The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-11-20

cured was purchased at no greater cost
of life and suffering. It was our first
experience in fighting q foreign foe IN
q foreign land and the many lessons
taught and learned viii prove of the
greatest value should we again be
called upon to cross swords with ma
ton beyond the limits Of our country.
SURGEON GENERALS RANK.
Many of the We'll founded complaints
Of the management of>~the war arose
not from any dereliction of duty on the
part OF the heads of the different de-
partments but We're due to faulty or
ganiZatiOn, and this is particularly
true of the medical department, which
has been so sorely criticised. Ihe exc
cutiVe power of the surgeon general is
extremely limited. Everything of i'm
portance has to pass through his hands
and by sanction of the secretary of
war The secretary of war is busy in
keeping track of what is going on in
his department outside of the surgeon
generals Office. Again, the medical de-
partment depends entirely on the
ouartermaster's department for for
warding and distributing medical and
hospital supplies. No wonder that
many collisions between these depart
ments occurred during the war with
Spain Our experience has taught us
in a most forcible way that the med1-
cal department should have charge of
everything pertaining to the care of the
sick and wounded, in order to accom-
plish that for which it is intended. The
surgeon general should be given higher
rank and clothed with more executive
power to enable him to discharge his
duties with credit to himself and great
er benefit to those who are now only
nominally under his charge. The sec
rotary of war is not supposed to pos
sess much knowledge of sanitation,
medicine and surgery or other wants
of the sick and wounded, and yet the
surgeon general is powerless in the
execution of his orders without his CO.
operation. If the forwarding and dis
tribution of medical and hospital sup
plies were directly under the control
and management of the medical de-
partment We would have heard less of
criticism regarding the scarcity of
medicines and hospital supplies. To
make a department strong and efficient
it must be independent and invested
with the necessary power it is eX-
pected to WELD and charged with a
corresponding weight Of responsibility.
HERCULEAN TASK OF NURSES.
The moment a. soldier is disabled
from performing his duty he comes I'M
der the care of the medical department
and he is subject to its rules and reg
ulations. The transportation and
proper care of the sick and wounded
are also under the management of the
medical department. The immensely of
this labor, all Of which devolves upon
the surgeon general and his limited
staff of assistants, must become ap-
parent to the general public, when we
consider the enormous number of sick
in an army Of 600 men, distributed
from Puerto Rico to Manila-nearly
one-half of the circumference of the
globe.
The nursing and hospital attendance
Of such an army is a most serious prob
lem, and our experience has brought
into strong relief the necessity of thor
ougl1ly trained nurses, female as well
as male. Hundreds OF the recently en-
listed men had to be detailed for hos
pital duty and We're placed in charge of
the sick. No wonder that among so
many some proved absolutely useless in
performing the trying duties of an
army nurse. Nursing in the army in
times Of war is an occupation which is
always attended by many difficulties,
and particularly so when the seat Of
war is a foreign country. The unrest
incident to the mobilization of troops,
the moving and erection of hospital
tents, the limited facilities for cooking
and often for washing, the occasional
over-crowding of the allotted hospital
space, and the uncertainty of supplies.
are some of the Inconvenience which
the army nurse must expect to meet
and to correct as far as lies in his
power to do so.
SHORTCOMINGS OF MALE NURSES
1t must be conceded. on all sides that
owing to these great difficulties the
nursing in the field during the last war,
which was done almost exclusively by
sired Many Of the men lacked entire