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PUBLIC LAW NO. 4, FIFTY-EIGHTH CONGRESS, THIRD SESSION (S. 5704, APPROVED JANUARY 5, 1905)

AN ACT To incorporate the American Red Cross

Whereas on the twenty-second of August, eighteen hundred and sixty-four, at Geneva, Switzerland, plenipotentiaries respectively representing Italy, Baden, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, Portugal, France, Prussia, Saxony, and Wurttemberg and the Federal Council of Switzerland agreed upon ten articles of a treaty or convention for the purpose of mitigating the evils inseparable from war; of ameliorating the condition of soldiers wounded on the field of battle, and particularly providing, among other things, in effect, that persons employed in hospitals and in according relief to the sick and wounded and supplies for this purpose shall be deemed neutral and entitled to protection; and that a distinctive and uniform flag shall be adopted for hospitals and ambulances and convoys of sick and wounded and an arm badge for individuals neutralized; and

Whereas said treaty has been ratified by all of said nations, and by others subsequently, to the number of forty-three or more, including the United States of America; and

Whereas the International Conference of Geneva of eighteen hundred and sixty-three recommended "that there exist in every country a committee whose mission consists in cooperating in times of war with the hospital service of the armies by all means in its power;" and Whereas a permanent organization is an agency needed in every nation to carry out the purpose of said treaty, and especially to secure supplies and to execute the humane objects contemplated by said treaty, with the power to adopt and use the distinctive flag and arm badge specified by said treaty in article seven, on which shall be the sign of the Red Cross, for the purpose of cooperating with the "Comité International de Secours aux Militaires Blessés" (International Committee of Relief for the Wounded in War); and

Whereas in accordance with the requirements and customs of said international body such an association adopting and using said insignia was formed in the city of Washington, District of Columbia, in July, eighteen hundred and eighty-one, known as "The American National Association of the Red Cross," reincorporated April seventeenth, eighteen hundred and ninety-three, under the laws of the District of Columbia, and reincorporated by Act of Congress in June, nineteen hundred; and

Whereas it is believed that the importance of the work demands a repeal of the present charter and a reincorporation of the society under Government supervision: Now, therefore,

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That Clara Barton, Hilary A. Herbert, Thomas F. Walsh, Charles C. Glover, Charles J. Bell Mabel T. Boardman, George Dewey, William R. Day, Nelson A

Miles, James Tanner, William K. Van Reypen, John M. Wilson, Simon Wolf, James R. Garfield, Gifford Pinchot, S. W. Woodward, Mary A. Logan, Walter Wyman, of Washington, District of Columbia; George H. Shields, of Missouri; William H. Taft, F. B. Loomis, Samuel Mather, of Ohio; Spencer Trask, Robert C. Ogden, Cleveland H. Dodge, George C. Boldt, William T. Wardwell, John G. Carlisle, George B. McClellan, Elizabeth Mills Reid, Margaret Carnegie, of New York; John H. Converse, Alexander Mackay-Smith, J. Wilkes O'Neill, H. Kirke Porter, of Pennsylvania; Richard Olney, W. Murray Crane, Henry L. Higginson, William Draper, Frederick H. Gillett, of Massachusetts; Marshall Field, Robert T. Lincoln, Lambert Tree, of Illinois; A. G. Kaufman, of South Carolina; Alexander W. Terrell, of Texas; George Gray, of Delaware; Redfield Proctor, of Vermont; John W. Foster, Noble C. Butler, Robert W. Miers, of Indiana; John Sharp Williams, of Mississippi; William Alden Smith, of Michigan; Horace Davis, W. W. Morrow, of California; Daniel C. Gilman, Eugene Lovering, of Maryland; J. Taylor Ellyson, of Virginia; Daniel R. Noyes, of Minnesota; Emanuel Fiske, Marshall Fiske, of Connecticut, together with five other persons to be named by the President of the United States, one to be chosen from each of the Departments of State, War, Navy, Treasury, and Justice, their associates and successors, are hereby created a body corporate and politic in the District of Columbia.

