Maids, matrons, nay, the secrets of the grave
This vituperous slander enters.
Under the laws of this country the accuser was estopped from making “charges” in 1916; or at any other time, except in a court of competent jurisdiction. Were it not for this wise provision the reputation of no man nor woman, alive or dead, could have adequate protection from “enemies,” in ambush. By what code of ethics, legal or moral, is such personal judgment against the dead rendered? And where is the record-verdict of the “crime”? In five or six years of the investigation, I have been unable to find any record that such “crime,” as is alleged against Miss Barton, was committed. Nor do I find that a criminal charge of any kind against her is of record in the criminal court, the only institution under the laws of this country where a person should be adjudged guilty of crime. I do find from the records, however, that the Red Cross official making these charges was one of the “Remonstrants” of 1903–4, and who then certified to Miss Barton’s “integrity”; and also over her own signature proposed that Miss Barton accept the Honorary Presidency of the Red Cross as a tribute to her “integrity.”
“Loose and improper arrangements for securing the needed accountability”; “such a woman”; “dishonest appropriation of relief funds for the personal use of Clara Barton!” Says The Fra, then under the management of Mr. and Mrs. Elbert Hubbard, “Such accusation is not only the blunder of boors but it is crime and sacrilege.” If such unproved, unfounded charges against a woman, with immunity to their author, can get into the government record, into the hands of the people’s representatives at Washington, passing without governmental protest through the mails, perilous the adventure of the women of America to enter upon a career of public service.
And has the cause of Clara Barton grown? Yes, gloriously, to the infinite credit of Clara Barton in laying the foundation in conformity to her statement, “To be efficient, the Red Cross must have government recognition, must bear the stamp of national individuality, and be constructed according to the spirit, habits, and needs of the country it represents;—in contemplating the possible realization of my hope and all it would entail and involve, I have been looking carefully and anxiously to the plans of the foundations of the structure we are hoping to build; and I perceive in creating an Institution that shall be National and of the people, the foundations must be as broad and as solid as the whole nation.”
To the credit of the Clara Barton management, and of the succeeding management, of the Red Cross; to the credit of the American people that for twenty-three years previous to the “accusation,” and thereafter notwithstanding, the world has held in highest regard the Red Cross Founder and Red Cross integrity. What of financial support, for reasons that have been withheld, (probably millions) has not been reported. What of financial and moral support accorded to the Red Cross brings a flush of pride to the face of every true American; what of seeming policy toward the Founder also brings a flush,—but not of pride. A public policy, not in harmony with public sentiment, has brought on national disasters—a world disaster.
Mere growth, of itself, is not a virtue; for the upas tree grows, with spreading branches. The best prosperity is that prosperity whose foundation is secure, whose record-history is untarnished. The best philanthropy is that philanthropy which lives in the best atmosphere, breathes of the purest, gives of the soul’s best. To her latest breath Clara Barton breathed love, breathed purest Red Cross philanthropy,—but prayed justice for herself. She had never spoken a discordant word in her life, meaningly; her “enemies” monopolized the discordant words. So far as known, she never made an enemy; her “enemies” were self-made—their self-made record, on the books, reported “in the red.”
Wearing a “political helmet,” those who attacked a helpless woman took possession of her reputation and prospered. At no time in her life has it been shown that in her chosen field, with years of successful experience, Clara Barton was not a good business manager; her “enemies” assumed themselves, without experience, to be good in business and took charge of her affairs:—but under proper political protection.
Slander—it is a coward in a coat of mail
That wages war against the brave and wise.