Read Ebook: The American National Red Cross Bulletin Vol. I No. 2 April 1906 by American National Red Cross

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hall be for a period of three years or until their successors are duly elected and qualify. The six members of the central committee appointed by the President at the annual meeting shall serve for one year.

The President shall fill as soon as may be any vacancy that may occur by death, resignation, or otherwise in the chairmanship or in the membership of the central committee appointed by him. And any vacancy that may occur in the six members of the central committee herein provided to be appointed by the incorporators or in the six to be appointed by the representatives of the State societies shall be filled by temporary appointments to be made by the remaining members of the six in which the vacancy or vacancies may occur, such appointees to serve until the next annual meeting.

The central committee shall have power to appoint from its own members an executive committee of seven persons, five of whom shall be a quorum, who, when the central committee is not in session, shall have and exercise all the powers of the central committee.

The Secretary of War shall within thirty days after the passage of this Act call a meeting at a time and place to be designated by him in the city of Washington of the incorporators hereunder, giving at least thirty days' notice thereof in one or more newspapers, and the annual meeting of said incorporators, their associates and successors, shall thereafter be held in said city on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in December, the first of said meetings to be held in December, nineteen hundred and five. Fifteen members shall constitute a quorum at any annual or special meeting.

Voting by proxy shall not be allowed at any meeting of the incorporators, annual or special, nor at any meeting of State or Territorial societies organized under the provisions of this charter.

Sec. 6. That the said American National Red Cross shall on the first day of January of each year make and transmit to the Secretary of War, a report of its proceedings for the preceding year, including a full, complete, and itemized report of receipts and expenditures of whatever kind, which report shall be duly audited by the War Department, and a copy of said report shall be transmitted to Congress by the War Department.

Sec. 7. That Congress shall have the right to repeal, alter, or amend this Act at any time.

Approved January 5, 1905.

An international convention has been called to be held at Geneva in June, for the revision of the Treaty of Geneva, sometimes called the Treaty of the Red Cross, to which convention the United States Government will send three representatives. Reports of the proceedings of this convention will be given in later numbers of this Bulletin.--EDITOR.

THE RED CROSS SOCIETY OF JAPAN HAS ISSUED THE FOLLOWING REPORTS OF THE RED CROSS WORK SINCE THE OUTBREAK OF THE RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR UP TO SEPTEMBER, 1905.

War is the most dreadful thing that mankind ever witnesses. It is a horror in itself. So many men have been killed, wounded and invalided on both sides in our present war in the course of ten months that one is aghast at the number of casualties.

The Red Cross Society of Japan has been strenuously performing its duty of caring for the sick and wounded ever since the war broke out regardless, as a matter of course, to which colors the sufferers belong only remembering the principles of Humanity and Brotherhood.

The first work we undertook on the outbreak of the war was to look after the Russian sailors, who had been wounded during the naval battle off Chemulpo, Korea.

Her Majesty the Empress hearing about these cases has graciously furnished them with artificial limbs. When they had so far recovered, the Japanese Government sent them back to their homes in Russia. The Russian Government sent us a letter of grateful thanks for what we had done, offering, in addition, through the French Consul at Seoul, Korea, to defray all the expenses incurred. As we refused the offer, the Russian Government subscribed 2,000.00 Yen instead to our relief funds, which we accepted with appreciation.

The increase in the number of the sufferers has naturally kept pace with the progress of the war and in consequence nine more hospital ships had to be prepared in which twenty-one relief detachments of our Society are now working under the direction of an Army surgeon. On land, we have already dispatched over eighty-two relief detachments to districts where they are required in Korea and Manchuria and also to the hospital of both Army and Navy at home. Several of these detachments are solely engaged in caring for the Russian prisoners.

It may be well to state that one relief detachment consists of

When several detachments are dispatched to one place, one Director, one Superintending surgeon and one Superintending nurse are placed as supervisors over all such detachments. Not infrequently, however, it becomes necessary to divide one relief detachment into two or more. All relief detachments to be sent to the front, it must be noted, consist of men only; those at home of women nurses; and those on board the hospital ships are of both sexes, namely, one detachment of women nurses and one or two detachments of men nurses, the number of which is fixed proportionately to the size of the capacity of the ships.

According to the regulations of our relief service in time of war, there are Patients' Transport Columns but never before have they been used until the present war. We have now organized one such column on trial, selecting the stretcher-bearers out of the retired privates, who had once been trained in the Army and instructing them anew for two months; and we have sent them to the battle fields in Manchuria. This column consists of

We may form some more columns if this is successful and has good results.

The total number of all the detachments as mentioned above and already sent out together with women nurses amounts to 3,266 persons and, moreover, we are prepared to dispatch as many more as are necessary at any moment.

All the women nurses of our society go through scientific and practical training for two and three years, the latter term being for the higher course of nursing, whilst the men nurses are required to take a ten months' course of training.

Our Main Red Cross Hospital in Tokyo has now been appropriated to the use of the Army. It is, therefore, made a branch hospital of the Tokyo Military Reserve Hospital. Since the outbreak of the war, many additional barracks have been built on the wide ground of the Red Cross Hospital. Moreover, an estate we had purchased at Hiroshima for the purpose of building our hospital there has been put at the disposal of the Army and a temporary hospital has been erected.

The Ladies' Volunteer Nursing Association of the Red Cross Society of Japan has become more active in many ways, the members have applied themselves with far greater earnestness and energy to the study of first aid and nursing under the direction of our medical men. Moreover, they are occupying themselves very busily every day making various kinds of bandages and caps for the patients, looking after them at the relief stations, which are prepared for those who are travelling, visiting them at the hospitals, helping them to write to their families at home and in various other serviceable ways. Theirs is a self-sacrificing work.

