Chapter III: Part 3

A copy of Dr. Lynch’s book has been placed by the District Red Cross Society in every police station and engine-house in Washington. The Cleveland society has done the same, and it would seem that every city in the country might follow these examples with profit. The Red Cross relief column at the time of the inauguration will be supplied with copies. The book is compact and small, with flexible covers, so that it can be carried in the pocket.

FIRST AID INSTRUCTIONS TO MERCHANT MARINE

BY FIRST LIEUTENANT C. H. RICHARDSON, M. R. C. & U. S. A.

Section 118 of the latest edition of the U. S. Navigation Laws, enacted June 7th, 1872, amended by Revised statute 4569 of June 26th, 1884, and June 19th, 1896, reads as follows:

“Every vessel belonging to a citizen of the United States bound from a port in the United States to any foreign port, or being of the burden of seventy-five tons or upwards, and bound from a port of the Atlantic to a port on the Pacific, or vice versa, shall be provided with a chest of medicines.” ... The rest of the section relates to the use of lime or lemon juice.

No mention, it will be seen, is made of what this “medicine chest” shall contain nor whether there shall be any one on board capable of using its contents.

Naturally there could be no uniformity in the equipment of these chests for the law, not being explicit, left the matter entirely to the ship owners who could use their judgment as to the requirements of their own vessels.

Besides, in questioning several sea-going officers, I find that there is no book on First Aid which is generally accepted as being a necessary part of the chest’s contents. Many of them have only a book published in 1877, called “Ritter’s Manual,” the first edition of which was issued some forty years before. The U. S. Public Health and Marine Hospital Service published an excellent book in 1900, called the “Hand Book for the Ship’s Medicine Chest,” but there is no law requiring its adoption by ship’s owners and it is, judging from the opinions expressed by several men with whom I spoke on the subject, considered too technical for the average ship officers.

Many of the vessels sailing out of San Francisco provide themselves with chests arranged by a prominent druggist of this city, and they contain a small book, which he has published; it is to be expected that the special preparations which he supplies are particularly dwelt upon.

While considering the subject, especially in regards to the needs of a proper book on First Aid, I was impressed with the fact that whatever book was adopted would be of service only to the degree that its contents were understood and appreciated by those using it.

I therefore called upon the Secretaries of the “Masters, Mates and Pilots Association” and the “Sailors Union,” of this city, and presented to them for the consideration of their respective organizations, a plan whereby a regular course of lectures bearing on First Aid and kindred subjects should be given weekly to their members.

These gentlemen received me very cordially and I can best express their opinions by submitting the letters they sent me which are quoted in full:

California Harbor, No. 15, San Francisco, Cal.,
Nov. 17th, 1908.

Lt. G. H. Richardson, M. R. C., U. S. Army, Post Hospital,
Presidio.

Dear Doctor:

After your talk last evening to the members of California
Harbor, No. 15, it was decided to at once begin the course of
lectures on First Aid as suggested by you. It seems a good idea
that the National Red Cross should take up this matter for it
will insure uniformity of instruction to those interested all
over this country.

The need of such a course of instruction has been apparent for
some time, but no one seemed to be able to devise a plan which
was practical.

If convenient to you, would like to have the first lecture on
Thursday evening, December 3rd, 1908, at 7:30 p. m., at our
lodge rooms.

I shall communicate with Golden Gate Harbor, No. 40, of this
city, and invite them to be present.

Thanking you for your kind interest in us and wishing you
success in your work, I am.

Respectfully,

(Signed) J. WALTER JOHNSON,
Secretary.

Sailors Union of the Pacific,
San Francisco, Cal., Nov. 17th, 1908.

Dr. G. H. Richardson, Lieutenant U. S. A., Presidio Hospital,
City.

Dear Sir:

The kind offer of the California State Branch, of the American
National Red Cross Society, made through you, to arrange for
a course of lectures to members of this organization on First
Aid to Injured, etc., has been submitted to the Union, which
accepts same, with thanks; has placed its hall at your disposal
any night of the week, excepting Mondays, and has pledged
itself to co-operate with you in any way it can, particularly
in the matter of securing large and regular attendance at the
lectures.

