New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-11-10
UnihcatiOn of American
Relief Under Its Leader
ship Advocated.
PREPAREDNESS PLANS
FOR ALL SECTIONS
Mighty Work Explained by
Choate, Taft and Gen. Wood
to Enthusiastic Meeting

4 Sl00.000.0o0 endowment fund for
the American Red Cross and the unif-
cation OF all existing relief societies
under its leadership were advocated
Yesterday at an enthusiastic Red Cross
rally held at the home OF Mrs. White
Is,r Reid. Al 45l Madison Avenue. Jc-
semi n. Choate presided over the
meeting. The speakers were William
Howard Taft. Major General Leonard
Wood. Miss Mabel Boardman and DR..
Charles F. Stokes. Three hundred OF
the most prominent and wealthy men
and women of the city Joined in the
plans for increasing the efficiency OF
the Red Cross in the present war and
preparing il for service in case OF war
in this country.
People ask against whom VIC are
preparing" said General Wood, "and
for answer always tell them to go
down TO the steamship lines and ask
the captains against what storm they
prepare when they put lifeboats aboard.
The United States is not preparing
against any one. Such questions are
foolish. il not something worse We
are only making reasonable prepara-
tions against the dangers which come
10 all people.
The army is only small part of
the nation in arms. as IS being demon
strated every day. The army is only
the cutting edge of very heavy knife.
Behind it lie all the resources of the
country. Tne Red Cross should be or
ganiled as an adjunct of the army, and
of the navy, too. II should store sup
plies in all the army posts and be of-
fcially recognized in many ways IT now
is denied ! trust that you VIII, as
members Of the Red Cross, take up the
business Of organizing your affairs Just
as you would a business, even down 10
the smallest detail.
~ none. too, that all the great relief
societies will be put. under the Red
Cross"
Re. Cross Plans Outlined.
Miss Mabel Boardman, head Of the
Red Cross, outlined its plan for pre-
The country IS 10 be di-
yided into twelve sections. with cen
tral warehouse In each, in which the
women can collect supplies for war
non -perishable supplies IN times OF
peace and perishable ones as soon as
war is declared These warehouses WIN
probably be in Boston, Philadelphia,
Washington, Chicago, st. LOUIS, Omana'
San Antonio, RI Paso, San Francisco
and Seattle. -,
Surgical and nursing units will be
established i'm every Red Cross branch
throughout the country and buildings
picked out for use as hospitals IN time
of need. Lsywomen will be organized
as nurses aids a new department.
of the Red Cross. These new members
will be instructed in the many tasks
necessary IN war times which are not
strictly nurses duties-the little things
like writing letters. reading to the sol
d,ers and distributing supplies, which .
do not require nurses training.
To do all this Miss Boardman de-
clared that the Red Cross should have
a permanent endowment of S1OO.OOO,O0O.
at should be on q footing with the
Carnegie and Rockefeller foundations,'
she said. Those were endowed BY pri-
vste individuals, and we should have
no trouble in obtaining our fund, FOR
we have the whole country TO draw
from. IL will come in time, | am sure.
Men and women who love their coun-
try can show il by leaving US their
wealth as legacies, and as for the liv-
ing, we should number among our
members every man, woman ana ehh1
in the United States who can afford
the 81 year membership dues Inc
.rst1l hng
endowment Of friendship for the whole
world. The American Red Cross will
hold out helping hand to fellow men
in distress all over the world
War Work Described.
Miss Boardman also described the
work Of the Red Cross in the present
war. and explained that the sending OF
American nurses and surgeons TO me
front has been stopped because OF me
lack of funds and the great expense
involved in the transportation OF dlI-
ferent groups of people every SIX
months. when the original group mad
10 be relieved by substitutes. Most OF
the Red Cross money is devoted now 10
supplies, she said, but under its dlrec-
tion private individuals are stiil pay
ing the expenses of nurses Mt the 'front.'
Among these she mentioned Mrs.
Whiteiaw Reid, who is paying for doe
tors and dozen nurses.
zone Of the greatest works OF the
Red Cross" she said, 'is the sowing or
ceds Of friendliness among the peo-
Dles OF Europe. When a man IS brought
in wounded from the battlefield aud an
American narse binds up his wounds
that man is friend Of America for
ever after"
William Howard Taft was intro
6uced as the new chairman OF the CEN
tral committee of the Red Cross.
"The American people are generous,
under the spur OF great emotion
said Mr.. Taft, "but they are not gen
crous in the small daily contributions