Chapter 3 of 6 · 3828 words · ~19 min read

Part 3

We have turned over the city of Eski-Shehir to the Germans, who promise to attend to its needs and to those of the surrounding region. We hope through the above arrangements to get into direct touch with more than half the refugees in Asia Minor, and trust that where our work is unable to reach them other helpers may come forward to tide them over this first difficult winter.

ACTIVITIES OF THE RED CRESCENT SOCIETY

The Turkish Red Crescent Society has come forward so nobly during the present war that it has delighted observers by the depth and force of its vitality. A national institution of humanitarian aims, it had been recognized as such in the Geneva Conference of 1864—but though it had worked efficiently in the Russian and Turco-Greek wars of the last century, it is only lately, through the impulsion given to it some years ago by Mrs. Rifaat Pasha, wife of the present Turkish Ambassador in Paris, that its more modern organization and increased capital have brought it to the front, able to compete in usefulness and resource with the Red Cross Societies in other countries.

The society is managed by a Central Committee, composed of 30 members, subject to the approval of a president and to the occasional control of the government. At present His Excellency Hussein Hilmi Pasha, Ottoman Ambassador in Vienna, is president of the Red Crescent.

At the beginning of the Turco-Balkan war the Red Crescent Committee founded three hospitals for the wounded—one numbering over 600 beds—in the capital of the Empire, and several in the provinces, notably at Salonica, Adrianople, Uskub, Loule-Bourgas, etc., appointing well-equipped staffs of nurses and doctors. The necessary surgical instruments and medical supplies were procured from abroad, and recently ambulances were ordered from South Bend, Indiana. Four transportable hospitals of 100 beds each were received from England, and following the example set by European nations in such cases, the Red Crescent established field kitchens in the principal camps, which supplied the harrassed soldiers with soup and bread.

When the cholera broke out among the hapless troops, and they were sent back to Constantinople for treatment, the society organized three more new hospitals in the choleraic centers of Hademkeny, San-Stefano, etc., and as the sick soon filled to overflowing the epidemic wards hastily founded in the capital, the Red Crescent had the mosques of the city opened to the sufferers and supplied them with food, linen and medical care. It is computed that about 3,000 soldiers were supported in these improvised hospitals between the beginning of October and the end of November, 1912, and in this heavy task the Red Crescent was assisted by its branch missions of Hindoustan, Egypt and England, who took their full share of the heavy nursing and relief work. Besides the hospitals thus run, the Red Crescent sent Lt. 7500 in cash to the military sanitary authorities of Constantinople, as well as very numerous suits of clothing, articles of bedding and medicinal supplies.

The arrival of the refugees in Constantinople created a new and tremendous demand for aid. The Red Crescent immediately forwarded another Lt. 7500 to the prefecture of the town, and housed thousands of the unfortunate emigrants in old Konaks (palaces) and in temporary sheds. Committees of investigation and distribution were organized in the chief provincial centers to which the government sent the refugees and bread or money doled out.

The Ladies’ Section of the Red Crescent Society has proved most active on behalf of the patients and refugees. Societies were formed for the cutting and sewing of linen, of which the hospitals were continually in need, and the garments made reached the total of 70,000.

The foregoing facts (culled from the columns of the _Jeune Turc_), brief and incomplete as they are, suffice to show, however, that the energies of the Red Crescent Society have been severely taxed during the present terrible happenings, and it is an act of justice as well as one of keen satisfaction to say that these energies have been not drained but richly developed by the call made upon them.

In the present emergency the Red Crescent has been generously supported by the Red Cross Societies of different countries. Sisters of the Red Cross and the Red Crescent have worked shoulder to shoulder in alleviating suffering, as shown by the photograph herewith inclosed of the Imperial Hospital in Nichantache, Constantinople, kindly furnished by the Phebus Atelier.

SAVAGES FOUR HUNDRED YEARS AGO

Writing from Konia, January 15, Dr. Dodd sends in the following about an old Moslem priest:

“An old Turkish hodja named Saduk Effendi called today and said he came for the special purpose of asking me to give his thanks to the people in America who are sending help to the poor here. I report his words as near as I can do so. ‘May the Lord of the Universe, the God of all men, who are all of one family on this earth, look graciously upon those who have shown such love and kindness. The servants of God here will always remember and rejoice in these good deeds. How wonderful that a people that were only savages four hundred years ago should have awakened to such noble deeds! When shall we have such an awakening?’”

[Illustration: AMERICAN RED CROSS WORK IN BROUSSA.

REFUGEES WAITING OUTSIDE THE PROTESTANT SCHOOL WHERE CLOTHING AND BEDDING ARE DISTRIBUTED. A CLINIC IS HELD EVERY AFTERNOON IN THIS BUILDING AND PATIENTS OBTAIN THEIR MEDICINES FREE OF COST FROM THE DRUG STORE AROUND THE CORNER.]