If knowledge on the subjects to be discussed is desirable in
people on shore, I should say it is a necessity to the men
who go to sea. Seamen have had to endure untold suffering,
and many of them have lost their lives, or worse still, have
become disabled for life, owing to ignorance of the very first
principles of First Aid. By law the vessels are required to
carry a medicine chest, but in the majority of cases not a
single man in the ship’s company knows anything about the
properties of the medicine.

The proposed lectures will be a blessing to the sea-faring men.

If you will kindly let me know in advance when you propose to
open the course, I shall do what I can to advertise it.

Respectfully,

(Signed) E. ELLISON,
Secretary.

It seems to me that the national character of the American National Red Cross makes it pre-eminently the best organization for doing this work and to establish it in all cities where a Merchant Marine exists.

These lectures have been arranged for and the first of the series will be given on December 3rd, 1908.

THE RED CROSS AND ESPERANTO

BY MAJOR P. F. STRAUB, U. S. A.

Medical Corps

_Major Straub was the official delegate of the War Department at the Esperanto Congress held at Dresden, Germany, in August last. The following extract is taken from his report to the Adjutant-General, U. S. A.:_—EDITOR.

From a military point of view, the most important application of Esperanto at this time would appear to be in the sanitary service, and I am of the opinion that the Government would be justified in giving it official countenance. It is suggested that a beginning be made by introducing it into the National Red Cross Association, where at first it might be added as an elective study in the course of instruction for the Red Cross columns that are now being organized, and it would appear that a two-fold purpose would be served thereby, in that, the language might become of great practical use in time of war and that it would help to hold the columns together by an additional bond of mutual interest. The officers of the European Red Cross organizations, especially those of France and Germany, have taken an active interest in the propaganda, and many high officials of their organizations were present at the congress. An exhibition was also given by a Dresden Red Cross column, in which all of the exercises were conducted in Esperanto.

Many efforts have been made in former years to introduce a series of manuals for the sanitary personnel of the military establishments to facilitate communication with sick and wounded prisoners of war, but such efforts were unsuccessful, largely on account of the difficulty of learning the proper pronunciation of foreign tongues. This objection cannot apply to Esperanto, as there is no difficulty whatever in this respect, and it is quite easy to understand it whether spoken by Russian, German, Turk, Japanese, or American. Lieutenant Bayol, an officer of the French army, has prepared a set of small pamphlets which give the questions that would be asked by the nurse and patient and their appropriate answers, in French, German, Italian or English, and in a parallel column the corresponding Esperanto.

Recommendation: In view of the extensive use already made of Esperanto in foreign Red Cross organization, it is recommended that it be brought to the attention of our National Red Cross organization, so that it may be included as an elective study in the course of instruction for Red Cross columns.

Second Indorsement. War Department, Office of the Surgeon General, Oct. 24, 1908. Respectfully returned to The Adjutant General of the Army. The study of Esperanto in the military service should be encouraged as it is believed that the proposed international language is destined to play an important role in international intercourse. It is recommended that the attention of the American National Red Cross Association be called to the subject, and that authority be given to furnish it a copy of this report.

R. M. O’REILLY, Surgeon General, U. S. A.

Fourth Indorsement. War Department, The Adjutant-General’s Office, Washington, November 17, 1908. Respectfully returned to the Surgeon-General, approved by the Secretary of War as recommended in the second indorsement. The return of this paper is desired. By order of the Secretary of War.

HENRY P. McCAIN, Adjutant-General.

NOTES

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.

On Saturday, December 12th, there was a telegraphic report that a hundred men had been killed by a dynamite explosion at Panama. Mr. Taft, being at that time in Washington, on his suggestion an inquiry as to the need of assistance was sent to Colonel Goethals. Fortunately the report was exaggerated and as will be seen by the following dispatches, aid was not required.

Col. Goethals, Chairman Panama Canal Commission, Panama.

