After deliberation, $5,000,000 was suggested as the proper sum and the question was asked if the Red Cross concurred. Miss Barton, with the faintest suggestion of a smile, replied that she thought $5,000,000 would be sufficient. As the difficulties of raising money became more apparent to the committees, numerous meetings were held and various other amounts suggested, Miss Barton agreeing each time. From $5,000,000 to $500,000, with a guarantee for the balance; then $100,000 cash, with $400,000 guaranteed, and so on, until $50,000 was named to start the work with, such sum to be available on the arrival of the Red Cross in Constantinople. The president and a few officers of the Red Cross arrived there on February 15, 1896, but it was late in the following April before the $50,000 was received. These facts as given are intended solely to show the difficulties the committees had to contend with in raising the amount they did.
For general information it will, perhaps, not be inappropriate to state that all relief work is governed and conducted on military lines to preclude the possibility of confusion, as the Red Cross on fields of disaster is the only organized body in a disorganized community. Thus, wherever the organization has control, Miss Barton has personal supervision of all departments: the financial, receiving and disposing of all funds; the correspondence, opening all letters and directing replies; the field, assigning workers to attend to such duties as are best suited to their various abilities, who report daily, if possible, and receive instructions for the prosecution of the work, the supplies, receiving accurate reports of all material and giving directions as to its disposition.
George H. Pullman.
Constantinople, August 1, 1896.
DIARBEKER, VILAYET OF DIARBEKER.
In the Field of Mr. Woods’ Work.