Since the outbreak of the war, the number of the members is daily increasing. Princesses, the wives of the Nobility and of the diplomatic staffs and other distinguished ladies have all joined.

Her Majesty the Empress has always been greatly interested in our relief work. On the 20th of last June, for instance, she paid a visit to the Ladies' Volunteer Nursing Association and particularly looked at the members making bandages. On the 3d of September, she summoned our president to the palace and spoke to him very encouragingly about the Red Cross Work.

Our sister societies abroad have earnestly and practically extended their sympathy and kindness to us by offering gifts in various forms, which we have gratefully accepted. The following are the details of gifts we have received up to date:

Franc 1,000 --The Red Cross Society of Servia.

? 100 --The Red Cross Society of Portugal.

Lire 40 --The Red Cross Society of Greece.

Krone 1,351 --The Ladies' Association of Copenhagen of the Red Cross Society of Denmark.

Franc 13,500 --The Ladies' Association of France.

The Red Cross Society of Spain and the National Red Cross Society of America have kindly offered us their assistance. Besides these public gifts, many individual men and women have come forward and offered us their services to nurse the wounded soldiers.

We deeply regret that we are not able to accept these kind offers at present, simply because we have still a sufficient number of well equipped relief corps to meet all the emergencies we have had as yet to encounter.

However, the Government of Japan accepted the services of Mrs. McGee, an American lady, with nine nurses, and Mrs. Richardson, an English lady, to nurse the sick and wounded and instructed us to place them among some of our relief detachments. The American nurses have been working in the Hiroshima Reserve Hospital and on some hospital ships for a few months and sailed for their homes recently with Mrs. McGee.

At the close of this statement, we take great pleasure in adding that donations in various forms from every part of the world and from rich and poor have ever been flowing into the coffers of our Society. We have never failed to appropriate these gifts to our relief funds in compliance with the donors' wishes.

We shall be always grateful for these practical expressions of sympathy and generosity which are extended to both belligerents, for whose comfort and relief, when sick and wounded, we are most earnestly praying and devoting ourselves. May Providence help our cause.

Since the issue of our last report on the Red Cross work, much progress has been made in all the different ways of alleviating the sufferings of the war-victims, seventeen Relief detachments on hospital ships and twenty-two on land being dispatched in addition to those which had previously been in service since the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese war. The following are the details of the institutions in which our Relief detachments are at present working:

Hospital Ships 2 These are owned and entirely managed by the Red Cross Society of Japan.

Relief detachments serving on board eighteen 38 hospital ships owned by the Army All these hospital ships together with the two Red Cross hospital ships are constantly in the service of transportation of the sick and wounded from the front to Japan and from one port to another at home. The number of the Relief detachment serving on board each hospital ship runs from 1 1/2 to 3

Relief detachments according to the tonnage of the ship.

Relief detachments dispatched to the hospitals at 78 home under both the Naval and Military authorities

Depot of Supply 1 This is at the base of Etape in order to distribute various supplies as are necessary for medical and relieving purposes.

Relief detachments at the front 32 These detachments consist of field hospitals and relief stations in Korea and Manchuria.

Column of Stretcher-bearers 1 The members of the column are located separately along with Etape lines serving in carrying the sick and wounded with stretchers, wagons, horses, etc.

In addition to such institutions, there are thirteen agencies at home and one at the front established by the Headquarters of the Society in order to facilitate the management of the whole Relief detachments at home and abroad, numbering 152 Relief detachments in all; and of Relief stations established in such ports and railway stations as are convenient and necessary for giving rest and refreshment to the sick and wounded on their homeward way and also medical treatment in cases of emergency, to say nothing of renewing bandages. These are worked voluntarily by the members of the branches of the Red Cross Society of Japan, surgeons, nurses and the members of the Ladies' Volunteer Nursing Association.

The nurses of both sexes, dispatched up to date, number in all over 4,700, five Relief detachments out of which have been formed and placed entirely in the Russian prisoners' hospitals and stations. The approximate amount of the expense for the work up to the end of this year is estimated to be as much as 5,160,000 Yen.

The members of the Ladies' Volunteer Nursing Association of the Red Cross Society of Japan have constantly and strenuously rendered their services ever since the outbreak of the war in making bandages and caps for the patients, in looking after them at the relief stations, which we have already mentioned, in visiting them at the hospitals, in helping them to write to their families at home, in distributing among them books, magazines, newspapers and various things they could collect, in actually nursing the sick and wounded of both belligerents, if necessary, and in various other ways. The members of forty-one branches, together with those of the headquarters of the Association number nearly 10,000, including Princesses, the wives of the Nobility and of diplomatic staffs and other distinguished ladies who have joined.

Their Majesties, the Emperor and the Empress and their Highnesses, the Crown Prince and Princess have always been greatly interested in our relief work. Especially the Empress has graciously encouraged the members in various ways, giving, for instance, money to the Association and visiting it to look at the members making bandages. When she summoned Count Matsugata, the President, to the palace on the 3d of September of last year, the following was graciously spoken to him:--

Again, on the 4th of March of this year when Baron Ozawa, Vice-President, paid an homage to the Empress previous to his departure from Japan for the front to visit the sufferers officially and to inspect all the Relief detachments there, she spoke to him as follows:--

Indeed, it is not little that the Japanese ladies have done for the prestige of the nation as well as for humanity during the Russo-Japanese war.

Our sister-societies have earnestly and practically extended their sympathy and kindness to us by offering gifts in various forms, which we have gratefully accepted. The following are the details of gifts we have received since last October up to this date. .

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