SEC. 2. That the name of this corporation shall be "The American National Red Cross," and by that name shall have perpetual succession, with the power to sue and be sued in courts of law and equity within the jurisdiction of the United States; to have and to hold such real and personal estate as shall be deemed advisable and to accept bequests for the purposes of this corporation hereinafter set forth; to adopt a seal and the same to alter and destroy at pleasure; and to have the right to have and to use, in carrying out its purposes hereinafter designated, as an emblem and badge, a Greek red cross on a white ground, as the same has been described in the treaty of Geneva, August twenty-second, eighteen hundred and sixty-four, and adopted by the several nations acceding thereto; to ordain and establish bylaws and regulations not inconsistent with the laws of the United States of America or any State thereof, and generally to do all such acts and things (including the establishment of regulations for the election of associates and successors) as may be necessary to carry into effect the provisions of this Act and promote the purposes of said organization; and the corporation hereby created is designated as the organization which is authorized to act in matters of relief under said treaty. In accordance with article seven of the treaty, the delivery of the brassard allowed for individuals neutralized in time of war shall be left to military authority.

SEC. 3. That the purposes of this corporation are and shall beFirst. To furnish volunteer aid to the sick and wounded of armies in time of war, in accordance with the spirit and conditions of the conference of Geneva of October, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, and also of the treaty of the Red Cross, or the treaty of Geneva, of August twenty-second, eighteen hundred and sixty-four, to which the United States of America gave its adhesion on March first, eighteen hundred and eighty-two.

Second. And for said purposes to perform all the duties devolved upon a national society by each nation which has acceded to said treaty.

Third. To succeed to all the rights and property which have been hitherto held and to all the duties which have heretofore been performed by the American National Red Cross as a corporation duly incorporated by Act of Congress June sixth, nineteen hundred, which Act is hereby repealed and the organization created thereby is hereby dissolved.

Fourth. To act in matters of voluntary relief and in accord with the military and naval authorities as a medium of communication between the people of the United States of America and their Army and Navy, and to act in such matters between similar national societies of other governments through the "Comité International de Secours," and the Government and the people and the Army and Navy of the United States of America.

Fifth. And to continue and carry on a system of national and international relief in time of peace and apply the same in mitigating the sufferings caused by pestilence, famine, fire, floods, and other great national calamities, and to devise and carry on measures for preventing the same.

SEC. 4. That from and after the passage of this Act it shall be unlawful for any person within the jurisdiction of the United States to falsely and fraudulently hold himself out as, or represent or pretend himself to be, a member of, or an agent for, the American National Red Cross, for the purpose of soliciting, collecting, or receiving money or material; or for any person to wear or display the sign of the Red Cross, or any insignia colored in imitation thereof for the fraudulent purpose of inducing the belief that he is a member of, or an agent for, the American National Red Cross. Nor shall it be lawful for any person or corporation, other than the Red Cross of America, not now lawfully entitled to use the sign of the Red Cross, hereafter to use such sign or any insignia colored in imitation thereof for the purposes of trade or as an advertisement to induce the sale of any article whatsoever. If any person violates the provisions of this section, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be liable to a fine of not less than one nor more than five hundred dollars, or imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or both, for each and every offense. The fine so collected shall be paid to the American National Red Cross.

SEC. 5. That the governing body of the said American National Red Cross shall consist, in the first instance, of a central committee numbering eighteen persons, to be appointed in the manner following, namely: Six by the incorporators herein named and twelve by the President of the United States, one of whom shall be designated by the President to act as chairman. It shall be the duty of the central committee to organize with as little delay as possible State and Territorial societies, including the District of Columbia, under such rules as the said committee may prescribe. When six or more State or Territorial societies have been formed, thereafter the central committee shall be composed as follows: Six to be appointed by the incorporators, six by the representatives of the State and Territorial societies at the annual meeting of the incorporators and societies, and six by the President of the United States, one of whom shall be designated by

him as chairman and one each to be named by him from the Departments of State, War, Navy, Treasury, and Justice.

