The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1919-09-13
The LEAGUE Of RED
CROSS SOCIETIES.
(Bv Henry r.. Davison)

tBY Henry II. D5yfS0n)
Washington, n, c. Sept ID do
not think it Is at all possible for me
to give YOU any idea of the sensations
which ! am enjoying at the moment.
before ! feel as If / was attending
a sort OF celebration or about to
listen to Some valcdictories. To real
ize that one job has been closed is
a source of satisfaction to me, and /
know it Is to those OF you who started
with us and stayed TO the finish.
l am going TO tell you little bit
about the league of Red Cross socie-
ties. l am not like the man VINO
wanted TO talk about southern Cali
lorna because he knew nothing eisa
to talk about. but / want to speak
on that subject because II bears upon
that which concerns you az the mo-
rnent--fur thermore. il will interest
you, / am sure. very much. I ina
CINE that few OF you have any idea of
what a league of Red Cross societies
can really do--what II is, and what
1t hopes to accomplish.
When the armistice was signed. the
minds of those of us in Europe turn
I'D 10 rehabilitation Just as did yours
here in America, Ny mind began TO
run back over the work of the Red
Cross and to realize what a tremen-
dous force 1t had been in Europe
II seemed to me that If we were to
demohIltze and lose the advantages
Of that organization the world would
suffer loss which would be incalcul-
able, Having thar in mind, ! talke
with the president, and 1t was sug
gested that We organize a league of
{ RED gpss saGi&1iss ,gtt .s*aa mad 10 n1e,
that there was come way of co -ordi-
mating the organizations working
for the benefit OF the world.
It is long story, but / want to
touch on the main points. Having
! determined upon such an orEaniza-
ton, I went back to Europe and
got together at Cannes with repre-
sentatives from Great Britain and
Japan to discuss the subject I told
them of the plan as 1t was then in
my mind. ! think 1t rather habber-
gasted them-~the idea of our form
ing a union 20 work together
throughout the world wa, bit too
large to grasp and they were a bit
skeptlcal about II But after discuss
ing II at Cannes for a few DAYS. we
met again at Geneva. then back to
Paris. and as result of the various
discussions we had a meeting attended
by forty-two representatives in Paris.
The matter was presented to- them,
and II met with their approval. We
then called conference of the lead
tli% hfdIiH anu H.chltdi
TO put the idea before them and to
see whether it would stand the acid
test
The result was that there were
gathered together in Cannes probably
the most noted conference of science
ever held In the world America was
most gloriously represented, as We're
France, Great Britain, Italy and
Japan, During tho conference China
L ct a VIZ Iaf har
in.
I said, We are not here TO tell you
what to do We believe what we can
present to you the world as a forum,
and we would like Ia ask you what
you would like to do with it. What
can the Red Cross societies do TO
aid the peoples of the world and
the administering of the benefits
which science produces We then
laid before them the suggestion of
the league of Red Cross societies.
We are now organized. and our
headquarters are al Geneva. We
have an administration of board of
governors, of which ! am the chair
man. We have director-general
who has the powers which fspossess.
because they are delegated by the
We have three departments. the de-
velopment department, the medical
department and the relief department
shall treat first OF the develop
ment department--W. Frank Persons
ia the head of this department AT
the head OF the medical depansment
is DR.. Richard p. Strong. of Harvard
The development department will
operate In this way: They at once
establish relations with every coup-
try In the world with the idea 81
development OF the Red Cross organ
izatfon in that country. II per-
chance there should be no Red Gross
organization. the developme emit depart
MINT will see that one is established
All the operations are done primarily
through the governments OF each
country. This development depart
ment Will simply aid the development
OF Red Cross organisation by ac-
quainting u with tina practices OF
ether Red Cross socisues, II II PLAN
Asd that later q. delegation from
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