Evening star., 1925-12-09
PRESIDENT PRAISES
RED CROSS WORK
Points to Activities as Indi-
eating Steady Growth of
Good Viii in u. S.

In "A brief address at the annual
meeting this afternoon of the Amer
lean Red Cross. of which he is presi
dent, Calvin Coolidge declared that
one of the most striking things in the
development of the United States has
been the steady increase in benevo
ience, the disposition to do good-that
is to say, good will.
This growing spirit. the President
said. has led to beneficences which. as
the work indicates, is acsve goodness
and kindness. and has tended to in
crease charity, which relieves individ
ual suffering, and philanthropy. which
deals with humanity in the mass
rather than individually, and prevents
rather than allays calamity.
He described the American Red
Cross as probably the first orcan MIA
ton of such magnitude to alleviate
suffering and hardship and distress
caused by an unseen catastrophe
wrought by elements, and he hopes
that its example will he most potent
in arousirg the spirit of benevolence
in the heart of the American people
and in the development of organized
benevoience and charity.
After praising the work of the Red
Cross from it's beginning up to the
present Mr.. Coolidge lauded those
who conceived and broadened its scope
and those who have brought the
work to its present state of efficiency.
These, he believes. should receive no
small share of credit for the eXten
sion of the Nations beneticence in so
many fields of endeavor.
Work Has Spread Out.
The annual meeting of the Ameri-
can Red Cross" the President con-
tinued, lis held to consider what has
been done in the past and what pro-
vision can be made for the future. I'm
happily. while the number of catas-
trophies have been fewer than last
year, the Midwestern tornado of last
Spring caused the death of more peo-
pie than the entire toll of casualties
coming under the scope of its work in
1924 The destruction wrought there
raised the greatest problem of peace
time restoration and rehabilitation
ever known. we are told. Work of that
character is the peculiar contribution
of the United States to the Red Cross
idea which was crystalliZed in Skitzer-
land in the Geneva convention of Au-
gust. 1864. That original idea dealt
solely with the amelioratiOn of the hor-
rors of war. the establishment of neu-
trality Of hospitals and of the sick and
wounded and of those engaged in re-
lief work in times of war.
Our Civil War was in progress at
the time The humanitarian prin
ciples adopted at Geneva followed
closely the instructions of the Amer
lean Army promulgated by Presi-
dent Lincoln on April "A. 1868. Dur
ing that conflict between the North
and the South we had sanitary COM
mission, which carried on most ef-
fective work in bettering the lot of
our soldiers.
Following the Civil War the
United States. being absorbed in the
problems of reconstruction. and for
other reasons not wholely clear now,
did not formally adhere to the treaty
of Geneva until the year 1882. Then
the American Red Cross was legally
constituted by act of Congress. Presi
dent Arthur accepted the presidency
of the board of consultation, the
principal cabinet officers became mem
bers of the board of trustees, and on
its own initiative and without a dis
senting voice Congress appropriated
81 900 for printed matter to inform
the country of the organization and
purposes of the society.
neduy lOf EAStlOhs
almost Immediately we broadened
the scope of the Red Cross idea
originally limited to relief work in
times of war. We extended our ac-
tivities to great public calamities such
as confiagrations, floods, epidemics, and
cyclones. We built our organiZat ton
SO al to be able to move into such af-
f1icted areas and to extend relief as on
battlefield. At the Bern Interna.
tional Red Cross conference we Sc
cured a modification of the original
Geneva convention. This modification
is known as the American amend.
ment.'
"Our peace.time activities are be-
coming increasingly broader and more
important. The problems presented
by the Midwestern tornado already re-
ferred to were not alone of immediate
relief. but of the restoration of every
living victim to normal plane of
existence That operation, now vir-
tually ended, involved the assistance
Of some 33,435 persons"
The board of incorporators of the
CONTINUED on Page 2. Column IL