OUR BABIES

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 287, 30 August 1919, Page 5

OUR BABIES

13/ fIVGEIA.I 1 Published under tiie nuspicos of the L Royal Xcw Zealand Society tor tno Health of Women and Children. "It is wiser to put up a tcnco at the top of it precipice than to maintain an amlmlaneo at tlie bottom." TIIE RED GROSS AND INFANT WEI/- B \ . FARE. '! . ' "(Continued.) *1' Last week we dealt with the 1 proposed /co-operation of the British Tied Cros-fi in y infant welfare .work. Tliis weeit shall show ho* lUb mo\eiucai i& lilsnlv to become world-wide. . A. committee of representatives of tne Red Cross Societies of France, Great tain, Italy, Japan, and the b«Ued States was formed, with Mr. llenry P. Davisou (United States) as chairman. • On February 21, l l Jiy, jMr. Davison euomilled the following memorandum from Paris, which explains matters very clearly. MISMOKANDUM BY MR. lIENfiY P. - DAVISON. The International Ked Croes Committee at Geneva has called a- convention ol the Ked. Cross organisations of the world to meet at Geneva 30 days after the declaration of peace • ' This call was issued at the request of tno Red Cross societies of the "United States, - ivrancc, Great lintain, lialy, and Japan, . whose representative* have constituted themselves as a "Cominiucc of Ked Cross < Societies" "to formulate and to propose | to the J»,fid Cross societies of the world an t extended programme of. Ked Cross activi« ! ties in the interest of humanity. The Govornineius of the live countries represented in ihiß nucleus of a committee have irom tno ouiact been fully informed of the'proposal to hold such a world conference; tuey regard it as important, and each has separately m&iu* lc-Btfed itVtfesiru thin, a plan embody,inu the purposes of this committee be preparcu for subimnniun lo sucli conterence. THE MOTIVE OF.TiIE.PLAN/ The world is appalled at the widespread human glittering which lias 'followed in the wake of tne. war. .Problems of .l°od and reconstruction aro of sucn magnitude tnat they .must, of course, be dealt with and financed by Governments. Hut- in ad- 6 dition, there is a vast ncid for supply b meulary and emergency eifort on the part g . of voluntary national reliei organisations. - The origiual Ueneva Convention was designed primarily to guarantee "neutrality i to those actually engaged in the care of. I sicU and wounded eomuatama. This war has shown, However, thai the battlefield of modern warfare extends into every _ homo of the nations involved. Out of this fact has grown the necessity that thy l(c<l Cross should in time oi war extend its ministrations to homeless retugees ad wcli as to civilians in their homes Dcmnd tiio lines. The international Red Cross al Geneva <lias from tne very beginning done an im» port-ant worK. Throughout the « present war its high principles of both neutrality and. helpfulness-have been maintained, its position of pre-eminence as the great neu« tral agency, should be upheld,, and it is the beuef tiiat its ideals lor extending lief- in time of war can be applied with equal vigour and effectiveness in time of peaeci y ; , , Tne experience of the war has developed ail advanced practicb in caring for the welfare of motnerhood and childhood. It has likewise demonstrated novel and, most promising, possibilities in the care and treatment- of tuuercuioiiw .fcuit other, aiaeases. '• " • . ft is accordingly of unusual importance 'at this moment, in the wo'rid s history that . representatives of tne various people, should laeet in coiiictuiice, compare nuorination and experience, an<l determine now voiuutary effort lu every country may best . exert itseii in the service ol" humanity. it is peculiarly fitting ta*u i,ucn a world conference snouid meei uuuei* uo aegiß of the Ked Grow, .for the. ilctl Gross shown useif to be an lusiruiaent of peculiar llexibility and a<iaplu.oiiuy with which to promote efforts for uia relief of suffer* ing humanity. The Ked Cross emblem Big* nines next to human sympatny, above ail else, neutrality—nuutraiity as uetv.een nations, ub between races, as between roll* giouH, us between clashes. While, in its organised torin in eacn country, u enjoy* , intimate relations with it? own Goveruinent, yet it preserves its voluntary and democratic character. . ••. It iB expected that out of this world gatheving Micre omerge an international organisation through