THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



375 



in addition have sent special gifts of 

 equipment and supplies for the invalided 

 soldiers. Among the most interesting of 

 the latter have been handsome knitted 

 and crocheted comforts, many of which 

 are the handiwork of the 250 young ladies 

 employed at the headquarters of the So- 

 ciety in Washington. 



The Society owes the success and de- 

 velopment of its important war work 

 very largely to the energetic and well- 

 directed labors of its Director and Editor, 

 Mr. Gilbert Grosvenor. Under his in- 

 spiration and direction were established 

 and equipped the National Geographic 

 Society hospital wards in France. At 

 home, one of the Society's buildings, 

 Hubbard Hall, has been transformed into 

 an auxiliary establishment of Red Cross 

 workers, while the several hundred em- 

 ployees in the Society's office have been 



organized into a helpful band of patriotic 

 workers, and the Liberty Loan and War 

 Stamp subscriptions have been very 

 large. 



In an early issue of the National Geo- 

 graphic Magazine the Editor hopes to 

 publish a description of the National 

 Geographic Wards, written by Carol K. 

 Corey, whose recent graphic articles 

 from the front, "From the Trenches to 

 Versailles" and "Plain Tales from the 

 Trenches," have won enthusiastic praise 

 from Geographic readers. 



The months that lie ahead are preg- 

 nant with opportunities for national serv- 

 ice and for achievements in the increase 

 and diffusion of geographic knowledge. 

 With the sustaining support of each in- 

 dividual member, the Society cannot fail 

 to prove equal to and worthy of these 

 opportunities. 



THE SYMBOL OF SERVICE TO MANKIND 



The Greatest Humanitarian Movement of Modern Times 



Originated in a Practical Attempt to Meet a 



Practical Need with a Practical Remedy 



By Stockton Axson 



National Secretary, American Red Cross 



RED CROSS originated in a prac- 

 tical attempt to meet a practical 

 need with a practical remedy. 

 Sometimes a "movement" originates in 

 an idea, and develops through successive 

 attempts to put the idea into practice ; 

 but Red Cross began in practice and de- 

 veloped its "ideas" out of practical situ- 

 ations. Whimsical philosophers debate 

 the question whether the hen or the Qgg 

 "came first," but there can be no ques- 

 tion about the precedence of practice and 

 ideas in the origin of Red Cross. 



Red Cross is perhaps the greatest hu- 

 manitarian movement of modern times, 

 which is of course equivalent to saying 

 of all times, for humanitarianism is a 

 thoroughly modern thing; but this par- 

 ticular manifestation of humanitarianism 



did not originate in theoretical notions of 

 humaneness. 



It began in a hospital and on a battle- 

 field, with Florence Nightingale at Scu- 

 tari and with Henri Dunant at Solferino, 

 in actual nursing of sick and wounded 

 soldiers in a base hospital, in actual sal- 

 vage of wounded soldiers on a great and 

 bloody battlefield. There was nothing 

 vague or theoretical in the motive of 

 Miss Nightingale or M. Dunant ; it was 

 as practical as rescuing a drowning man 

 or twisting a tourniquet above a severed 

 artery. 



THE WAR CORRESPONDENT'S DISPATCH 

 WHICH AROUSED ENGLAND 



When the special correspondent of the 

 London Times — he was William Howard 



