Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1898-03-19
our CUBAN LETTER.
The National e ms.s csss, Of the esa.n
.i.,tton--Miss Clara Barton to the Fore.

wrote to Florence Nightingale, who
was then In charge of London hos
pital, asking for cid. a letter from,
her to Lord sydney. begging permis-
sion to help. was already on its
way. The world is familiar
with the story, of this brave woman
and her 800 female companions In the
Crimea. They .trod pathloss field:
but hope and treturning health 10
thousands followed closely n their foot
steps. They brought order out of
chaos In the wretched hospitals, and
men, snatched from death, lifted their
feeble hands in blessing of their bene.
factress and kissed her shadow as she
passed. Perhaps Florence Nlghtin.
gales greatest service to humanity was
In proving, in the face of an enormous
weight of ancient military precedent
and prejudice, that the sufferings re.
sultlng from war are In large measures
preventable, and that the military
power alone cannot possibly keep an
adequate medical service in operation
through long ana severe campaign.
This splendid obJect-iesson was the be-
ginning of the movement which has
since grown TO q system which reduced
the miseries of soldiers In the field to
the lowest possible degree.
To Henri Dunant, of Switzerland first
occurred the idea of the Red Cross
that Is, of forming permanent soCie-
ties among all nations, to be bound to-
gether by solemn agreement, for the
prevention of unnecessary suffering
during future military campaigns. He
was travelling Italy in 80 when the
battle of Solferno occurred, and talk
ing part In the care of the wounded,
was profoundly impressed with the lack
of facilities. Shortly afterwards he pubs
llshcd n little book, called "a Souvenir
Of solferino." describing the scenes h.
had witnessed. The battles of the
Italian campaign We're fresh in the
minds of the people. and his,vivid pic
lures of the horrors of war, translated
into several languages, produced a wide
spread sensation. The International
convention at Geneva, in the summer
of ga, was the direct result. Sixteen
nations, including all the great Euro
pean powers, except Russia, were rep
resented, and the celebrated Treaty or
Geneva" was born. The century has
produced nothing more beneficent, for
It's code marks the beginning of the
end of war. Never again will the
forces of an enlightened country set out
to encounter battle and disease with the
accompaniment OF civil sanitary SER
vice as complete as money can supply.
Never again viii wounded soldiers be
left, as a matter Of course, to suffer
untended-to starve. die and decay on
the field where they fell; nor amateur
surgeons saw off limbs without an
esthetics. Never more will the fallen
lie in heat, or wet or frozen to the
earth. for lack Of the flag of truce
which would make safe the relief corps
going to their rescue: nor will an ann
bulance. picking its way among the
dead and dying, risk being fired on by
the victors who hold the field.
In the first place, the treaty neutral
ICES all parts in their efforts at relief.
and brinrs to the aid of the medical
and hospital departments of armies the
direct, organized and protected help of
the people. BY its international code.
all military hospitals under its flag can
neither be attacked nor captured, and
all the sick and wounded within them
remain absolutely unmolested. Sur
geons, nurses. chaplains. attendants,
and all non-combatants at field,weer-
Ing the INSIGNIA OF the Red Cross. are