The first six members of the central committee elected by the incorporators at the first annual meeting, and the first six members of the central committee elected by the State and Territorial delegates, shall when elected select by lot from their number two members to serve one year, two members to serve two years, and two members to serve three years, and each subsequent election of members shall be for a period of three years or until their successors are duly elected and qualify. The six members of the central committee appointed by the President at the annual meeting shall serve for one year.

The President shall fill as soon as may be any vacancy that may occur by death, resignation, or otherwise in the chairmanship or in the membership of the central committee appointed by him. And any vacancy that may occur in the six members of the central committee herein provided to be appointed by the incorporators or in the six to be appointed by the representatives of the State societies shall be filled by temporary appointments to be made by the remaining members of the six in which the vacancy or vacancies may occur, such appointees to serve until the next annual meeting.

The central committee shall have power to appoint from its own members an executive committee of seven persons, five of whom shall be a quorum, who, when the central committee is not in session, shall have and exercise all the powers of the central committee.

The Secretary of War shall within thirty days after the passage of this Act call a meeting at a time and place to be designated by him in the city of Washington of the incorporators hereunder, giving at least thirty days' notice thereof in one or more newspapers, and the annual meeting of said incorporators, their associates and successors, shall thereafter be held in said city on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in December, the first of said meetings to be held in December, nineteen hundred and five. Fifteen members shall constitute a quorum at any annual or special meeting.

Voting by proxy shall not be allowed at any meeting of the incorporators, annual or special, nor at any meeting of State or Territorial societies organized under the provisions of this charter.

SEC. 6. That the said American National Red Cross shall on the first day of January of each year make and transmit to the Secretary of War a report of its proceedings for the preceding year, including a full, complete, and itemized report of receipts and expenditures of whatever kind, which report shall be duly audited by the War Department, and a copy of said report shall be transmitted to Congress by the War Department.

SEC. 7. That Congress shall have the right to repeal, alter, or amend this Act at any time.

Approved, January 5, 1905.

REPORT OF THE UNITED STATES DELEGATION TO THE GENEVA CONFERENCE

THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES DELEGATION TO THE GENEVA CONFERENCE TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE

DELEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES,

GENEVA CONFERENCE,

Geneva, July 10, 1906.

SIR: I have the honor to transmit herewith, through our embassy at Berlin, the report of the delegation of the United States to the conference to revise the Geneva Convention of 1864.

It seems proper to say that the well-known professional reputation and high official rank of the three delegates from the Army and Navy were appreciated by the members of the conference and added weight to the opinions which the delegation expressed.

The delegation is under especial obligation to General Davis for his aid in the preparation of their report.

Meetings of the committees appointed by the conference were held twice each week-day, at 10 o'clock in the morning and 3 o'clock in the afternoon. The president of our delegation attended all the meetings of all the committees, although he was formally a member of but three of the committees.

It may not be inappropriate to add that when the question of arbitration presented by M. de Martens was under consideration, the delegation, in announcing its attitude, stated its desire "to place on record their most hearty sympathy with the general principle of international arbitration, which has always had the earnest support of the Government which they have the honor to represent;" and they further stated their "belief that the fullest and most complete opportunity for the discussion of the principle contained in the clause which M. de Martens proposed would be afforded at the second conference at The Hague, which is to take place in the not distant future."

The delegation also referred "to the fact that, in the meantime, the existing Hague Convention provides a way for securing the arbitral results which are contemplated in M. de Martens' proposition."

I may be permitted to express the individual opinion that in voting to accept the modification of M. de Martens' proposition, as finally formulated by a special committee, the delegation acted not only in harmony with the well-known friendly attitude of the Government toward arbitration and The Hague Tribunal, both of which it has always sought to promote, but also in harmony with the ever-growing sentiment throughout the world that whenever circumstances make it right and proper international misunderstandings should be settled by arbitration.

Respectfully,

WM. CARY SANGER, President of the Delegation.

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