Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1917-05-08
40. DEPARTMENT OF MILITARY
RELIEF
Report of Col. Jefferson r. kean, Ned
icaI Corps, v. S. Army, Director
General,

The Department of Military Relief
was, created by the revised Bylaws
cember s, 1915. The object of its Gre
alton was to furnish the machinery by
which the American National Red Cross
could carry out the purposes of its
ing of volunteer aid to the sick and
wounded of armies in war and as a
medium of communication between the
pepole of the United States and their
Army and Navy. 1t includes the Blu
reau of Medical Service. the Bureau Of
Nursing Service, and the Bureau Of
work of the Chapters. relating to the
various branches of military relief work.
such as European war relief. assistance
to our own soldiers. instruction in first
aid and home care of the sick etc. 1t
deals directly, and without the inter
mediation of the Chapters. with the
ambulance companies. hospital units.
surgical sections. supply depots. and
naval and emergency detachments of
nurses which are organized with the
approval of the medical departments of
the Army and Navy to reinforce these
services in case of war. 1t administers
also all agencies of assistance to the
sick and wounded soldiers of foreign
countries and to prisoners of war.
The present charter of the American
National Red Cross enumerates four
purposes of it's creation. in addition to
that of succeeding to the rights and
properties of the organization under its
former charter. Three of these have to
do with giving relief to the sick and
wound d of the military establishment.
There have been from the beginning
of the Red Cross as a national and inter
national organization two conceptions of
the manner in which 1T should render
this assistance. The first of these in
the beginning was a conception of indie
pendent workers or groups Of workers
who selected their own forms of activ-
ity and followed them according to the
dictates of their own fancy, either with
out reference to the medical establish
ments of armies or suffering such con-
troll only to the degree that seemed
good to them. This form Of volunteer
aid was widely present in Europe dur
ing the first decade of Red Cross ex-
istence, and prevailed extensively in
our own country during the Civil War.
and. after the establishment of the
American Red Cross. in the Spanish
wasteful in operation. and leading to
confusion, it soon became discredited
abroad. Here, however. it still fingers.
and the picture of voluntary aid activ-
ity which is probably most spread in
the popular mind and most appealing to
the popular imagination is that of
fair young Red Cross nurse, seated
serenely upon the battlefield. with the
head of young and comedy warrior
resting on her lap. This is concep-
ton destined to give trouble, since the
activities. and the duties to which wo-
men are now called in war are far less
romantic.
In our country. although the advan-
tages of centralized control in business
matters are generally recognized. and
their absolute necessity in military mat
tiers is becoming appreciated we are
slow in coming to accept the application
of this principleto works of beneficence
Therefore. we are confronted with the
absurd spectacle of a hundred and thirty
different organizations advancing their
claims to be the accepted agencies of
the American people for the purpose of
European military and civilian relief.
while several associations have assigned
to themselves work with reference to
our own military services, which is, by
the Proclamation Of the President of
the United States, authorized only for
the American Red Cross or through it's
agency
The conception of profitable Red Cross
assistance. which is now accepted in
that in which it comes. in time of war,
entirely under the control Of the mill
tary medical service and is assigned a
definite, part of the field Of military
This sharing of the medical service,
in war. between the Army and Navy
medical services and an organized vol
unteer aid has become not only desirable
but absolutely necessary under the con-
ditions of modern warfare. with the
enormous armies which are thrown into
of wounded which result from the i'm
provements that have been made in the
science of killing. No army medical
service can be maintained in time of
peace on a war footing. In fact, no
government maintains greater estab-
lishment than is necessary for the medi-
cal care of the army at peace strength
The medical department, therefore. is
called upon at the beginning Of a war to
undergo an immense expansion. and one
under which it will inevitably break
place and the individual agents are Sc
lected and instructed in advance 1t is
believed that the enrolment of a great
body of personnel from the civil popu-
by the Red Cross, provided it will show
a proper docility Of spirit lin the sub
ordination of its plans. to those of the
the time Of trial comes their activities
can be geared up to work smoothly to-
gether.