Bancrofts, the John B. Goughs, the Louisa M. Alcotts, the Lucy Larcoms, the Mary Baker Eddys, the Henry Wilsons, the Charles Sumners, the George F. Hoars. Either among such then living or their friends, she had lost none of her prestige because she had been attacked in the “Den of Character-Assassins.”

Be thou chaste as ice, as pure as snow,
Thou shalt not escape calumny.

On her “First Aid” Advisory Board were Lieutenant-General Nelson A. Miles and ex-Governor John L. Bates, of Massachusetts; Dr. Eugene Underhill, of Pennsylvania; Dr. Charles R. Dickson, of Canada; Dr. Joseph Gardner, of Indiana. Associated with her in various other capacities, also, were persons of national fame and widely-known humanitarianism. She was unanimously elected and re-elected, while she lived, the Active President of the organization—the organization known as the National First Aid Association of America: now she is the President _In Memoriam_.

In the House Records of 1903 and 1904 there is found the following: “They (Remonstrants) suggest that Miss Barton is a party to loose and improper arrangements for securing the needed accountability for supervision of disbursements for money furnished in demand of exigency of the Red Cross by the charitable public.” In 1916, a letter signed by a leading Red Cross official was mailed to the members of the United States Senate and the House of Representatives. In that letter, among many other “charges,” was the following: “I think I have given sufficient evidence to show why the dishonest appropriation of relief funds for the personal use of Miss Barton makes the officials of the Red Cross strongly opposed to having the memorial of such a woman placed in a building that stands in remembrance of the noblest, finest, and most self-sacrificing womanhood of America.”

It is inexcusable, on the part of a member of the present management of the Red Cross, to make public “accusation” of Clara Barton’s book-records without certification to that effect by an expert accountant, in an official capacity, and then only confidentially to the organization itself for some good purpose; and in no case to the public in defamation, to support the position taken by an “enemy.” Similar conduct, on the part of an employé in a well-ordered private corporation would subject the guilty, probably, to dismissal in disgrace from the service. If in the interest of public policy such information should be made public, and become of record, it should be made officially public, and through the President of the society.

In what has been done, _pro bono publico_ has had no consideration. In publicly attacking the Red Cross Founder’s book-records before the members of the National Legislature, there should also have been considered that conditions now are not as were the conditions a score of years ago. Then the President-Vice-President-Chairman-Vice-Chairman-Comptroller-General Manager received no salary; _now_ (in 1919) the annual salary of four Red Cross officers is $41,400; $15,000 and $10,000 respectively, for Chairman and Vice-Chairman; $8,000 and $8,400 respectively, for Comptroller and General Manager. _In re_ the attitude of the “Remonstrants” towards her, Clara Barton said: “I am still unanimously bidden to work on for life; bear the burden of an organization; meet its cost myself—and now threatened with the expenses of the ‘investigation.’”

In consonance with her sentiment, and statement, “The foundation on which all good government rests is conformity to its laws,” Clara Barton in 1904 turned over to the new management all Red Cross books, official papers, official records, public funds—all Red Cross matters of whatsoever kind or nature. If there were evidence of defalcation, or “dishonest appropriation of relief funds for the personal use of Miss Barton,” then was the time to have made the charges, and in the criminal court. “Instead, the _post mortem_ charges were made twelve years after Clara Barton’s resignation of the Red Cross Presidency, and four years after her death.”

Kings, queens and states,
Maids, matrons, nay, the secrets of the grave
This vituperous slander enters.

Under the laws of this country the accuser was estopped from making “charges” in 1916; or at any other time, except in a court of competent jurisdiction. Were it not for this wise provision the reputation of no man nor woman, alive or dead, could have adequate protection from “enemies,” in ambush. By what code of ethics, legal or moral, is such _personal_ judgment against the dead rendered? And where is the record-verdict of the “crime”? In five or six years of the investigation, I have been unable to find any record that such “crime,” as is alleged against Miss Barton, was committed. Nor do I find that a criminal charge of any kind against her is of record in the criminal court, the only institution under the laws of this country where a person should be adjudged guilty of crime. I do find from the records, however, that the Red Cross official making these charges was one of the “Remonstrants” of 1903–4, and who then certified to Miss Barton’s “_integrity_”; and also over her own signature proposed that Miss Barton accept the Honorary Presidency of the Red Cross as a tribute to her “_integrity_.”

“Loose and improper arrangements for securing the needed accountability”; “such a woman”; “dishonest appropriation of relief funds for the personal use of Clara Barton!” Says _The Fra_, then under the management of Mr. and Mrs. Elbert Hubbard, “Such accusation is not only the blunder of boors but it is crime and sacrilege.” If such unproved, unfounded charges against a woman, with immunity to their author, can get into the government record, into the hands of the people’s representatives at Washington, passing without governmental protest through the mails, perilous the adventure of the women of America to enter upon a career of public service.