Clara Barton
General Correspondence
Cortelyou, George W.
Jan. 1903
White House, Washington,
January 2. 1903.

Dear Madam:

Certain members of the American Red Cross, including ex-Secretary
of State John W. Foster, ex-Secretary of the Navy, Hilary
A. Herbert, Brigadier-General John M. Wilson, U.S.A., retired, Mr.
Thomas F. Walsh, Mr. Simon Wolf, Mrs. J. Ellen Foster, Miss Boardman
and various other ladies and gentlemen of high standing, have sent
to the President a letter of which a copy is herewith sent you, and
accompanying it a copy of what purports to be the by-laws recently
adopted by the Red Cross.

In a further letter the President has been informed that the
Treasurer of the Red Cross, Mr. W.J. Flather, has resigned on account
of dissatisfaction with what is alleged to be  the loose and
improper arrangements for securing the needed accountability for and
supervision of the disbursements of the money furnished in tikmes
of exigency to the Red Cross by the charitable public.

It appears from these by-laws that the President of the United
States and his Cabinet are constituted a Board of Consultation
of the American Red Cross. It is not possible for the President or
any of his Cabinet to serve on such a Committee and the President
directs me to request you to have it publicly announced that the
President and the Cabinet cannot so serve.

Very truly yours,
(Signed-) Geo. B. Cortelyou,
Secretary to the President.

Miss Clara Barton,
President The American National Red Cross,
Washington, D.C.
Enclosure.

49 East 58th Street, New York.
January 7th, 1903.

Mr. George W. Cortelyou,
Secretary to the President.

Dear Mr. Cortelyou:

Your communication of January 2nd, forwarded to me
from Washington, reached me by last mail.

I hasten to acknowledge the same and say: that with the permission
of the President, I will see him at the earliest date at which I can
be released from my engagements here.

Meanwhile, I beg to assure him that no use will be made of his name
or that of his most honored Cabinet, also - that the appearance of those
names in the documents of the Red Cross is by no means new - our entire
letter-paper having borne them for the last twenty years and we should
have deemed it a discourtesy to leave them off.

Not only no objection has been made during that time but frequent
words of satisfaction accompanying the acceptance.

It was an act of courtesy on our part with no other intention,
which I beg you to assure our honored President shall be promptly discontinued at his suggestion.

With great respect, I am,
Very truly yours,
(Signed) Clara Barton.