Deeply concerned to hear of accident. The Red Cross Society
expresses much sympathy, and is prepared to furnish financial
assistance for relief if you deem it necessary. Answer.

TAFT.

To which Col. Goethals replied:

We greatly appreciate your kind message and offer of the
Red Cross Society. No financial assistance necessary, and
Commission hospitals fully equipped to care for wounded.

GOETHALS.

Bailey, Banks & Biddle, of Philadelphia, who have provided the insignia badge for Red Cross officers, have been asked to prepare a design for special medals to be awarded to those persons who have rendered special volunteer and unremunerated services to the Red Cross at times of war or disaster.

The Executive Committee are much indebted to the help that the American Hospital Association has rendered to the American Red Cross in its efforts to suppress the misuse of the Red Cross insignia by the passing of resolutions against the use of this emblem by civil hospitals at the annual convention held at Toronto, during last September. Dr. Babcock, the Secretary, writes that the proceedings leading up to the adoption of the resolutions will be published in the _Transactions_ and also in _The National Hospital Record_. So many hospitals have been using the Red Cross on tags for sale on “Tag Day” that it is a satisfaction to report that in San Francisco the officers of The Children’s Hospital, at the request of the California Red Cross, consented not to use the Red Cross, but to substitute in its place the Hospital or Green Cross on the tags and thereby earned a rich and well-deserved harvest. The resolutions passed by the American Hospital Association reads as follows:

WHEREAS, by the terms of the Treaty of Geneva, 1864, and the revised Treaty of Geneva, 1906, the emblem of the Greek Red Cross on a white ground, and the words Red Cross or Geneva Cross, were adopted to designate the personnel and material of the medical departments of the military and naval forces and of the recognized volunteer aid societies in time of war, for the humane purpose of rendering them immune from attack or capture; and,

WHEREAS, the United States, as well as all other civilized powers, is a signatory to said treaties; and,

WHEREAS, the use of the Red Cross insignia by hospitals, ambulances, municipal health departments and commercial houses, as trade marks and otherwise, has become so general in this country as to materially and seriously impair the usefulness of the emblem for the purposes for which it was created and adopted;

_Be it therefore Resolved_, That it is the sense of the American Hospital Association that the use of the Geneva Red Cross in connection with the hospitals and ambulances of the country, other than those of the Army, Navy and Red Cross Society, should be discontinued and some other insignia, to be known as the “Hospital Cross” adopted and substituted; and,

_Be it further Resolved_, That the adoption of this resolution be given as wide publicity as practicable in the medical journals of the country.

CALIFORNIA.

At the annual meeting of the California Red Cross, resolutions of congratulations on his election as President of the United States were passed and telegraphed to the Hon. William H. Taft, President of the American Red Cross. Dr. G. H. Richardson, of the Army Medical Service, spoke of the purpose of organizing in the Branch Relief Columns or a California Legion of these columns. He said in part:

“Let us at all times be prepared for the work that the Red Cross must do, either in time of war, or during the periods of peace. The purpose of the Red Cross is more far reaching than the general public have any idea of, and we must have a trained body of men in readiness at all times. We have had wars, and they have found us only partly prepared. The disasters throughout the country and the delays that have ensued would not have occurred if we had had a trained force of men to take the field at once. We should have our nurses where they can be reached at any moment, no matter what the call for their services may be.

“Let us have an instructed body which will be able to cope with anything that may arise.”

Report of formation of detachments of the Grand Legion of the Red Cross in California. (Revised to Dec. 1st.)

The State Field Agent of the California Branch, working in connection with Dr. W. S. Thorne, the Medical Director of the Legion, and assisted by the Secretary of the Legion, has begun his official work of Legion formation. Although the work has been begun without a Board of Administrative Affairs that body will be formed immediately and what has been accomplished submitted to its authority and approval. It is believed this work will strengthen reflexly the California Branch, which has languished somewhat for want of something to do.

