Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-12-06

The red badge of humanity mlgnt well
be used as the term to epitomize all that
the insignia of the Red Cross. the Amer1-
can branch OF which meets in Washing
ton today. stands for among the nations
of the earth. Less than half century
old, this great organization has done
more to rob war of it's horrors and to
ameliorate the suffering of those who
are the victims of great commissions of
nature and of catastrophes over which
man has no control than any other single
body of men and women in the history of
the world.
| AS Miss Mabel Boardman. the greatest
| dynamic force in the American Red
Cross, so aptly put it in recent address.
the one cardinal principle of the Red
Cross is servation-conservation of hui
man life. Miss Boardman. q member of
the central committee. holds no Office in
| the organization, but to her even the dis
tinguished head Of the American branch.
President William H. Taft, looks for the
management of the details Of the work
| in times of peace and she will be the
commanding figure at the meeting in the
capital this week.
| That the activities of the Red Cross are
not confined to those dread times when
war clouds hang
Large Sums Raised over the nations
by Christmas Seals. hroueht homs to
| every individual at this season of the
year, for 1t is during the holidays that
the organization begins it's campaign for
raising funds to fight the grimmest Of
warriors against humanity-the pestilence
of tuberculosis Within the last two
years by means of the Red Cross stamp
fund of $3.50 600 has been raised These
stamps heretofore have been fixed upon
the face of letters and holiday packages.
This year, in Difference to the wishes of
the Post Office Department, they are to
be known as Christmas seals instead of
Christmas stamps, there having been
much confusion On the part of thought
less people. who believed that the Red
Cross stamp took the place Of the regu-
lar postage stamp.
The first direct movement for the es-
Establishment of an organization to do the
work which the Red Cross assumes was
started In Geneva. Switzerland, In 1853,
but the idea may be said to have frucu-
fed nine years earlier in the heart of
Florence Nightingale. who went to the
Crimea to nurse the wounded French and
English soldiers who fell in the struggle
with the Russians. Her work in the
Crimea, which extended over a period of
two years. attracted international atten-
after battle when she sought out the
helpless on the field, won for her the
affectionate title of 1.-The Lady with the
Lamp" So great was her hold upon the
public's affection that when she returned
to England she was given $4,000 by a
grateful government, and with this sum
she founded training home for nurses,
which remained as monument to her
memory.
The Red Cross as a concrete agency,
however, owes its origin to Henri Dunant,
a philanthropic
Owes Its Origin Swiss gentleman,
to Henri Dunant. frixbtful sufferine
on the battlefield of Solferina, near Man
tua, Italy, in 1859, when the dead and
wounded among the French and Sandman
allies was 10000, and among the Aus
TRANS, 10000. He saw how inadequate
were the medical forces Of the two armies
to take care of their own injured, and
upon his return to Geneva he proposed
to the Public Utility Society. philan-
thropic organization of that city, to start
movement for the establishment of a
of the corps of surgeons maintained by
every nation.
A general invitation to the nations of
Europe to take part in an international
conference was sent out and fourteen
countries were represented in the council
| which was held at Geneva in 1863 In re-
Spouse to Geneva's invitation thirty-six
delegates from fourteen nations of Eu-
! rope GALL except Turkey, Greece, Portu-
gal and the Papal States) assembled in
| the Swiss capital and In conference rec
commended that each government extend
/; its sanction. authority and protection to
sanitary commissions and their relief
corps: that in time Of war the privilege OF
neutrality be extended to ambulances,
military hospitals. officials and attaches
| of the medical services, regulars and
! volunteers, to nurses and to the inhabit-
| ants in the theater of war who should
receive and care for the wounded in their
houses. and that the universal insignia
and flag of persons. officials and volun-
wounded in war and of ambulances and
hospitals In all armies be white nag
, or band with a red cross. The form of
| the insignia was adopted tribute to
Switzerland, the parent country Of the
idea. the Swiss flag being a white cross
on red background
X
While. the United States had nothing
to do with this first conference, it's in
fluence was of
Influence Exerted supreme impor
.c lance the follow
two delegates were sent to tell the inter-
national body of the success of the United
States sanitary commission, which had
been organized at the opening of the civil
war and which had nerformed wonderful