[Illustration: WOMEN AND CHILDREN REFUGEES IN THE COURT OF THE PROTESTANT SCHOOL IN BROUSSA.

DISTRIBUTION IS MADE FROM THE ROOM AT THE LEFT. TEA IS BEING SERVED WHILE THE PEOPLE ARE WAITING. SEVERAL OF THE WOMEN ARE SEEN COVERING THEIR FACES OR TURNING THEIR BACKS TO THE CAMERA, BUT THE MAJORITY MAKE NO OBJECTION TO HAVING THEIR PICTURES TAKEN.]

FAIK PASHA DELLA-SUDDA

One of the prominent Constantinople personalities, Faik Pasha Della-Sudda, died on Jan. 11, 1913. He was the founder and honorary president of the Red Crescent Society, which during many difficult years owed its subsistence to his devoted management, and the AMERICAN RED CROSS MAGAZINE is indebted to his courtesy for the interesting article on the Red Crescent, published in Vol. 5, No. 3. of 1910.

Born in 1835, Faik Pasha Della-Sudda was sent when scarcely sixteen to France, where he studied under the famous chemist, Ganot. He completed his training at the Superior School of Pharmacy, Paris, and at the laboratory of Wurtz & Gerhard, and on his return to Constantinople was immediately appointed to the post of professor of chemistry at the Imperial University of Medicine in that city. For nearly half a century he personally conducted most of the pharmaceutics and chemistry classes in the capital of the Ottoman Empire, with a range and depth of knowledge that has been universally recognized and appreciated.

His important treatises on ammonium, phosphoric acid, opium and the falsification of pharmaceutical products in Turkey, his contributions to European and American exhibitions, made his name well-known abroad, and in 1910 he was unanimously elected honorary president of the newly-organized “Society of Pharmacists in Turkey,” in proof of the grateful affection of colleagues and pupils, and of his own superior scholarship and value. He leaves behind him the record of a long life admirably spent.

[Illustration]

Red Cross and White Cross in Mexico

ERNEST P. BICKNELL, _National Director American Red Cross_.

During the culminating scenes of the recent revolution in Mexico, when the capital city was torn by heavy artillery warfare in its central streets and plazas, and which resulted in the tragic death of President Francisco I. Madero, the press dispatches referred occasionally to the activities of the Mexican Red Cross and the Mexican White Cross. These dispatches were of a character to sadden the friends of the Red Cross movement, because they indicated a failure on the part of the federal troops to respect the Red Cross flag and because they revealed a defection of some who should have been a part of the Red Cross, but who, instead, divided the strength and prestige of humane Mexico by organizing the White Cross Society, whose functions are identical with those of the Red Cross.

It is reported that while engaged in giving attention to wounded men in the plaza before the National Palace, the president of the Red Cross was shot and killed. It has also been stated that two members of the White Cross Society were captured by the troops under the command of General Diaz and were found to be engaged in carrying ammunition, and that for this reason they were executed. Without more complete knowledge of local conditions and in consideration of the terrible confusion which prevailed in the City of Mexico in those days of fighting, it would be unjust to endeavor to fix the blame for these unfortunate incidents.

With the establishment of a stable government and the coming of peace it is hoped that the Mexican Red Cross may be given its proper status and recognition, and that those who have heretofore served under the banner of the White Cross may be induced to dissolve that organization and join hands heartily with the Red Cross.

The origin of the Mexican White Cross dates back to the revolution which Francisco I. Madero led against the government of Porfirio Diaz. As a result of the severe fighting between the insurgent and federal forces along the United States border in the spring of 1911 many men were seriously injured. At that time no systematic medical service was provided by either army, and the Mexican Red Cross, which had been organized only a short time previously, had not undertaken to send nurses and physicians to the front. The situation at the threshold of the United States, particularly at the California boundary and near El Paso, Texas, became so serious that the American Red Cross undertook to provide physicians, nurses and hospital care for such of the wounded men as could be reached without going into the interior of Mexico. This service of the American Red Cross along the border in California, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona aroused a sense of pride among many of the people of Mexico, with the result that a group of friends of the insurgents organized a body of nurses and physicians to be sent to the scene of the fighting. To the new organization was given the name of the Mexican White Cross. At about the same time that the White Cross was organized, the Red Cross also prepared to send nurses and physicians to the front. The White Cross group reached Juarez, across the boundary from El Paso, only twenty-four hours before the arrival of the Red Cross group. At that time it was a matter of current report that the White Cross promoters and supporters were favorable to Madero and his cause, and that the Red Cross, having been created under the administration of President Diaz, inclined to favor the federal cause as against that of Madero. The representatives of the two organizations on reaching Juarez were not cordial to each other, and a strong feeling of rivalry was apparent. In justice to both organizations, however, it should be said that at a conference held in Juarez at the suggestion of representatives of the American Red Cross, an arrangement was made by which the work to be done was divided equitably between the two, and that thereafter they worked side by side, zealously and seemingly without friction.

