At the time of the Eighth International Red Cross Conference held in London, June, 1907, Professor Louis Renault presented in the name of the Central Committee of the French Red Cross a report upon the “Repression of the Abuse of the Red Cross Insignia.” In this report Professor Renault showed that for twenty years this question had not ceased to be considered. This abuse continues in certain countries—ours among the number—because of insufficient legislation. Still, important steps have been taken, and if to-day the work has not been completed it is on the right road. At the International Convention of 1906, at Geneva, when the revised treaty was accepted it contained special paragraphs referring to the protection of the insignia and name which all the countries of the world have agreed upon to designate the hospital formations and their personnel protected by this treaty. The countries signing this treaty obligated themselves, in case their present laws do not provide sufficient protection to the Red Cross name and insignia, to apply to their respective legislative bodies for the further necessary legislation. The report of Professor Renault had for its object to call attention to these promises that had been made. The honor and the interest of each country demand that they be kept. The Swiss Federal Council has lately prepared a law which it will present to the Chambers to preserve to this emblem of humanitarian neutrality, which the Cross of Geneva represents, all its moral value and its noble signification.
Action of American Medical Association.
Major W. M. Ireland, Medical Corps, U. S. Army, presented to the House of Delegates of the American Medical Association the resolution adopted by the Executive Committee of the American National Red Cross, October 18, 1907, and then offered the following resolution:
Whereas, By the terms of the Treaty of Geneva, 1864, and the Revised Treaty of Geneva, 1906, the emblem of the Greek Red Cross on a white ground, and the words “Red Cross,” or “Geneva Cross,” were adopted to designate the personnel and materiel of the medical departments of the military and naval forces and of the recognized volunteer aid societies in time of war for the humane purpose of rendering them immune from attack or capture; and
Whereas, The United States, as well as all other civilized powers, is a signatory to said treaties; and
Whereas, The use of the Red Cross by medical associations and individuals of the medical profession must seriously impair the usefulness of the emblem for the purpose for which it was created and adopted; be it therefore
Resolved, That it is the sense of the American Medical Association that the use of the Geneva Red Cross by associations or individuals, other than those of the army, navy and Red Cross Society, should be discontinued, and, if desirable, some other insignia adopted, and be it further
Resolved, That the adoption of this resolution be given as wide publicity as possible in the medical journals of the country.
Dr. Samuel Wolfe, of Pennsylvania, supplemented the resolutions presented by Major Ireland by introducing the following preambles and resolution, which were also referred to the Reference Committee on Legislation and Political Action: