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138 138 A Short History of Nursing International Red Cross hoped that its humaniz- ing influence would tend to diminish war, that it would "make war upon war. " At first this hope did not promise any fruition. The most militaris- tic countries developed the best organized and most flourishing Red Cross associations, and the more perfect their machinery, the more com- pletely they were subordinate to war departments. Up to the time of the last war the most complete and thorough-going national societies were the German and the Japanese. The Red Cross at- tained its official character by the ratification of its treaty by governments. Abroad, the presi- dency of the national society was always assumed by king or emperor or president of a republic as the case might be. The United States Congress hesitated long to ratify, as it feared international complications. The great apostle of the Red Cross idea in the United States was Clara Barton, a New England Entrance of woman of means and of rare benevo- the United j^nce. Throughout the Civil War she States into , the Red had carried on a remarkable piece of Cross relief and nursing work as an individ- ual relying on her own initiative, and in the Franco-Prussian war she had accompanied the German Red Cross ambulances. She then worked