The work has been undertaken in the universal, international, and creedless spirit of the Red Cross. The organizations already in line and to whom lectures will be given the first week in December are the Sailors Union, the Masters, Mates and Pilots, the Columbia Park Boy’s Club, and the two (!) Chinese detachments of the Chinese Native Sons. The detachments in process of formation are the California Grays, the Young Men’s Hebrew Institute, the Telegraph Hill Neighborhood Association, the First Unitarian Church young men and the Emporium, a large department store. The League of the Cross, an efficient Roman Catholic semi-military society, is also forming a detachment in place of its hospital corps.

The First Aid and Relief Column is popular with Jew and Gentile, Buddhist and Confucian, Catholic and Protestant. Truly we have an International Red Cross in miniature in San Francisco. It broadens and enlarges one’s humanity to talk to them.

At one time it is the bluff, dominating toiler of the sea, jealous of his authority even over his medicine chest, which in inexperienced hands ignorant of First Aid, is a dangerous expedient at best. Often not a single man in the ship’s company knows the properties of the medicines. In England every master, mate and second mate must pass in First Aid before he gets his license.

At another it is the Chinese Native Son’s silent, dignified, slow to smile, yet courteous, listening to the interpreter with unfathomable receptivity.

Again the Japanese, restless, inquiring, keen, proud of Nippon, eager, even greedy to learn.

Then the Jewish young man, reliable, loyal to liberty, patriotic as the Spanish-American war proved. The Labor Unions are interested, and we believe the idea will prove rational in the Police and Fire Department and public schools.

Much educational propaganda is needed. There is much potential sympathy which needs only to be cultivated. The Legion will naturally in time become interested in great health movements through its lectures and by its co-ordinated strength really become a force for national health.

Respectfully submitted,

WM. LATHROP McCLURE,
Secretary Grand Legion of Red Cross, California Branch.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

At the annual meeting of the District Branch, Mr. Ernest P. Bicknell, the National Director, spoke on the Michigan Forest Fire Relief, and Dr. P. G. Smith on the Washington Red Cross Day Camp. An appropriation was voted to provide a copy of the Red Cross Text Book on First Aid to each fire and police station in the city of Washington. Plans were discussed in regard to the organizing and training of Red Cross Relief Column of young men, who at the time of public functions will go on active duty. This column would at the time of the Inauguration be supplemented by relief stations with Red Cross doctors and nurses in attendance. During the year the District Branch had raised funds and supplies for several disaster reliefs. It also provided courses in First Aid for men and in Home Nursing for women. It built and maintained a Red Cross Day Camp for Consumptives.

A box of magazines was sent to Fort Shafter, Honolulu and the following letter was received in acknowledgment of the same:

“I take pleasure in acknowledging the receipt of a box of
magazines, weighing 186 pounds, and beg to assure you that the
reading matter is very much appreciated and will be used for
the benefit of the sick. Thanking you, I am very respectfully,

“RICHARD A. WOOD,
“Sergeant First-Class, Hospital Corps.”

The same officers were re-elected except the Treasurer, Mr. H. S. Reeside, being elected for this position. Mr. Arnold Hague, Mrs. J. Ellen Foster and General Henry G. Sharpe were elected delegates to the national meeting.

The District Branch continues to send monthly to various army posts and stations large quantities of magazines and other periodicals.

KANSAS.

During the year the Kansas Branch reached a membership of 104, this membership being largely in Topeka.

At the time of the State fair and Regular Army encampment, immediately following, the Branch maintained a hospital relief tent at the fair grounds in charge of Mr. Kilmaurs W. King; second Vice-President; Christ’s Hospital generously provided the tent; also the physicians, Doctors Kiene and Bowen, who made daily visits and the nurses who interchanged regularly and furnished much of the equipment. About fifty cases were taken care of in this Red Cross Emergency Hospital.

The Branch has also undertaken to assist in the crusade against tuberculosis. The following State officers were elected November 21st.: President, Governor E. W. Hoch; Vice-Presidents, P. H. Coney, K. W. King, Rev. Dr. C. M. Sheldon; Secretary, Mrs. B. B. Smyth; Treasurer, John R. Mulvane; Delegates to the National Meeting, Hon. D. R. Anthony and Hon. Charles F. Scott

MASSACHUSETTS.

