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MEMORIAL TO THE LOYAL WOMEN OF THE UNITED STATES.

AUGUST 24, 1912.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed.

Mr. BURNETT, from the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds, submitted the following

REPORT.

[To accompany H. J. Res. 289.]

The Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds, to which was referred the House joint resolution (H. J. Res. 289) entitled "Joint resolution in relation to a monument to commemorate the services and sacrifices of the women of the country to the cause of the Union during the Civil War," beg to report the same, with the following amendments:

Page 1, line 4, after the word "of," strike out the word "three" and insert the word "four".

Page 2, line 1, after the word "than," strike out the word "six" and insert the word "seven."

Page 3, line 4, after the word "by," strike out all of the remainder of paragraph and insert a comma and the following:

And the building erected thereon shall be the property of the United States, but the American National Red Cross shall at all times be charged with and responsible for the care, keeping, and maintenance of the said memorial and grounds without expense to the United States; subject to such further direction and control as may be provided by law.

Appended is the report of a hearing before the Committee on the Library of the Senate, on May 20, 1912, relating to the bill and also a financial statement of the National Red Cross to June 30, 1912.

MEMORIAL TO THE LOYAL WOMEN OF THE UNITED STATES.

MONDAY, MAY 20, 1912.

COMMITTEE ON THE LIBRARY,
UNITED STATES SENATE,

The committee met at 11.15 o'clock a. m.

Washington, D. C.

Present: Senators Wetmore (chairman) and Newlands.

Also appeared: Miss Mabel T. Boardman, National Red Cross; Maj. Gen. George W. Davis, United States Army, retired, National Red Cross, and Mr. James A. Scrymser, representing the Commandery of the State of New York of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States.

The CHAIRMAN (Senator Wetmore). The clerk will read the bill. The bill is as follows:

[S. J. Res. 95, Sixty-second Congress, second session.]

JOINT RESOLUTION Providing for a monument to commemorate the services and sacrifices of the women of the country to the cause of the Union during the Civil War.

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That there be hereby appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of three hundred thousand dollars as a part contribution to the acquisition of a site and the erection thereon of a memorial in the District of Columbia to commemorate the services and sacrifices of the loyal women of the United States during the Civil War.

SEC. 2. That said memorial shall be a building monumental in design and character, and shall be used as the permanent headquarters of the American Red Cross, and shall cost, with the site, not less than six hundred thousand dollars.

SEC. 3. That the sum hereby appropriated shall not be payable until there shall have been raised by private subscription by the Commandery of the State of New York of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States an additional sum of three hundred thousand dollars.

SEC. 4. That the money hereby appropriated shall not be paid for any site nor toward the construction of any memorial unless the site and the plan for the proposed building shall have been approved by a commission consisting of the Secretary of War of the United States, a representative of the Commandery of the State of New York of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, and a representative of the American Red Cross, which representatives shall be duly designated by said associations, respectively, to act for them. The plans of the said memorial shall likewise be approved by the Commission of Fine Arts. The expenditure for said site and memorial shall be made under the direction of the commission consisting of the Secretary of War and the representatives of the Commandery of the State of New York of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States and the American Red Cross; and the said memorial shall be constructed under the supervision of an officer of the Corps of Engineers appointed by the Secretary of War, who shall act as the executive disbursing officer of the commission.

SEC. 5. That the title to the site procured shall be taken by the United States, but the American National Red Cross shall at all times be charged with and be responsible for the care, keeping, and maintenance of the said memorial and grounds without expense to the United States.

STATEMENT OF MISS MABEL T. BOARDMAN, AMERICAN NATIONAL RED CROSS.

The CHAIRMAN. Miss Boardman, if you desire, you may proceed. Miss BOARDMAN. In the first place, as I said in the committee meeting in the House of Representatives, I would like to say a word from the woman's point of view on the question of this proposed memorial. I think the women who gave those who were dearer to them than life itself for the preservation of the Union, who worked so diligently all through the war in the Sanitary Commission, in which their energies centered, and for which $5,000,000 were raised-who, it is estimated, raised $50,000,000 outside of the Sanitary Commission— these women who sacrificed not only a great deal in what they gave up in their own home comfort, but who worked in the hospitals and on the battle fields, have thus far received no recognition of all this by the Government.

I believe that the people of our country would approve heartily of such a recognition as this memorial of all that the women did for the sake of the Union, which everybody is now glad was preserved. Congress or the Government has expended for memorials to men, when the Lincoln memorial is finished, about $5,000,000. Now, in this proposition for a memorial to the women in appreciation of all that they did, half of the amount appropriated will be contributed, so that the Government is only asked for half of what the whole memorial will cost.

It is then a very pertinent question, I think, to ask why this memorial which is to be provided, if the plan is carried out, should be not merely a memorial but a useful memorial, to continue the kind of work which was done by women during the Civil War-to provide for the use of the National Red Cross headquarters in perpetuity. It is a very pertinent question, I think, to ask how the Red Cross is of use to the Government if it is to have the use of this proposed memorial building.

In the first place, as you know, Congress created the Red Cross, under the treaty of Geneva, to take charge of the volunteer work during wars. There has to be some official society to do this work. The President of the United States appoints upon the governing board of the Red Cross the central committee, a chairman, and a representation of the five departments-the State Department, the Treasury Department, the War Department, the Navy Department, and the Department of Justice. All the accounts of the National Red Cross are audited by the War Department, and the annual report has to be submitted to Congress, so that it has a general oversight of the work of the Red Cross.

Under this central committee the work of the Red Cross is divided into 3 departments, each under a board of 15, whose chairman and vice chairman are members of the central committee. For instance, there is the war relief board, the chairman and vice chairman of which are the Surgeon General of the Army and the Surgeon General of the Navy. This board has charge of all volunteer relief work in time of war. It has, for example, a list of all coastwise ships which could be used for hospital purposes and a list of the equipment of such ships. This board is also studying other questions, questions of hospital trains, etc.; but I will not go into these details.

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