[Illustration: MEXICO CITY. LOOKING NORTH FROM CATHEDRAL TOWER.

[Illustration: MARKET SQUARE, MEXICO “THE SOLDIERS ARE COMING.”

While the facts are not known, it is possible that the failure of the Madero troops, in the recent fighting in the City of Mexico, to respect the Red Cross flag in some measure resulted from the reported partiality of the Red Cross for the Diaz government when Madero was the leader of the insurgents. On the other hand, General Diaz, in the recent Mexican fighting, may have been the more ready to deal harshly with the representatives of the White Cross because of the fact that the White Cross had been reported to be particularly friendly to the cause of Madero when Madero was fighting President Diaz, uncle to General Diaz, leader of the uprising which overthrew Madero.

But whatever may have been the causes which led to a division of the humane people of Mexico into the camps of the Red Cross and the White Cross, it is not to be forgotten that their objects were humanitarian and at bottom identical. With the coming of peace and the restoration of normal conditions of life in the Republic of Mexico, there is every reason to hope that rivalries may be forgotten and that there may come a splendid union of all the humanitarian forces of the country under the emblem of the Red Cross.

In the closing days of the Madero government, while fierce and ruthless war raged in the streets of the City of Mexico, lives and property of American residents were in extreme peril. United States Ambassador Henry Lane Wilson gave every possible assistance and protection, but at best many were without resources and were unable to escape from the city or country unaided. The American Red Cross, on receiving information of these conditions through the Department of State, forwarded $1,000 to Ambassador Wilson to be expended at his discretion for the benefit of Americans in need. Many Americans who succeeded in reaching the city of Vera Cruz were unable to pay for steamship passage to the United States, and for their assistance the Red Cross also sent $500 to William W. Canada, American Consul General of that city, to be used as required for their help.

[Illustration]

[Illustration: PLAZA IN FRONT OF NATIONAL PALACE, MEXICO CITY. PRESIDENT MADERO ADDRESSING THE CROWD FROM BALCONY.

[Illustration: REMOVING THE DEAD FROM THE STREETS OF MEXICO CITY.

Dynamite Explosion at Baltimore

A tramp steamer, the _Alum Chine_, lay peacefully at her dock in Baltimore Harbor on March 6, while a gang of stevedores loaded her with dynamite for use in the Panama Canal. The boxes of the explosive were being transferred to the hold of the ship from cars which stood on a barge alongside. About 300 tons of dynamite were on board or in the cars when smoke was seen coming from below. Knowing the inevitable result the men leaped overboard with a rush but before all had reached safety the explosion came.

No words can convey any adequate conception of the terrific destructive power of such a sudden loosing of immeasurable force. The _Alum Chine_ and the barge with its cars alongside disappeared. Other vessels in the vicinity were shattered. Men upon the deck of a new ship five hundred feet away were swept down like tall grass in a gale and a rain of fragments of iron and wreckage killed some, injured many and pierced the steel hull like shots from a cannon. Houses miles away were rocked to their foundations and windows were shattered without number.

[Illustration: REMARKABLE PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN AN INSTANT AFTER THE EXPLOSION OF 300 TONS OF DYNAMITE WHICH HAD BEEN LOADED ON BOARD THE “ALUM CHINE” FOR SHIPMENT TO THE CANAL ZONE.]

Immediate measures of relief were undertaken in behalf of the families of the thirty-one men killed and the fifty-eight injured. The Baltimore Chapter of the Red Cross held a meeting and appropriated $500 while the newspapers were equally prompt in collecting funds. By common consent the Federated Charities, with its experienced agents, was given charge of the gathering of the information necessary to effective action as well as of the actual relief distribution. The next logical step was the consolidation of all contributed funds from whatever source. Thus efficiency and community unity of action were assured from the start. With this beginning it may be confidently expected that the greatest possible good will result from the generosity of the Baltimore people.

