The Washington times., 1915-12-26
Life Of Clara Barton
Inspiration to America
Friend of Presidents and Crowned Heads, and Bene-
factress of the World-Biography of Her Notable
Addition to Literature of the Day.

E0mnfhlnR
which Is solid and Saxon" she wrot5
There is no truth. no fixedness of pur-
pose, nothing Yeliablc. nothing sensible
n France. and II only disgusts one that
tney nave always claimed the leader
ship OF the world and that sd stupilly
II has been conceded TO them. do
nope the German bayonets have punch-
ca q hole IN that bubble large enough
Upon her return TO America Miss Par
ton worked Zealously for recognition Of
the Red Cross by the United states. but
met rebuff after rebuff from White
House and Department Of state. Finally
she won over President Garfield
and after his assassination President
Arthur fulfilled ~ martyrs desire with
respect to i. On March IT,. 1882. the
Senate ratified the treaty Of Geneva,
and for nearly a quarter of a century
thereatter She gave her service. heart
and soul TO tho work of the American
Red Cross She was made president Of
the rganization-indeed. there was no
other person in the country who undcr-
stood its purposes so fully and sympa-
thtzed with them so deeply as she. II
would require years of labor to prove
to the Government and the country it's
worth. In the beginning she maintained
It at personal sacrifice Of $1,000 a year,
her entire presidency,
Miss Barton represented the United
states at the International Red Cross
Conference in Geneva in 1884. and caused
adopted which provided for humani-
tartan work in times OF peace.
On "Hyphenated Americans"
The next conference was held in Ger
many There occurred an interview be-
tween the German Emperor and Miss
Barton. which is interesting at the mo-
ment because of present agitation over
"hyphenated Americanism." When the
fy, TvNf
States made good citizens she replied:
THE best that could be desired; indus
trious. honest and prosperous. and, sire.
they are still yours in heart. true to the
Fatherland and its Emperor"
Clara Barton was on a Red Cross mis-
sion to Havana when the Maine was
blown up. She returned to the States.
and her preparations made her ready on
the field of battle to give first aid TO the
wounded. An officer once approached
her with request for delicacies for sick
men in his regiment. Can buy them?"
he asked.
Miss Barton.
But my men need these things" be
repeated anXiously. IT think a great
deal of my men: l am proud of them"
And we know we are proud of you.
colonel, but we can't sell hospital sup
plies
Then how can get them?"
Just ask for them. colonel.
sack. and took them along with him.
Miss Barton was seventy-eight, but
worked like woman of thirty in the
Cuban campaign. Once she refused the
postoffice room feeling instinctively
that danger lurked Within She
"crouched under the stars and dew all
night and the postmaster died 'in the
very cot she would have occupied"
Hundreds of thousands of people in
Europe. Asia. and America benefited
from the American Red Cross under
Miss Barton's direction. The list OF
fires. floods. famines, epidemics, tidal
waves, earthquakes. and cyclones to
whose victims she carried aid is long.
Among her mercy missions was one to
Armenia. But at last the institution
Government and the people so full. that
men began to think Of the time when
Miss Barton would be no more and all
resulted in the resignation of Miss Bar
ton as president on June 16 1901
Opposed Big Armament.
The society was reorEanized by Con-
gress, doing away with the centralized
authority about which the Red Cross
had in the past swung" In Europe its
presidents were crowned heads. In
America thereafter it's chief officer was
10 be the President of the United States.
Her work was complete. He only was
created. and for twenty-five years filiA
ed"
Clara Barton was lifelong advocate
of equal political rights for women. II
believe ] must have been born believ-
ing in the full right of woman to all
the privileges and positions which ma
ture and Justice accord to her in COM
mon with other human beings" she de-
clared.
She was opposed to large armaments.
What of the increasing flotillas OF
battleships and dreadnaughts?" she was
asked.
She replied: Each one is men
ace to the peace of the world. with
each new battleship every nation car
ries chip on its shoulder. No! We've
done with war. Let us struggle for
peace. Peace is the question now-no
longer war"
Miss Barton looked askance at Eng
land and France. She seemed not to
have faith in the former and to have
contempt for the latter. OF Great
Britain she wrote: Her style of neu-
trality is something wonderful lis
acts--I.o: Are they not written in the
book of the heart of every. soldier who
fought in the armies OF Abraham"
She saw the difficulties of preserving
peace through arbitration, and refer
red to France as an argument. And
how much legislation" she asked,
would it have taken to convince the
world what worthless bubble or as
sumption was France, so utterly un-
worthy the leadership she assumed and
to have laid her in all respects so
open before the world that it should
with one voice repudiate her leader
ship. and refuse to follow her as here
to fore in frivolity, immortality, folly.
ia Shion, vice, and crime"
Altogether Mr.. Eplers volume OF I3S
pages is notable contribution to the
literature OF the day. No story or
America In the past century would he
complete without a life of Clara Bar
ton. and this has been supplied In a most
admirable way bv the author Her entire
career, from childhood till she died
in her ninety-tirst years, Is reviewed
sympathetically, but not uncriticaIy
r, l., e.