reciting the interest of each in the welfare of Liberia. These communications were received with expressions of gratitude by the Liberian authorities, but do not seem to have strengthened that government in any effective stand against the French aggressions.

Reviewing the relations of the United States and Liberia since. 1862, when treaty relations were established, it appears that in various crises of Liberia's foreign relations, the good offices of the United States have been freely tendered. These situations have called forth an interesting series of expressions of sympathy and interest on the part of the United States.18 But beyond this fact it is not clear that the interposition of the United States has produced any very tangible results. It may be that the knowledge that the United States would at least protest against any injury to her protegé may have in some slight degree tempered the demands made upon her, but this of course is not susceptible of demonstration.

Despite the fact that Liberia has little to show as a result of our traditional friendship, she has turned to us again for aid and succor. In the summer of 1908 she sent a commission of leading citizens to implore the aid of the United States, and out of this visit has arisen an earnest search by our Department of State for methods whereby substantial aid and assistance can be rendered Liberia.

We can only briefly indicate the causes leading up to this new appeal. The Liberians felt in the spring of 1908 that France was absorbing their territory and Great Britain their government. The treaty of 1907 with France had been received with dismay. Great Britain had in 1907 indicated to Liberia that unless she put her house in order, introduced an effective frontier police, reformed her finances and her courts, and thus establish a government which could cope with modern problems, Liberia was likely to disappear as an independent nation, and had vaguely hinted that Great Britain might be the agency through which such a disappearance might be expected to take place. These suggestions became demands in a communication from the British Consul-General at Monrovia in January, 1908. With such a powerful stimulus to action, the gov

18 These expressions in chronological order are given in the SUPPLEMENT, P. 220 et seq.

ernment established a force under English officers, increased the number of Englishmen in the customs service, and planned to give the chief inspector large powers with respect to internal finances. Small wonder that the fear arose that Great Britain was gradually insinuating herself into all branches of the administration.

The commission which visited the United States in 1908 hoped to check France by a treaty with the United States guaranteeing the territorial integrity and independence of the country, and hoped to check Great Britain by securing through the aid of our Government experts in various lines of administration who would help along rational reforms and dispense with British or other foreign officials.

That the United States could not undertake to establish a protectorate over Liberia is obvious, and the envoys were told so frankly. But the earnestness of their appeal convinced the Department of State that if anything could be done properly by our Government to assist these former wards of ours, it ought to be undertaken. Just what it might be was difficult to ascertain, and it was accordingly recommended that a commission be sent from the United States to Liberia and report upon the situation found there.

Before the American commission sailed it was clear that the reforms begun under British auspices had collapsed. Through a series of events, in which whatever blame attaches does not concern. the principles involved but only the personalities of those entrusted with their execution, it had become evident that for the present at least, those excellent measures suggested by the British Foreign Office could not be carried out with the assistance of British officials. When the appointment of the American commission was under consideration, it was suggested by the British Foreign Office that the assistance which could be rendered by the United States would of necessity be additional to that being carried out by Great Britain. The situation had however changed when the commission reached Liberia. It was clear to the commission that if the United States were to render any assistance, she must take up the work which Great Britain was no longer in a position to perform and its recommendations have been made with that end in view.

The recommendations are now public property and may be briefly stated.19 They are:

1. That the United States extend its aid to Liberia in the prompt. settlement of pending boundary disputes.

2. That the United States enable Liberia to refund its debt by assuming as a guarantee for the payment of obligations under such. arrangement the control and collection of the Liberian customs.

3. That the United States lend its assistance to the Liberian Government in the reform of its internal finances.

4. That the United States should lend its aid to Liberia in organizing and drilling an adequate constabulary or frontier police force. 5. That the United States should establish and maintain a research station in Liberia.

6. That the United States reopen the question of establishing a naval coaling station in Liberia.

The foregoing is believed to be a consistent program of positive benefit to the people of Liberia, and a true embodiment of that peculiar interest in her welfare which has received such cogent expressions in our state papers. It is designed to render her substantial aid and furnish the basis for an orderly internal development. It introduces no new political principles and would tend to transform our oft-expressed "friendly interest" from words to facts.

ROLAND P. FALKNER.

19 Senate Document 457, 61st Congress, 2d Session, March 25, 1910.

THE SANITARY COMMISSION - THE RED CROSS

On April 29, 1861, at a meeting of a great concourse of women in the Cooper Institute, New York City, a movement was initiated which led to the organization of the United States Sanitary Commission.

As first formulated, the plan looked to an organization with full powers to establish for the benefit of the Army a preventive, hygienic and sanitary service, this under or independent of the Medical Bureau, as might be deemed most expedient.

To secure recognition from the War Department, the promoters of the movement laid their proposal before the Surgeon General in Washington, but received no encouragement.

It was well known to all and was called to the attention of the Secretary of War and the Surgeon General, that when the British Government, a few years before, learned of the dreadful mortality of the British Army in the Crimea, the most radical and previously unheard of measures were taken to remedy the situation.

For hospital reform and supervision Miss Florence Nightingale was sent to Scutari by the British Secretary of State for War with the most ample power to call upon the military authorities for any assistance she required and to adapt the administration of the hospitals to her plans in conformity with her orders. Miss Nightingale stated, what the official returns confirm, that during the first seven months of the campaign before Sebastopol, the British Army suffered a mortality at the rate of sixty per cent per annum. most radical steps for reform were taken, these consisting in placing the military authorities, so far as respected preventive measures and sanitation generally, under a civil commission of three British. sanitarians.

Other

The Secretary of State for War, in his instructions to those experts, said:

It is important that you be deeply impressed with the necessity of not resting content with the giving of an order, but that you see instantly,

by yourselves or by your agents, to the commencement of the work and to its superintendence day by day until it is finished.

Those who initiated the organization of the United States Sanitary Commission were familiar with the facts respecting this British Commission, whose report was dated December 1, 1856. They sought to secure from the Government at Washington similar plenary powers for supervision and intervention respecting preventive measures touching sanitation.

The Surgeon General and the other military authorities repelled the idea of their own subordination in respect to any military matter to a committee of civilians; the Sanitary Commission had to accept the role of a body invited to inquire into matters affecting health and to advise with the Medical Bureau relating thereto.

The official designation of the organization was A Commission of Inquiry and Advice in respect of the Sanitary Interests of the United States Forces. 1 The War Department order notes that it was issued at the instance and in pursuance of the suggestion of the Army Medical Bureau and that the Commission was to exist at the pleasure of the Government, unless dissolved by its own action.

The persons to compose the directorate, which included the head of the Medical Bureau and two other military officers, were designated by the Secretary of War. He required that the inquiries of the Commission be directed

to the principles and practices connected with the inspection of recruits and other enlisted men; to means of preserving and restoring the health and securing the general comfort of the troops; to the sanitary condition. of the volunteers; to the proper provision of cooks, nurses and hospitals; and to other subjects of like nature.

The Commission immediately organized, chose a president, vicepresident, secretary and treasurer, increased its personnel to twelve, and, on the 13th of May, 1861, submitted for the action of the Secretary of War a "plan of organization "2 in which were set forth in some detail the powers and responsibilities of the organization. This was approved by the War Department the same day.

1 Printed in SUPPLEMENT to this JOURNAL, p. 229. 2 Printed in SUPPLEMENT to this JOURNAL, p. 230.