Variety (Feb 1947)

I^fjgglgyf We^mmlm February 5, 1947 American Red Cross AND The Permanent Charities Committee OF The Motion Picture Industry "The character of the Red Cross and its responsibilities under International Treaty and its Congressional Charter are such that the national interests will best be served - if the Red Cross maintains direct contact with the people for the membership and support necessary for its work at home and abroad/' FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT-1942 The Permanent Charities Committee of the Motion Picture Industry has announced its intention to offer to American Red Cross $3 50,000, part of a sum_of money that, committee raised in a joint fund raising campaign in the Motion Picture Industry despite the fact that the Permanent Charities Committee knew that American Red Cross could not participate in any joint fund raising campaign. - Statements that the American Red Cross is unwilling to accept $350,000 from the Permanent Charities Com- mittee because that sum from the Mo- tion Picture Industry which grossed $325,000,000 in 1945 represents only one-half of one percent of the Red Cross goal of sixty million dollars in 1947, are not true. The amount involved is not an issue. The real issue is that nothing can be permitted to deprive American Red Cross either of its right to fulfill its obligations for humanitarian service to the American people by methods it has demonstrated to be efficient or of its right to maintain an organization in which all the people can be members and participate directly. American Red Cross will barter neither its right to invite anyone to be a member nor the right of any American citizen to become a member. American Red Cross will not be party to any scheme that will lead to dictation by other groups with motives and interests that would undermine the Red Cross and all for which it stands. The American Red Cross may not participate in joint fund raising whether that joint fund raising is conducted by the Permanent Charities Committee of the Motion Picture Industry or any other organization. This long established policy of Ameri- can Red Cross is not the policy of any one individual. It is a policy that has been considered and reconsidered from time to time since 1936 by the Central Committee, the governing body of American Red Cross, and reaffirmed on every occasion. It is a policy that has been well known to all fund raising groups, including the Permanent Charities Com- mittee. The reason why American Red Cross may not participate in joint fund rais- ing with others is as follows: American Red Cross may not assign or delegate to others, in whole or in part, the obligations imposed upon it by international treaties, to which the U.S. Government is a signatory, and by its congressional charter. Neither can it share with others, directly or indirectly, its responsibility to carry out those ob- ligations. When it participates in joint fund raising it permits others (at best, only slightly familiar with its obliga- tions and activities) to determine from year to year how much money, if any, American Red Cross will receive and thus, in turn, permit those others to determine the breadth of its program and the extent to which American Red Cross may fulfill its obligations to the American people. If American Red Cross participates in one joint fund raising activity, such as that conducted by the Permanent Charities Committee in the Motion Pic- ture Industry, it must, of course, par- ticipate in all other joint fund raising activities. The Motion Picture Industry is only one of 446 major industries in this country. There are thousands of other groups and organizations. The re- sult obviously would be that by partici- pating in joint fund raising, American Red Cross would never know from year to year how much money it would have to carry out its obligations to the American people or plan an intelligent program, nor would it be able to have a membership organization open to all of the people of America. " The foregoing statements are not just opinions. They are statements of fact based on a disastrous experience which American Red Cross suffered after World War I, when some of its chapters submitted to exactly the same kind of pressure that is now being brought by the Permanent Charities Committee to participate in joint fund raising. At that time about 400 chapters engaged with other organizations in joint fund raising with the result that American Red Cross lost its identity in those chapters and was prevented from carrying out its program particularly in dealing with emergency situations. In 1936, there-, fore, the Central Committee of Ameri- can Red Cross reasserted its policy and ever since that time has adhered strictly to the policy of wow-participation by American Red Cross in joint fund raising. From 1940 to 1945 the Permanent Charities Committee carried on sepa- ~i rate drives in the Motion Picture In- dustry for the American Red Cross and others. The change to joint fund raising by the Permanent Charities Committee occurred as recently as 1945. It is clear, therefore, that there would be no viola- tion of principle if a separate drive was conducted in the Motion Picture Indus- try for the American Red Cross in March, 1947, as was the case prior to 1945. ■ There is, however, a definite violation of the principle of fairness when a small group within the Motion Picture Indus- try deliberately attempts to mislead the - Motion Picture Industry and the public into believing that American Red Cross will refuse to accept—when and if of- fered—$350,000 only because a mere matter of method is involved in the scheme. Fundamental principles are in- volved: principles without which there could be no American Red Cross. American Red Cross