RED CROSS SOCIETIES. International as sociations whose purpose is to mitigate the hor rors of war by alleviating the sufferings of the sick and wounded. They are the result of an agitation begun by Al. Jean Henri Dunant (q.v.). a philanthropic citizen of Geneva, Switzerland.
On June 24, 1859, he chanced to be present at the battle of Solferino and was an eyewitness to the vast amount of unnecessary suffering that resulted from the inability of the regular sur gical corps to care for the thousands of wounded who lay upon the field. Three years later he published the widely read book, tin souvenir de 8olferino, in which he vividly described the hor rors he had witnessed and proposed that societies should be formed in every country in time of peace for the purpose of training nurses and collecting supplies so that when war broke out the work of the regular military surgical corps could be supplemented. M. Dunant's proposal was well received by the Genevan Society of Public Utility, and an agitation was begun which resulted in an international conference at Geneva in October, 1863. A provisional pro gramme was agreed upon by the delegates of the sixteen nations that were represented, and in the following August a more formal diplomatic con gress, composed of representatives from the same number of nations, was held in the same city. On the 22d of that month was signed what is known as the Geneva Convention (q.v.). Contrary to generally received opinion, the Con vention makes no direct provision for the organ ization of Red Cross societies, but it renders such societies possible; and at the previous Con ference it had been stipulated that each nation which should ratify the Convention should have one national committee or society, civil in its character and functions, which should alone have the right to authorize the sending of surgical corps to a war. The Convention was quickly ratified by fourteen nations, a number that has now been increased to forty-three, and thus its provisions have come to be a recognized part of international law. During the Servian War of 1876 the Turkish Government notified the signa tory powers that it hail adopted the crescent instead of the red cross as the badge of its societies, and Russia, which shortly afterwards entered the conflict, agreed to accept the substi tution provided Turkey would respect the red cross of her adversaries.
When the American National Red Cross So ciety was formed in 1SS1 (the Convention was ratified by the United States in the following year) its president, Miss Clara Barton (q.v.), de cided that its usefulness should be widened by including not only relief during war, but also during great calamities, such as famine, pesti lence, flood. or fire. This new feature received
the unanimous sanction of the international and national committees. in carrying out the idea the American Association has expended about $2.000,000 since its organization, and has afford ed valuable relief to the sufferers from the Michigan fires of ISS1. the Florida yellow fever of 188S, the Johnstown flood of 1889, the Rus sian famine of 1891-92. the South Carolina tidal wave of 1893, the Armenian massacres of 1896, the Spanish reeoncentrado system in Cuba in 1897-9S, the Galveston tidal wave of 1900, the Mont Pel6e eruption of 1902, and other disas ters. The assistance which the association ren dered during the Spanish-American War of 1898 should also be nicht lolled.
It was soon found that the Convention of 1864 was in certain respects inadequate and that some revision was desirable. In 1S67 the first International Red Cross Conference, held at Paris, proposed such a revision, and in the fol lowing year a diplomatic congress couveued at Geneva to consider the matter. This congress agreed to add a few supplementary clauses. one of which provided that the principles of the Convention should he applied to naval warfare. Owing to the Franco-Prussian War and to other causes, however. the clauses were not ratified by the powers and consequently had no binding force as international law. It was not, in fact, until the Hague Peace Conference of 1899 that it was agreed to apply the principles of the Convention to war upon the seas. At other in ternational conferences of the Red Cross So cieties, at Berlin in 1869, Geneva in 1884. Karls ruhe in 1887, Rome in 1892, Vienna in 1897, and Saint Petersburg in 1902, other subjects for amplification were discussed. Among these were the relations of the Red Cross to the army, the means that should be taken to impress upon the soldiers the necessity of respecting the red cross, and the measures that would best prevent the abuse of the emblem by persons who might wake use of it to cloak hostile designs. This last sub ject, in particular. was much discussed during the South African War. All the conferences have, however, been hampered by the fact that they can only recommend changes; in order to become an integral part of international law such changes must be ratified by the nations.
The various national Red Cross associations are not intimately connected, but the society at Geneva is regarded as time central committee of all. Through it all international communica tions are made, and by it an international bulle tin is published. Many of the national commit tees also issue publications. The president of the Geneva Committee is GustaceMnynier; that of the American national organization is Miss Clara Barton.