The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1902-08-10

! A@ HE magnificent reception and
| s. the honors accorded 10 Miss
b Clara Barton, American pres
| - ident of the International
Red Cross society, at the or
ganization's congress in st. Petersburg
this summer are not surprising Every
civilized nation has cause to be CRATE
| full TO her. When she closed up her
work following our civil war, work
that included after peace came sew
erai years search for missing soldiers
and families, Miss Barton went to
Europe, as she supposed, for rest and
study. But in 1870 the Franco-P russian
war broke out What then? Clara
Barton was on the ground. She had
had more actual experience upon bat
tlefield than half the army surgeons OF
Europe In 1864 the nations of Europe
had formed the Red Cross society, pri-
marily an organization for caring for
the wounded upon a battlefield, ire
spective of the side on which they
fought. Friend and foe are alike 10
the workers of the Red Cross" Clara
Barton was one of the foremost among
these. She and her aids were demanded
on the field in the Franco-P russian
war. From battlefield TO battlefield
they went, life saving angels. Among
the decora tions Miss Barton received
for her services in this war is the Ger
man one of the Iron Cross of Merit, be-
slowed on her by the venerable En-
peror William
After the Franco-Prussian war there
was for time no particular war TO
claim her immediate attention. and
Miss Barton worked in the cause of
humanity and peace in her own land.
Through her efforts the United States
became party to the Red Cross treaty
eighteen years after the nations of Eu-
rope had ratified it. But Clara Barton
secured an amendment that shows her
to have been possessed of real prophetic
vision 1t was called the civil clause
of the treaty and authorized the Red
Cross staff TO serve not only in war, but
in what Miss Barton called the great
er calamities of peace" like the Johns
town disaster, the sea islands storm,
the Mississippi floods and the destruc-
ton CT Galveston. One of President
Garfield's last appointments was that
of Miss Barton to be president of the
American Red Cross, a post she has
held ever since. During the Mississippi
pi floods of 1884 she herself went down
over the waste of waters TO give relief
Once she found several hundreds of cat
tie, horses, hogs and sheep, all the
wealth remaining 10 their desolate own
ers, huddled upon a levee starving to
death. Immediately she chartered a
steamer, had it loaded with hay, corn
and oats and sent it to them. To this
day blessings are showered on her by
those owners.
At Geneva, Switzerland, is always a
resident international committee OF the
Red Cross society. To and from it as
a central station are telegraphed mes
sages when emergencies arise in which
aid is required. During the war among
the Austrian states in 1888 this commit
tee telegraphed to the organization
throughout the world that thousands
of people in the Balkan mountains were
suffering terribly for the necessities of
life. Some people In New Albany, Ind,
whom Clara Barton aided during the
Mississippi floods saw the appeal At
once these grateful people teiegraphed
$500 to Miss Barton at Washington, she