The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1903-03-22

she owes it to the people, to the gov
ernment, to the numberless Red Cros
societies in other lands and. more thai
all, to herself, to conserve what she ha
brought into being and to take no stel
thar does not contemplate the safety anc
further development of her benehcen
undertaking. This has been her attitude
of mind since as early as 1893, and she
expressed herself clearly and with alb
solute truth when she spoke at the an
nual meeting of the members of the
Red Cross, held at the Arlington hotel
in Washington on July 10, 1900.
PRESIDENTS LETTER WOUNDS
HER.
The letter that the President caused
| Mr.. Cortelyou to write to Miss Barton
has wounded her more than she could
have been hurt by the flying fragments
of shell, and both she and her friends
are at loss to understand how he could
have been led to do this when even a
cursory glance at the broad subject
would have convinced him that the mat
ter admitted of no controversy whatso-
ever. To those familiar with Red Cross
history it is most obvious that as surely
as somebody blundered when into the
Valley of Death rode the six hundred,
just SO surely was someone labor1ng
under a gross misconception of Red
Cross affairs when the President was
informed concerning them, and believ-
ing in his courage and high sense of
honor, the friends of the Red Cross and
of Miss Barton fell assured that he will
amend his action as soon as the read
issues in the case are brought to his
notice
Referring to the memorial to Con-
gress on the contents of which Presi
dent Roosevelt based his refusal to serve
on the board of consultation of the Red
Cross or to allow the members of his
cabinet to serve, it will be seen that he
was nisinforn1ed as to what was done
and the manner in which it was done at
the Red Cross annual meeting ON De-
cenber g. 1902. It is greatly to be re-
gretted that such action should have !
been taken by the President without !
giving a hearing to the majority of the i,
or to Miss Barton herself. !
There is nothing new or strange in the
fact that there should be differences of
opinion as to the management of such .
an rganization-very few escape inter-
nal conflicts; but it is generally under
stood that the majority of the members
are entitled to control or at least to
1t is especially significant
hat the minority should have been
heard without notice to the ma jority,
md that it should have proceeded i'm
nediately to put the correspondence,
without even waiting for the formal re-
,ly from Miss Barton, in the form of
to Congress to be printed as
II executive document, and thereby
made subject to widespread distribu-
ion, under the official frank and appar
mt authority of Congress. and that its
distribution should have been so widely
made, both in the United States and
broad, rejecting, most unjustly, upon
he fair name of the organization and t
s president. ,
BRANDS MEMORIAL AS FALSE.
Were the statements made in that
etter wholly true, or did they include ..
Il of the facts bearing upon it, which
re necessary to fair judgment of the
lbject, it would have been, in a meas
re, excusable.
Regarding the claim that changes
ere made, in severa Instances, by
ort of trap laid by Francis Atwater,
lere is absolutely nothing in that.
here was nothing irregular in the re- S
nest made by him for proxies. He was +
ltIrely within his rights. Not one-ha1f
the proxies were returned to his \
ands 0 rsubject to his discretion but i
lie slgners sent them to several of the a
ersons who were present, to use in &C S
,rdance with their Judgment While v
ere were seven states represented by ii
embers actually present, the entire list v
! sslgnrs to the memorial, with one ex- h
ption, are residents of Washington, S
{. In every act of record, including Il
to which exceptions are taken. there h
IS clear majority of those actually P
eaeat reeerled IN the affirmative. TfeI :