The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-03-16
raE nrp GROSS IN CUBA.
Something About the origin and Methods ofthe Beneficent InstitutIon-Miss Clara Barton to the Fore,

and Courier)
 Havana, Cuba, March 9.--Since the Red Cross has now become an lmpor- tant factor in the affairs of this un- happy island, my readers may like to learn more about it. Everybody has heard of the benefcent organization in a general way but comparatively few know anything about it's history and methods. I have the honor of being temporarily member of the Red Cross family (though not of the society,", domiciled in a beautiful villa in the su- burbs of Havana, which has been rent ed for the occupancy of Miss Clara Barton and her staff during her stay in Cuba; and from the honorable presi- dent herself, and from an excellent ar ticle in "The Literature of Philanthro- py," by Laura M. Doolittle, I have gained most of the following informa- ton:
 Properly speaking, the Red Cross is not society, as it holds no regular meetings and has no election of officers cers; 1t is rather a confederation of re- lief societies of all countries. Its gene ral aim is to ameliorate the condition of the sick and wounded soldiers in time of war; but the special object of the American branch is to relieve suf- fering wherever found, among people of whatever nationality or calling. Though the Red Cross order is only thirty-four years old, its operations all ready extend over most of the civilized world, and forty nations, enrolled un- der it's banner, have pledged themselves to carry out it's humane precepts To understand it's spirit, one must glance back into history. From the barberous ages of antiquity, down almost to our own time the maintaining of nationali- ties and governments depended upon the incessant maiming and slaughter ing of men in war; yet nowhere was there any system supported by the state for the relief of sufferers from the calamities of battle. Even during the Napoleonic wars, when Europe's bravest and best were being slain by thousands, no medical and sanitary service of armies were known. The common soldier was a mere machine, and the most that kings and councils were willing to grant him was the glory of dying in the service of his country. The great change for the better is pri- marily due to the newspapers When the English army set out for the Cri- mea a few war correspondents went with them. The climate was deadly, the struggle mighty and desperate. After the first scene in that frenzied carnival of blood, the correspondent poured upon Britain the awful story of the suffering of her troops One regi- nient was quickly reduced from eleven hundred men to twenty; another had only ten men able for duty. Wounded soldiers lay where they chanced to be dropped by their comrades when dragged from the front--untended, un- fed, suffering untold agony from fes- tering wounds. Pestilence had its way unhindered, for the overcrowded hos pitals were little better than dens of death. All these horrors, set forth by the newspaper correspondents, stirred the heart of England to it's depths. Then, for the first time in the world S history, system was inaugurated of voluntary civil care of the sick and wounded, to supplement that of the
 military. Lord Sydney Herbert, Her Gracious Majesty's Minister of War, wrote to Florence Nightingale, who was then in charge of a London hospital, asking for aid. A letter from her to Lord Sydney, begging permission tc help, was already on it's way. The world is familiar with the story of this brave woman and her three hundred female companions in the Crimea They trod a painless field; but hope and returning health to thousands fol lowed closely in their footsteps. They brought order out of chaos in the S wretched hospitals, and men, snatched from death, lifted their feeble hands ir blessing of their benefactress and kissed her shadow as she passed. Per haps Florence Nightingale's greatest service to humanity was in proving, ir the face of an enormous weight of an cient military precedent and prejudice
 that the sufferings resulting from wal are in large measures preventable, ano < that the military power alone cannot possibly keep an adequate medical ser vice in operation through long an6 severe campaign This splendid ob ject-lesson was the beginning of the
 movement which has since grown to z
 system which reduces the miseries o1
 soldiers in the field to the lowest pos
 sible degree.
 To Henri Dunant, of Switzerland
 first occurred the idea of the Rec X Cross;-that is, of forming permanent
 societies among all nations, to bf
 bound together by solemn agreement x for the prevention of unnecessary suf. K fering during future military cam
 paigns He was travelling in Italy 1T '59, when the battle of Solferino oc
 cured, and taking part in the care O. N the wounded, was profoundly i'm
 pressed with the lack of facilities ss Shortly afterwards he published a little < book, called "A Souvenir of Solferino, N describing the scenes he had witnessed & The battles of the Italian compaigr # were fresh in the minds of the people % and his vivid pictures of the horrors O < war, translated into several languages
 produced a wide spread sensation
 The International convention at Gene
 va, in the summer of '64, was the di v rect result. Sixteen nations, including
 all the great European powers, except
 Russia, were represented, and the eel # ebrated Treaty of Geneva" was born The century has produced nothing # more beneficent, for it's code marks tht M beginning of the end of war. Neve M again will the forces of an enlightened # country set out to encounter battle an( S disease with the accompaniment of ; .s civil sanitary service as complete a. s money can supply. Never again vii E wounded soldiers be left, as a mattel d of course to suffer untended-to starye