At the annual meeting of the Massachusetts Branch, the following officers were elected: President, Dr. Herbert L. Burrell; Vice-Presidents, Hon. W. Murray Crane, Dr. Henry P. Walcott, Hon. Charles C. Washburn, Justice W. C. Loring, Dr. Arthur T. Cabot and Dr. J. F. A. Adams; Executive Committee, Lieutenant Governor Eben S. Draper, Most Rev. W. H. O’Connell, Dr. Alfreda B. Withington, Gardiner M. Lane, Katherine P. Loring; Treasurer, Gardiner M. Lane; Secretary, Katherine P. Loring; Directors, Mrs. Zenas Crane, General Francis H. Appleton, Dr. Homer Gage, George D. Pratt, Dr. Cheever, Richard Saltonstall; Delegates to the National Convention in Washington, Miss Amy Alexander, Mrs. W. Murray Crane.

The Stamp Committee, under the chairmanship of Mr. Walter E. Kreusi, has done very active work. The Berkshire and Hampton County Divisions have both interested themselves in the sale of the stamp for their local tuberculosis work. The latter Division at its annual meeting elected the following officers: President, George Dwight Pratt; Vice-Presidents, Richard Hooker, Miss Harriet Bacon, of Longmeadow, and Mrs. Charles Blaisdell, of Chicopee; Treasurer, Ralph P. Alden; Secretary, Miss Amy B. Alexander.

At the same meeting the Division voted to make an appropriation from its local treasury of $50 towards the salary of a visiting nurse for tuberculosis cases.

OHIO.

The Cleveland Division, by far the most active in the State, at its annual meeting appointed a most active and capable stamp committee of which Mr. R. L. Ireland was chairman, and a First Aid Instruction Committee of which Dr. Crile is chairman for the providing of First Aid Courses to the police of the city. The Division ordered a number of the First Aid Text Books for the use of these classes.

RHODE ISLAND.

At the annual meeting of the Rhode Island Branch the following officers were elected: President, John C. Pegram; Vice-President, Bishop William N. McVickar; Secretary, Prof. George Grafton Wilson; Treasurer, Edward Aborn Greene; Executive Committee, President John C. Pegram and Governor-elect Aram J. Pothier as ex-officio members, and Dr. J. M. Peters, Dr. G. Alder Blumer and William P. Sheffield; Delegates to National Red Cross, Senator George Peabody Wetmore and President John C. Pegram; Alternates, Congressmen Adin B. Capron and D. L. D. Granger.

In a portion of his address the President, Mr. Pegram, said:

“The obduracy of this generous American people to the appeals of this national and international charity for substantial, for adequate support, is incomprehensible. The merits of the plan under the immediate supervision of the War Department are so plain, the means of acquiring membership and thus helping the cause are so easy (any man, woman or child in America may become an annual member by the payment of one dollar yearly) that it seems incredible that a people who in one small city in one day—‘Tag Day’—should contribute between $16,000 and $17,000 to a local charity, should not long ago have enrolled themselves universally throughout the country as members of this noble institution. I cannot but believe that the day must soon come when it will seem as natural to pay the small annual due of the Red Cross as to pay a poll or a registry tax to qualify a voter—God speed that day.”

SOUTH CAROLINA.

The South Carolina Branch held its annual meeting on November 25th at which its president, Mr. A. C. Kaufman, read an interesting report on the work for the relief of the flood sufferers, which report is given elsewhere in this BULLETIN.

Mr. A. C. Kaufman was again chosen president of the South Carolina Red Cross, Mr. John B. Reeves was elected treasurer, and Mr. A. W. Litschgi was elected secretary to succeed Mr. George Hoyt Smith, resigned. The following is the executive committee, which was yesterday elected: Henry P. Archer, Charleston; John F. Bennett, Charleston; the Rev. A. J. S. Thomas, D. D., Greenville; Julius D. Koster, A. W. Litschgi, Charleston; B. M. Lebby, M. D. Sumter.

