Great Britain had no regular Red Cross organization until 1897. It had, however, an organization that partook of the name, which was formed in 1870, but it carried no centralized power. Confusion, overlapping, delay and waste of material were the inevitable results for a time but organization finally was perfected.
The German Red Cross is said to have been the most constantly active of all nations. Not only has it served in time of disaster, but it has undertaken a con stant daily service in health and sani tary matters not only about military camps, but among the civilian popula tion. The German First Aid organiza tion is considered a model.
Soon after the United States entered the World War there began an enormous expansion of membership and activities of the American Red Cross. With stead ily increasing facilities the organiza tion extended its work in the countries of the Allies, co-operating fully with the respective national Red Cross societies, and relieving them more and more of the burden they had carried since the be ginning of the conflict. This was an en tirely separate function from that of providing for the welfare of the Amer ican Expeditionary Forces.
The American Red Cross had on May 1, 1917, an enrollment of 486,000 mem bers in 562 chapters, and on Feb. 28, 1919, there were 20,000,000 adult members in 3,724 chapters with 17,186 branches, and 11,000,000 junior mem bers among school children. During these twenty months the total revenues were roundly $400,000,000, with expendi ture of $273,000,000. Of this, $164,000, 000 went for relief abroad, and $109, 000,000 for relief in the United States. The remaining $127,000,000 was used in both foreign and domestic relief during 1919.
Wartime domestic activities included the recruiting of 23,822 nurses, most of whom were inducted into the Army Nurse Corps; the formation of fifty-four base hospitals and forty-seven ambu lance companies which served overseas; home service to soldiers and their de pendents; operation of cantonment can teens; maintenance of a large auxiliary motor corps. Women and children in chapters produced hospital supplies and garments valued at $100,000,000, more than 100,000 tons of which were sent abroad.
Working on a vast scale in Belgium, England, France, Italy, Palestine, Ru mania, Russia, Serbia, Siberia, Switzer land, Syria and Turkey, the American organization operated military hospitals, canteens, convalescent homes; re-edu cated war cripples, supervised plastic curative surgery, supplied and fitted ar tificial limbs, gave relief to allied pris oners of war; fed, clothed and provided medical care for refugees, a great number of whom it repatriated; rebuilt destroyed towns= conducted civilian hos pitals, dispensaries and clinics, and car ried on widespread measures against tuberculosis, typhus and other diseases.
With the dissolution of the War Coun cil, Feb. 28, 1919, the American Red Cross launched a peacetime program under the pre-war form of organization. This program includes continuation of aid to disabled and needy veterans of the World War, service for the peace time army and navy, development of stouter national resistance to disease through health centers, increase of the nation's nursing resources and co-operation with official health agencies, continued pre paredness for relief in disasters, home service and community work, and corn pletion of relief work among disease rid den and war exhausted peoples abroad.
As an outgrowth of co-operative work during the war, and as a necessity to meet worldwide reconstruction problems, there was formed by the national organi zations of the United States, Great Britain, France, Italy and Japan, at Cannes, France, in May, 1919, the League of Red Cross Societies, whose peacetime duties would be equivalent to the wartime duties of the International Committee.
Tho League's charter states that it will "encourage and promote in every country in the world the establishment and development of a duly authorized voluntary national Red Cross organiza tion, having as purposes the improving of health, the prevention of disease and the mitigation of suffering, and to secure the co-operation of such organizations for these purposes; will promote the wel fare of mankind by furnishing a me dium for bringing within reach of all peoples the benefits to be derived from present known facts and new contribu tions to science and medical knowledge and their application; and will furnish a medium for co-ordinating relief work in case of great national or interna tional calamities." Besides the founder members the League included, Oct. 1, 1920, the Red Cross organizations of Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Cuba, Denmark, Greece, Holland, India, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Roumania, Serbia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Venezuela. Control of the League reposes in a General Council composed of representatives of all mem ber societies, a governing board of fifteen members and two ex-officio members.
The enrollment in the American Red Cross, Oct. 1, 1920, was 10,000,000 adult members and 14,000,000 juniors. Argentine had 4,000; Brazil, 6,000; China, 26,000; Denmark, 25.000; France, 250,000; Holland, 18.000; Italy, 300,000; Japan, 1,900,000; New Zealand, 10,000; Norway, 9,000; Poland, 30,000; Portu gal, 5,500; Roumania, 14,000; Serbia, 2,850; Spain, 63,000; Sweden, 65,000; Switzerland, 42,500; Uruguay, 300. Figures for England, Canada and Aus tralia, which have important organiza tions, were not available on that date.