The Emmett index. [volume] (Emmett, Idaho) 1893-1925, 1918-08-22


She had seen and deplored the suffer
ings to which the men of the North
and the men of the South had been
unnecessarily exposed. So after her
four years of hard service she had
gone to Switzerland to recuperate and
there, as was to be expected, she
caught the spirit-the new and strug-
Cling spirit of the Red Cross that
movement that ever swept the earth.
Interested, she gathered all possible
information. In due time she re-
turned to America fired with enthu-
siasm over the new project only to
have her hopes shattered by the in
difference with which her suggestions
were received. No stone did she leave
unturned to arouse the interest of the
people and of congress, but in vain,
until during the administration of
Chester A. Arthur congress was con-
WINGED of the urgency of the step.
Great was the patience of Clara Bar
ton and proportionate the reward, for
on March 16, 1882, SO years ago, rati-
fication by the senate made the Red
Cross of America reality.
The Red Cross treaty of Geneva
provided for a neutral flag for hos
pitfalls and conveys and an arm badge
for persons. The design proposed
xryhf
This was in compliment to the coun-
try in which the congress was sitting,
the Swiss flag being a white cross on
a red ground The Red Cross flag,
therefore, is the national flag of
Switzerland with the colors reversed.
Inasmuch as the cross symbolizes
the christian religion, the idea pre-
walls with some persons who are I'M
familiar with its early history, that
the emblem has distinctly religious
significance; that in adopting it the
signers of the treaty had in mind the
humanitarianism of christianity. But
the universally of the underlying
idea, embracing all nations, all reli-
gions, divorces it from any such sig
nifcance.
1t is true that the Mohammedan
antipathy to the cross in any form
subsequently caused Turkey to pro-
test against operating under the en-
blem and it was specially provided
that the organization in Turkey
should have a red crescent for SYM
boil. But japan and China have the
cross for an emblem and all the other
countries of the world-in short, rec
ognize it in its true non-sectarian and
non-religio1s significance. Its neu-
trality and sacredness have been re-
spected by all nations of the earth
and repudiated by only the unspeak-
able Turk and their no less unspeak-
able ally, the Hun, who has seen fit
to desecrate it, to use it as a target
for German guns, sinking hospital
ships, Belgian relief ships, sending
their Zeppelins to drop bombs upon
hospitals plainly marked-300 nurses
and attendants the toll in last weeks
raidHmaking war upon helpless, de-
fenseless beings, mutilated in war,
and upon women devoting themselves
to the work of relief, and in one in t
stance bombing a maternity hospital l
housing 300 mothers and newly born I
babes-all in the name of self defense. :
fboco HunSf =
At the banquet given for the dele e
gates to this first Red Cross conven- i
ton in Geneva, at the close of the t
first toast, this newly adopted en- q
blem of neutrality was taken from its s
place in the center of the table and t
presented to the American represent a
alive. Thus was given into the keep +
ing of this country this emblem of g
neutrality, and sacred and interna g
national rights. For the protection of o
these sacred rights America has n
pledged her all. And may she never n
law down her arms till that pledge be "
redeemed.
A beautiful thought I picked up u
which l wish to quote: 9 9
How broad is the Red Cross? 1t is u
IS broad as the skill of the surgeon n
n the story of lessening pain. F
How long is the Red Cross? AS G
ong as the nurses vigil watching the +e
vingless hours.
How deep is the Red Cross? AS Ell
leep as the Valley of the Shadow of b.
Death whence it bears multitudes to q
he peaks of life: in
How high is the Red Cross? AS
Ugh as human resolve that needless &c
offering and pain and death shall st
ease, even in war. =, va
AS broad as the ocean under the til
keel. So
AS long as the trenches where they D
tand guard. W
AS deep as the love that embraced tn
bem. then babe them go. fe
AS high as the throne whittier pray ~
RS for them ascend: -,
This is the breadth, and length, and it'
lIo Pn1 ('rnCG