... not one of whom (“remonstrants”) ever went to a field nor gave a dollar, above fees; and half of whom were never known as members until now they appear in protest against the management. Clara Barton (1903).
As to the threat of an investigation, if there be any, Miss Barton cannot assent that it be suppressed by any act of hers. Red Cross Committee, 1903. From House Document No. 552, Vol. 49th, 58th Congress.
The Red Cross up to this time, 1898, had kept clear of political rings, and uncontaminated. Miss Barton was the acknowledged chief in authority. The Society had begun to win the most enviable reputation; it was growing to be a power; and politicians who had hogged everything else, from a cross-roads postoffice to a foreign minister, had begun to lay plans for displacing Miss Barton with a wife, niece, or daughter of a Washington politician. Miss Barton was probably not aware of this unholy scheme at this time. Perhaps, even if she had been, it would not have disturbed the serenity of her countenance for she was working for God and humanity. Under the Red Cross; or the Spanish-American War (Page No. 154, book published 1898; Author, Doctor Henry M. Lathrop; Editor, John R. Musick.)
BLACKMAIL ALLEGED—“CONGRESSIONAL INVESTIGATION”—TRUTH OF HISTORY
Joan of Arc was born in 1410; Clara Barton in 1821—411 years later. The former became the leader of the armies of France; the latter, the leader of humanitarianism in America. Each was a patriot—self-sacrificing—serving not for self-glory, but for a great cause. The little clique of politicians and military aristocracy plied Joan of Arc for five months with “catch questions” on “trumped-up” charges, then condemned her to be burned at the stake. The little clique of politicians and social aristocracy plied Clara Barton with “catch questions” on “trumped-up” charges, then tried to condemn her to eternal ignominy. General Leonard Wood, humanity’s friend and chivalric, with whom Clara Barton served in the camp, the hospital, and on the battlefield, says: “There is a call for women actuated by the same spirit of service as a Deborah, a Joan of Arc, a Molly Pitcher—women who will carry forward the work begun by Clara Barton and Florence Nightingale.”
Let the ends thou aimest at be thy country’s
Thy God’s and Truth.
Clara Barton met her fate in the Nation’s Capital. Says The Fra: “The clique went before Congress and secured an amended charter to the Red Cross, which included none of Miss Barton’s friends. Because the name of Clara Barton headed the list, the bill was passed; the members of Congress supposed it was a bill that Miss Barton wanted. This was done without Miss Barton’s knowledge or consent. However, Miss Barton was ignored by the new organization. Her name has never been mentioned in their reports or publications; she has never been invited to attend any meeting of the Society which she had created, and established in this country.”
The Red Cross then was non politics, non society, non salary, non graft. President Clara Barton was obdurate, non pliable. She could not be used. Her virtues became her undoing. She was retired. From Europe, for inspiration in America, was brought the English heroine;—suppressed or belittled, the American Red Cross Mother in semi-official literature, “At Home and Abroad.” The coup won—the conspiracy completely triumphed. And how the official records disclose.
Washington is the rendezvous of “in full dress” criminals—character-assassins,—“that strange bedlam composed largely of social climbers and official poseurs.” They carry a stiletto, half truth, but in desperate cases make use of slander, of forty-five calibre. Their prospective victims range from rich Uncle Sam down to a poor lone woman, of charity. They ply their vocations sometimes, through envy, for self-glorification; sometimes, through ambition, for self-exaltation. While Washington was having the honor of dishonoring the great American philanthropist, a western town was offering as a present to her a fifty thousand dollar home, just to have the honor of her presence there. Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley, Miss Barton’s three cospirits and co-workers for humanity, met their fate while guarded by detectives; under certain customs prevailing in the West and South, as there is no protection from slander against a woman, “Chivalry” would have come to the rescue of defenseless Clara Barton.