which the peoples oi. the world may co-opcrato m siimulatius: and developing activities in the respective countries lor tuo better* ment ol mankind.. ' Such activities would foster the study or, human disease, promote sound meabureo for public health and sanitation, the ww* .fare of children and mothers, the cducuj tion and training of nurses, and the care and prevention of tuberculosis, venereal disease, malaria, and other chronic or infectious diseases, and would provide xneas*, uves for handling problems ol world relief iu emergencies, sucli as fire, famine, awl postilcnte. PLAN OF 'PKOCEDURE. It is the plan of the "Committee of Ked Cross Societies" to proceed immediately to tne uenmtc formation of tne plan to do submitted to the world Ked Cross Congress, and for that purpose it will establish working headquarters at Cannes, France. • ... To that point will be invited the world s leading experts in public health; tuber* cuiobis, hygiene and sanitation, and cnild welfare, it is expeeteU that tile past ex* lierienco of tile nations will curetuliy canvassed with a view to the formulation ot" progi'aniines of action which can bti laid bw'oro the ConEi'ess at Ueneva. Following that event, these programmes v'oulft bo communicated to the Ked tiroes Bocietics of all the nations, and the societies would each in its owo way Btimulatfl thu carrying; out of those programmes . among the respective peoples. It is proposed that, following, the World Congress, more will be established at Geneva a permanent working organisation. Such "organisation will cqmpriEO experts who will keep in touch with the do*, vclopuients ithrousacAt the world in the various 'lines in «'tiich the Ked Croßß is interested. Immediately developments should hiivo been realised in any part of the world, either in researcn or practice, full information would be communicated to tho central organisation nt Geneva, and tiiere scrutinised. This information and oiuert advice concerning it would then be immediately transmitted to the fied Cross societies of the world. It is not tne thought that the. international organisation at Geneva would itself carry out the programmes auoptw, or that the Hed Cross societies of the individual countries would themselves necessarily conduct operations along the respective lines indicated. ■. It is the plan, however, that the international organisation _at Geneva, will thereafter continue to lormulate and propose lines of lied Cross effort in the interest of humanity. These programmes will forthwith bo communicated to the individual Ked Cross societies. _ Efforts.'would be made oy the interna--tional organisation to stimulate the development iu each country of an activo and eiticicut lied Cross organisation in keeping with the ncwly-couceived possibilities of the lied Cross niovoment. ... • Each national Ked Cross society, iu the lioht of information from the internationaf organisation, or on the bnßis of its own experience or desires, win stimulate among thu people of its own countiy effective measures to accomplish the results aimed at. j Till! MEANING OP THE PLAN AS A WHOLE. Tho conception involves not merely efforts to relievo human suffering, but to , prevent it-not alone the suffering of one people, but au attempt to arouse all peoples to a sense oi Uteir responsibility for the welfare of their fellow-beings throughout the world. Iu brief, the plan contemplates the formation of what will be in effect an association in the interest of all humanity. It is a programme both ideal and prac-' tical—ideal, m that its supreme aim is , humanitarian; practical, in that it seeks meiiuß and measures to meet, tho tragic crises which are daily recurrent in the lives of all mankind. Surely the operation of such a plan would develop a new fraternity an;l sympathy among the peoples.' By so doing a.n important contribution will have ueen made towards the success of the League ofNations; and this present plan should be viewed a vital factor iu the larger undertaking. . . The League of Nations aims to hold all peoples together iu an eifort to avoid war and to ensure freedom; this particular plan aims at deviling a procedure whereby all peoples may co-operate actively in promoting tho health and happiness of one another.' Next week we shall give a few .notes of what took- place at, the conference at Cannes, and the resolutions arrived at by tho delegates.