Public Works and Relief in China

In general a report of relief operations published long after the public interest in the emergency which called for relief has subsided, is regarded as a good example of what not to read. When an exception is found, it is entitled to special notice, which accounts for this reference to the report of the Central China Famine Relief Committee, embracing an account of the relief operations in the famine district in China between October 1, 1911, and June 30, 1912. It will be recalled that the headquarters of the committee were in Shanghai and membership included many well known American and other foreign residents of China, as well as prominent Chinese citizens. Bishop F. R. Graves was chairman and Rev. E. C. Lobenstine, secretary, and Consul General Amos P. Wilder an active member. These three gentlemen are Americans. At the outset of its work the committee adopted a program stated in six articles. Two of these articles were:

“That relief be given only in return for work done, except in the case of those incapacitated for work.”

“That in the selection of work, preference be given to such work as will help the locality permanently, and as tends to prevent the recurrence of famine conditions, and that each piece be complete in itself.”

This program was closely adhered to from first to last. District subcommittees of representative foreign and native residents, appointed in various sections of the famine region, had immediate charge of the relief works and distribution, and under the district committees were superintendents who had personal direction of the working forces. So much for the machinery. Now for the accomplishment.

In May, 1912, the number of famine sufferers in the employ of the relief committee was 110,000. As but one member was employed from a family, it is estimated that this work supported about 550,000 persons. The character of the work undertaken and its extent are indicated by the following figures from the report:

Dykes built or repaired 129 miles Canals built or repaired 63 miles Ditches built or repaired 1,124 miles Roads repaired 163 miles Cubic yards of earth moved 10,155,000

It was estimated that the average amount of work performed daily by a famine sufferer was about two-thirds the average day’s work of a coolie under normal conditions. In Hankow 2,000 women from the famine district were employed for months in making garments, of which 64,000 were made and distributed. Much space is given in the report to a description of the actual methods of conducting the work on dykes, canals, etc. A single extract must suffice here:

“Now come with me to the works. First in number and importance are the dirt pushers (I translate the Chinese term), who dig the earth from rectangular pits and push it on their wheelbarrows to the new dykes. They number 3,400 and work in groups of about ten men each and are paid by the job in this way. As soon as a pit reaches a depth of four or five feet it is measured by the foreigner in charge and the head man of the ten is given a ticket which is really an order on the office for the value in grain of the work done. Measuring these pits takes almost all of one foreigner’s time, and as two-thirds of the workmen are dirt pushers, the foreigner has in his direct control that fraction of the whole. The dirt pushers receive 450 cash per fang of 100 cubic feet. In this and the following statement it should be remembered that it takes about 2,500 cash to make a gold dollar.

[Illustration: CHINESE ENGAGED IN BUILDING DYKES FOR THE PREVENTION OF FLOODS IN THE FAMINE DISTRICTS.]

[Illustration: TAMPING EARTHWORK.]

“Next in numerical strength are the ‘small workmen,’ of whom we have about 1,000. Their work is to carry water from the canal to the dyke in order that the latter may be pounded firm the more easily. Also many of them receive the earth as it comes on to the dyke, break it up, level it and dig small holes into which the water may be poured. They are paid in grain at the rate of 150 cash per man per day.

“Now we come to the pounders. They number 750 and were divided in groups of ten. Each group has a stone weighing about 100 pounds, circular, a foot in diameter, and eight inches thick. To each stone are attached ten ropes, one for each of the ten men, and when the men all pull in unison the stone rises above the level of their heads and then comes down with a thud. The dyke is built in layers, which are one foot thick after they are pounded. Each layer is pounded until it is of the consistency of rubber and is then tested in this unique way. An iron rod is driven down and into the small hole thus made water is poured from a tea kettle. If the water does not soak away the layer has been pounded sufficiently. These pounders are skilled workmen and were originally paid 250 cash worth of grain per man per day, but they proved to be so lazy that we had to invent a sliding scale of wages. So we considered 1,200 square feet as a full day’s work, and if a gang pounds that amount each man is given 250 cash; if they pound 1,100 square feet, 240 cash; 1,000 square feet, 230 cash; 1,300 square feet, 260 cash, and so on. Now they are not lazy.

“We have thirty skilled workmen who trim the edges of the dyke and give it a finished appearance. Also there are sixty overseers who understand the work. They keep an eye on the stone men and test their work as described above, see that the dirt pushers place the dirt in the proper place and direct the stream of water carriers as they come. Both these classes of workmen receive 250 cash worth of grain a day.”

In 1911 the American Red Cross sent to China Mr. C. D. Jameson, a well known engineer, to study the conditions which cause the frequent great floods to devise and suggest a system of river conservancy which will reduce the number and extent of these floods. Mr. Jameson was an advisor of the relief committee and was familiar with its public works at all times. He praises in the warmest terms the thoroughness of the operations and the judgment and ability of the missionaries who were in charge of much of the work. These missionaries, in fact, proved themselves practical men and capable administrators, who did not spare themselves, but under adverse conditions gave from twelve to fifteen hours daily to their unpaid tasks.