MOVING-IN DAY. ONE OF THE FIRST FAMILIES TO OCCUPY AN AMERICAN COTTAGE, MESSINA.
“On the other hand, I am most happy to say that we have the most gratifying expressions of appreciation from such persons as Archbishop Ireland, the Archbishop of Messina, the Bishop of Milito, and other distinguished prelates of the Catholic Church.”
The Red Cross has no method of knowing how much or what part of the amounts received for Italian earthquake relief (about $1,000,000) was contributed by Catholics. Assuming that the proportion this part bore to the whole was the same as the ratio of the Catholic population of the United States to the whole population, then the funds of Catholic origin, so to speak, received by the Red Cross must have been one-seventh or one-sixth of the whole.
It seems to be established as a fact that there was no sufficient basis for your charge that the American Red Cross had adopted a course that would or did result in the perversion of faith of the Catholic orphans. Those appointed by the King to the solemn trust of rearing these orphans are discharging their duty conscientiously. The prelates of the Catholic Church on the spot are thoroughly familiar with what was ordered to be done and with what is being done in this regard, and they will be careful to note and call attention to any deviation from conditions imposed by royal warrant and by justice.
Your letter to me of March 22, 1909, was given to the press before it reached me, and before you had taken pains to inquire into the proofs relied on to support the assertions which were the basis for your arraignment of the Red Cross.
I have sent copies of this letter to the Catholic press of the United States, in the belief that the readers of the original charge are entitled to know what are the actual facts respecting the measures taken by those applying the generous contributions of American Catholics and non-Catholics to insure the rearing and instruction of the earthquake orphans in the faith of their fathers.
The American Ambassador in Rome is a member of the permanent Executive Committee of the American Red Cross Italian Orphanage.
Yours, very sincerely,
GEO. W. DAVIS,
Chairman, Central Committee.