The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-03-31


the recent meeting of the local Red
Cross Society:
The Italian Red Cross being special
ly equipped with field hospitals, hospital
trains and ships, with their personnel
and equipment, The American Red Cross
sent to it $4,000 for the important
work of caring for the sick and wound
ed. To Mr.. Bayard Cutting Jr., Amer.
lean Vice Consul at Milan, who was
promptly sent to the field of disaster
i as a special representative of the Amer
lean Red Cross, $4,000 was forwarded
for any immediate necessities. On the
advice of the American Ambassador at
Rome. 800. 900 was transmitted to his
American committee to charter and
equip a Red Cross relief ship. Sixty
hours after this ship was chartered it
| entered the harbor of Messina with
| large personnel of doctors and nurses,
hospital supplies, clothing, food and
money. Speaking of the help it render.
ed, Mr.. Griseom writes:
III am now being bombarded by
grateful letters from the various Pre-
fects, Mayors and Co1onels along the
shores of Calabria and Sicily. I am
satisfied the ship did real good and sat
isfed real needs.''
At the suggestion of the Italian gov
| eminent, 100000 has been expended by
of materials for some six hundred
| houses, which have been shipped to
Italy on vessel specially chartered for
this purpose. The expense of erecting
these houses, which will amount to
| about $4,000, will likewise be met by
the American Red Cross.
To Mr.. Griscom has also been trans
| mitted $4,000 to use at his discretion
after consultation with the Italian gov
ernmen. Most of this, together with
$17, 900, a balance left from the $780,
600 sent for the Red Cross relief ship,
has been devoted to the assistance of
the unfortunate sufferers found in the
out-of theway mountain villages of
Calabria, who were long undiscovered
and without assistance after the terri
bic earthquake which had wrecked their
homes.
For the Christian Herald the Red
Cross transmitted through the Italian
Embassy $4,000 to Queen Helena for
the relief of widows and orphans, and
from the generous subscribers of this
same paper, $4,000 was sent for the as
sistance of the sufferers in Sicily Of
the Waldensian faith.
The National Director of tie Amer.
lean Red Cross, Mr.. Ernest P. Bicknell,
has been sent to Italy to consult with
Mr.. Griscom and the Italian government
as to the use of the funds still in the
hands of the American Red Cross, some
of which will be used for the orootion
of the houses sent by the Red Cross.
and possibly also for the expense of
erecting some $500 houses sent by the
United States government, for which
purpose there is none of the appro-
priation of Congress left.
Upon the request of the Red Cross,
Mr.. Griscom consulted with the Italian
government as to&the best use of fur
| Their funds at its disposal. So many
| hundreds of children have been left
utterly dependent, that it was decided
| that the wisest expenditure of these
j funds lie in the maintenance of an
agricultural orphanage colony, where
/ these children could be cared for and
many of the women left dependent
widows and sometimes childless, could
| be employed. The funds devoted to
this purpose amounting to $250,000 will,
at the request of the Italian commit
/ tee be invested in this country as
| higher interest on safe investments can
| be obtained here than in Italy. The
| institution is to be called The American
| Red Cross sOrphanage, and the American
| Ambassador is to be ex-officio a mem
| Der of its governing committee. The
| Italian government will furnish the
| land and the italian Relief Committee,
under the patronage of Queen Helena,
will provide the buildings. 1t will be
! located in Sicily or Calabria and consist
| of model farms where scientific agri
| cultural instruction will be given by
agents of the Royal University of Agrf-
culture. It will be lay and not an
Iecclesiastic institution, and the budget
of the orpanage will be printed and
| published each year and must meet the
| approval of the Prime Minister.
| Mr.. Griscom writing of this orphan
age to the chairman of the central
| committee of the Red Cross, says:
| 81 can assure you that this generous
| gift of the American Red Cross has
made profound impression in Italy.
I made the formal presentation to Her
| Majesty who was overcome with emo
ton and for moment at loss to
express herself Finally she made a
beautiful speech and poured forth her
admiration for the organization OF the
American Red Cross.
The letter of the Minister of War is
as follows:
''Rome February 16, 1909.
Mr.. Ambassador: In the recent
great misfortune which has stricken
two provinces of Italy, the American
Red Cross has accomplished a truly
admirable relief work.
1.-The hugh amounts of supplies,
medicines and clothes forwarded in
such abundance to the devastated dis
tricts as well as the weil-ordered and
wise rapidity for distributing supplies
have made this relief truly efficient