The delegates elected to the annual meeting of the National Red Cross are: Governor M. F. Ansel, Capt. Henry Buist, Jr., and Col. G. G. Greenough, U. S. A.

TEXAS.

Miss Nellie Chapman and Miss Annie Swinskey, enrolled Red Cross nurses, have taken an active part in the Texas Branch Red Cross work ever since this Branch was organized. They are both most popular and efficient nurses, receiving calls from the doctors all over the State to take charge of difficult cases, but busy as both of these nurses are, they are both so loyal to the Texas Branch that unselfishly, for it means a large pecuniary loss, they have always been ready and willing to work actively for the good of humanity and the upbuilding of the Red Cross whenever needed. They again had charge of the Red Cross Emergency Hospital during the State fair in October. This hospital was thoroughly equipped with the latest surgical appliances, wards for men and women and reception and rest room. The Red Cross during these fairs has been a popular feature, and all of the leading doctors take great pride in it and willingly give their services when required.

ARGENTINE.

The Argentine Red Cross, though only lately organized, shows in its report of funds and value of property some $36,000. The Society receives from Congress an appropriation of $40 a month, and this will probably be increased. One of the members of its Central Committee belongs to the Senate and another is President of the House of Representatives, and both have shown much interest in the Society. A committee of women has been created whose duty it is to instruct the public in simple hygenic laws.

CANADA.

The Secretary of the American Red Cross received lately the following letter:

Toronto, October, 26th, 1908.

Dear Sir:

As the Council of the Canadian Red Cross Society is considering
the matter of reorganizing, I would thank you very much if
you would kindly furnish us with about twenty copies of the
Constitution of your Society in order that I may send one to
each of the members of the Council, as personally I feel that
the Canadian Society should be run upon lines somewhat similar
to our sister Society in the United States. I would also thank
you if you would kindly send me a set of the BULLETINS that I
may have them bound and kept on file in this office. Thanking
you in anticipation of an early and favorable reply, believe me,

Yours very sincerely,

CHAS. A. HODGETH, M. D.,
Major A. M. C.
Honorary President of the Canadian Red Cross Society.

The desired literature was promptly and gladly sent. The American Red Cross feels naturally a strong bond of sympathy with that of the Society of so close a neighbor as Canada.

FRANCE.

In recognition of the services of M. De Valence, representative of the French Red Cross in Morocco, the President of the French Republic has conferred upon him the cross of Knight of the Legion of Honor. The Society has granted diplomas to 3,294 women, who have received instructions in nursing at its dispensary schools. At the Chateau of Amboise, now the Hospital of Enghien and Orleans, fifteen beds for convalescent soldiers and sailors have been placed at the disposition of the Society by the Duke de Chartres.

GERMANY.

The first International Life Saving Congress was held at Frankfort, Germany, in June, 1908. The Red Cross department was devoted to reports, practical demonstrations of life saving by its Relief Columns. These columns in Germany have a trained membership of 53,300 men, who during 1907 rendered first aid in 91,701 cases.

GREAT BRITAIN.

The British Red Cross has devoted much time to the forming of committees whose duty it is to arrange for the creation of temporary hospitals in time of war.

ITALY.

The funds and value of the Italian Red Cross Society amount to over a million and a half dollars. The active personnel of the Society is permitted to take part in the regular army manoeuvres.

JAPAN.

In a letter lately received from Baron Ozawa, Vice-President of the Japanese Red Cross, he says:

“Ever since my return to Japan, our institute has been trying to enlarge its scope by establishing the Red Cross Hospitals in the Empire, which today number ten altogether. In fact, my idea is to encourage our members, numbering to this date over 1,400,000, to render their service in time of peace for all kinds of charity work.”

During the late war the Russian Red Cross dispensed nearly seventeen million dollars and at the end was left with a war reserve fund of some six million dollars. The Society provided hospital ships and trains, reserve and field hospital besides a large personnel and great quantities of supplies.