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.

MEXICO CITY. LOOKING NORTH FROM CATHEDRAL TOWER.

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.

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

REMOVING THE DEAD FROM THE STREETS OF MEXICO CITY.