The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-07-14
Switzerland Responsible for the
 Great Relief Organization
AID GIVEN IN AMERICA
American Red Cross Offers Relief in Any Sort of Public Disaster. Work of Miss Clara
 Barton.
BY FREDERIC j. HASklN.

to point to the universal work done under the sign of the red cross. and forever still his pessmism. For countless centu- res the wounded on the fields of battle, either because of the indifference of the army they served or because there was insufficient medical aid have been al- lowed to lie neglected and uncared for. Some time the enemy came on the field to torture or put to death the wounded. Certain Arab tribes of North Africa put to death their own men who were nor tally wounded--a practice that has had it's advocates even among civilized per sons. Through long ages of battles, hunger and thirst and torture have preyed upon the wounded Lying among the dead, often prey to proving annals, ihe physical and mental anguish the wounded have suffered can never be known.
 A Swiss gentleman happened to walk across such a battlefield immediately after great struggle, and was appalled, by the sight Of suffering that confronted him. He gave such help as he could and pressed the people of the country side into service. Realizing the total made quacy of his work, as well as that of the armies, he went away later heart sick and discouraged. But from this expert ence grew great work, and on this bat tlefied of Solferino, on June 24 1859, came the inspirauon that has since found an echo ill the hearts of the majority of the worlds people, and has brought about the greatest practical proof of altruism. h-s Swiss gentleman, M. Henri Dunant turned from that battlefield with it's 36, OOO killed and wounded thoroughly de- termined to do something to relieve the horror of such situations
 He wrote and lectured and travelled through his and other countries in the effort to enlist the sympathies of people in his cause. The Society of Public Utill- ty in Geneva listened to him. In the fall of 1863 Switzerland called d meeting of all the leading countries to determine some cooperative plan for lessening the horrors of war. Several nations respond- ed the following summer and with per- manent headquarters established in Ge- neva, and plans for those who were wounded in battle became d reality. Dun ant was one of the first recipients of a Nobel prize.
 August 22, 1864, Is the memorable date on which ten nations signed the famous treaty of Geneva" By this treaty it was agreed that warning nations should hold neutral all sanitary supplies ambu- lances surgeons, nurses and the sick and wounded of either side, provided they were under the sign of mercy adopted by the convention. Protection and neu- tralty should also be guaranteed to the inhabitants of the battlefield neighbor- hoods, provided they helped care for the sick and wounded The wounded were to receive the same consideration whether friends or enemies The insignia adopted by the convention was a red cross on white field, this being compliment to Switzerland, whose national flag Is white cross on red field. Wherever the work of the red cross has spread since then, and there are now forty-four na- tions in the international agreement, this cross is the badge assumed, Turkey be- ing one notable exception Her crescent might still be used in preference to the Christian cross. Japan and other non Christian nations have accepted the red cross as an emblem without protest and have proved the efficiency of the work on many fields.
 The United States was invited to send representatives to this Geneva meeting of 1863, and though the American minister in Switzerland was empowered to repre- sent her, this nation was too busy just then with war of her own to take time to consider any movements for ameliorat- ing it's pltiful side, and it was not until
 
 society formed in thls country under the permission of the United States govern ment. Always with the suggestion of red cross work comes the name of Clara Bar ton. As a nurse with the Army of the Potomac in the Civil war Miss Barton had seen much of the suffering of the wounded. After the war she lectured on her experiences in New York, and celved $15,OOO for helping locate the graves of the dead at AndersonVille
 She went to Switzerland in 1870. and as the Franco-Prussian war was then in pro- gross, she volunteed as nurse In the field she soon saw the practical side of red cross work. It is said that Miss Barton was the inspiration for much of it's work in Strasburg and in Paris, and when she returned to America 1t was with the deeply rooted intention of enlist ing the interest of the United States au- thorities in a similar work on this side. It took Miss Barton many years to get the national sanction she needed, but when it came this country went to the forefront with other nations of the world in an earnest desire to prove for her own advancement in llindliness
 To the United States is due that clause in the Geneva treaty as 1t now stands, which provides for the utility of the red cross organization in war, pestilence and famine. It was seen that many of the worlds greatest disasters were not the outcome of conflict of men, but that of ten they were the result of pestience or of great convulsions of nature. Like the other nations, the United States associa- tions established central stations where supplies could be collected or money sent, and from which need nurses or supplies be forwarded on short notice to places where some calamity had left people wounded or dead or beggared. Such help was soon needed. In 1882 the Mississippi overflowed, money, clothes, food and sup plies were needed The following year the Ohio crept out of its banks and brought death and poverty in it's path, while a cyclone wrought havoc in Louis lana. In 1886 came the Texas drouth and the Charleston earthquakes; in 1887 the Mount Vernon. Illinois. cyclone; in 1888 the yellow fever in Florida; in 1889 the Johnstown flood; and in 1894 the disas- ters in the Sea islands. In each instance the red cross was quickly notified and readily responded with help of every kind that was available.
 The work of helpful sympathy has not been confined to medicines, bandages and tender nursing. When the red cross ship under Miss Bartons care went to the aid of the Armenians in 1895 1t carried. in addition to supplies for immediate use, a quantity of seed and agricultural tools also a party of expert teachers to show the discouraged and sorely harassed peo- pie how to rebuild the industrial foun- dation of their country.
 In 1898 work was begun by the American red cross to alleviate the suffering of the reconcentrados in Cuba. Though Spain At tha A