The weekly Alaska citizen., 1918-03-04

"e S0oAA6SOA WAdl ASo pulpVoC duu high aim was.
 Clara Barton was in Switzerland when the Franco-Prussian war broke out in 1870, and at once went with the Red Cross authorities to the seat of hostilities and assisted them in organizing their military hospit. als. Her experience in practical field medical work was invaluable to the new organization, and Clara Barton herself saw for the first time the medical staffs of two opposing ar mics working together in the care of wounded soldiers. Wherever there was battle. she saw a squad ol doctors and nurses in white. each with a red cross on his or her sleeve, working back of the firing line to repair the damage done by the bullets. Not one unskilled wo man working alone for an army, bu, a whole group of trained men and women, serving with the sanction and under the authority of theil government, each having definite share in the nursing. In 1871 Clara Barton superintended the distribu- tion of relief to the poor in Strass- burg. and in 1872 performed a lik' service in Paris.
 In 1873 she returned to the United States. inspired with the idea of in troducing this same Red Cross ir America. for she found that tn ideals that had led the great wo men of the Civil War to work anon northerners and southerners alike were the same as those of the Red Cross--Humanity and Neutrality. She at once began her efforts to effect the organization of the United States branch of the Red Cross, and to bring her country to sign tho treaty of Geneva She accomplished thi great task in 1882. She was thr first president of the American Red Cross, holding the position until 1904, and represented the United States at the International conferences in Geneva in 1884. in Karlsruhe in 1887. Rome in 1892. Vienna in 1897, and St. Petersburg in 1903. She wrote an Official History of the Red Cross, The Red Cross in Peace and War. A Story of the Red Cross, and The Story of My Childhood. How she was the author of the American Amendment to the Constitution of the Red Cross (which provides that the society shall distribute relief not only in war but in peace-time calami- ties), is, as Kipling says, "anothei story"
 The Red Cross in Peace
 The Red Cross was established te do nursing in wartime. But it wa 1882. and in the United States there was no war or shadow of wa. Clara Barton was wondering how this growing organization. now a nation ally accepted institution, could be of help somehow in peace, wher there came the news of a terribl: forest fire in Michigan that burned hundreds of people out of thci homes. Clara Barton had an inspi- ration. She did the nearest thing at hand. If the ideal of the Red Cross was service for others, why not make use of 1t here, where there was need, war O. no war? So with the help of her Red Cross nurses she set up work rooms, sent out 2 call for clothes, food, money-any- thing to help-and the replies poured in. Supplies were packed in hug boxes, stamped on the outside with the seal of the Red Cross, and ship ped to Michigan, where they were
 eceived by relief workers and dis tributed to the homeless refugees They were a welcome surprise, and warmed the hearts of all who heard and knew of the work. Eighty thou
 and dollars in all was spent by a generous nation for this york, and people all ove' the country wer@ happy to give freely to such cause, when they knew that the funds were to be used by an organization tha. was under the direct control of the federal government itself.
 From this work in Michigan de. veloped the idea of making the Am erican Red Cross a relief organize tion for time of peace as we'll a for time of war. as had been done by some fo -eign Red Cross societies That is, 1t was to come forward and offer it's services wherever there was need to relieve suffering and distress. Besides being a war-relief organization, it was to be an eme'. gency relief organization at all times Clara Barton herself was the autho of the American" amendment to the constitution of the Red Cross which provides that the society shall distribute relief not only in wa times but in times of such othe calamities as famines, floods, earth