The Red Cross Society of Japan
To the American National Red Cross:
Having been fully occupied in looking after all the affairs relative to the relief work of the late war-victims, some of whom are still left behind in our hospitals, I could spare no time otherwise up to this very day, when, nevertheless, I found a few days to be squeezed out in order to have realized my earnest desire of inspecting the present conditions of the famine stricken districts in the Northern Provinces in Japan and, besides, it was a proper time to be had for that purpose. Leaving Tokyo on the 13th instant by a night train, in company with our Mr. Masatake Togo, Honorary Secretary, and Mr. Kow Isobe, one of our clerks, and arriving at Fukushima at 4 o’clock in the next morning, I started for another journey escorted by Gov. Arita, President of the Fukushima Red Cross Branch, and several other officers, and visited as many counties, towns, and villages as possible meeting, at the same time, their head men and officials, and dropping, once in a while, into the huts of suffering peasants and telling them, upon every opportunity, how generous and sympathetic President Roosevelt, members of the American National Red Cross Society, proprietor of Christian Herald and its readers had been in practically rescuing the famine stricken people from the verge of starvation.
Before distributing the money, which you sent to us, however, we had very carefully investigated the best methods, by which no peasant there should laze away his time simply relying upon such helps. With this in view, we instructed each Branch of our Society at those districts to provide the poorest with foodstuffs.
An official instruction, No. 146, given by the Governor of Fukushima Ken (Prefecture) on the 10th of March, 1906, to the head men of counties, towns, and villages may be of interest to you. It runs as follows:
“The President of the United States has extended his sympathy to Japan so deeply that he appealed to Americans in behalf of our famine stricken provinces to raise a Relief Fund. As a result, we have now received a certain amount of money as a part of contributions from America which reached here through the channels of the Red Cross Society of Japan, the Department of Home Affairs and the American National Red Cross Society. I wish you would convey to your sufferers the kindness and sympathy so practically shown to them by Americans. This money should only be used to provide the sufferers with food....”
The amount of money we sent to Fukushima Prefecture was up to the 13th of April distributed among counties as follows:
THE AMOUNT OF MONEY DISTRIBUTED AMONG COUNTIES OUT OF AMERICAN CONTRIBUTIONS.
| NAME OF COUNTY. | AMOUNT. |
|---|---|
| Shinobu | Yen 4,943.00 |
| Date | 5,244.00 |
| Adachi | 5,364.00 |
| Asaka | 4,642.00 |
| Iwase | 3,315.00 |
| Minamiaidu | 1,508.00 |
| Kitaaidu | 1,084.00 |
| Yama | 2,070.00 |
| Kawanuma | 1,265.00 |
| Onuma | 1,265.00 |
| Higashishirakawa | 2,267.00 |
| Nishishirakawa | 4,521.00 |
| Ishikawa | 2,268.00 |
| Nakamura | 5,847.00 |
| Ishijiro | 4,452.00 |
| Futaba | 3,375.00 |
| Soma | 5,847.00 |
| Wakamatsu | 1,000.89 |
| Total Yen | 60,277.89 |
The methods of helping that have been adopted by proper authorities in co-operation with local officers of the Red Cross Society of Japan are in general similar with those in other two Prefectures, and are applied quite scientifically, if I could use such an expression. In classifying the sufferers, for instance, the authorities have carefully inspected every family in order to find to what extent and how its members should be helped. The following is an example given to me by the President of Iwate Red Cross Branch: