New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1917-06-13
1he Open Forum

III OpCH IOIulu
To the Editor of the Review:
Now that New Ulm is TO be actively
engaged in Red Cross work. it occurs
to me that little history of the move
ment might be of more than passing
interest to some of your readers, as it
1 is to me.
The International Red Cross societies,
organized for the purpose Of alleviating
tne suffering of sick and wounded
Soldiers, were the outgrowth of an aqita-
ton begun by Jean Henri Dunant. .
phllanthropic citizen of Geneva, Switzer-
lana. On June "a, 1859, he CHANGED to
De present at the battle of Solferino and
was an eyewitness to the vast amount
OF unnecessary suffering resulting from
ene inability of the regular surgical
corps to care for the thousands of wound
ed soldiers.
Three years later he published hook
on Souvenir de solferino," vividlv
describing the suffering on hattie fold
and proposing that societies 10 fo-,,..s
IN every country in the world in times
OF peace for the purpose of training
nurses and collecting supplies 80 tho
work OF the regular surgical corns could
be supplemented in war time. =:
l
In 1867 the first international Red
Cross conference was held in Paris
others have since been held in Berlin
Geneva, Karlsruhe, Rome, Vienna s.
Petersburg, London and Washington.
ihe name Of Florence Nightingale Is
familiar to all of us. She was one of the
founders of the Red Cross society. and
IS remembered for her efficient service
during the Crimean war.
During the Civil War, Miss Clara
Barton was of great assistance in allie
waiting the suffering of the sick and
wounded. In the Franco-Prussian war
she was connected with the European
Red Cross society, and after her return
to this country she got the movement
recognized by the United States govern
ment, and in 1881 the American Red
Cross society was formed, under the
leadership OF Miss Barton, who acted
as Its first president. In 1905 congress
dissolved the society and incorporated
new organization, to be operated under
government supervision. The accounts,
are audited annually by the War De-
partment
The American Red Cross society has
expended about $15,0OO,OOO since 1905
up to the present time. Some of the
ways it has been used are for the relief
OF suffering in the Japanese famine,
Italian earthquake, Minnesota and
Michigan forest fires, the Balkan war.
Titanic wreck, Mississippi river floods.
etc.
In 1915 Woodrow Wilson was made
president of the society. Miss Mabel
Boardman is chairman of the American
Red Cross National Relief board. As
the United States has been comparative
ly free from the danger of war, until
this year, the scope of the society has
been enlarged. Its constitution saws
that "the society shall have for one of its
objects, aid to the suffering in time of
great national calamities, such as floods
and cyclones, great fires, pesteIence and
local famine" Whenever any great
calamity falls upon the world, the Red>
Cross society is the first to be at the
scene, to give assistance in every way.
The opportunities for Red Cross work
are llmltless. Everything is done, from
scrubbing floors to the skilled nursing
| of the wounded.
The Red Cross aids small towns and
rural districts by sending out visiting
nurses, for local work, and will help to
organize visiting nurse societies.
i Nobody can tell now long the war
will last, but when peace does come the
American Red Cross society will have
more to do than now, in helping to take
care of the starving millions in the
smaller countries of Europe, as well as
OF the needy here. at home.
The nations call to the American
womanhood means an urgent call for
patriotic women, and we are all patriotic,
OF all ages. to enlist in the Red Cross
work and while we knit and sew to make
the boys who 60 away as comfortable as
1 we can, the families they have left be-
hind must not be forgotten.
READEP
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