The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1898-06-10
Women and War.

What are the preparations for the care
of the sick and wounded of our army
In answering this question, the first fact
that strikes one is the great advance that
has been made in these thirty-seven years
since these questions last were forced
upon our national attention. We remem-
Der that in the early COS we had not
that large and able body of women-the
trained nurses. The women who went
to the front and acted as nurses had
neither that strength of organization nor
yet the power of ease of working pos
sessed today by our trained and expert
enced nurses. There was the Astounding
wisdom of heart and the courage of self
forgetful patriotism and devotion. But
they paid most dearly for the service
they rendered, because their heroism was
not REINFORCED by practical preparation.
Today we have hundreds of trained
nurses. who add to the same womanly
devotion the discipline of nerve and brain
and hand, making a grand sum total of
usefulness.
Another advance is in the wholesale
manufacture of all that pertains to sur
geons', hospital and sanitary supplies.
of indefinite production of the most sci
compactly :transportabla disinfectants,
mountaineering and general surgeons
supplies. This is an incalculable advance.
And while we almost envy our women of
the earlier times, who could satisfy
their Jealous instincts by rolling bandages
and picking lint. still we must concede
the comfort yielding advantage Of the
surgical supply factory, and seek other
fields of activity
AS regards the executive in the surgeon
generals department, one has but to
know that there is at the head in the regu-
lar army Surgeon General Sternbcrs, a
man so eminent in all that pertains to
cal research. Every regiment, troop and
battery has its surgical and nursing staff
regularly enlisted. This is also true of the
volunteer troops, as we'll as of our naval
forces. These men are chosen, it is to
be supposed and expected, with d;scre-
ton and care very much emphasized by
memory of the cases of ineficiency which
came to light during the Civil war in this
branch of the service. They are equipped
with the most approved outfit for doing
their work on the field or on board ship.
So much have men done for the care of
sick and wounded, and notice is given
officially from the surgeon-general that
women will not be employed at present,
intimating, however, that should the war
prove serious in point of heavy engage.
ments, and should it become necessary to
IVA LII AoA6c ScueId1 uUSplldlS, WUlueu ulsly
be needed. And it is towards this posi-
bility that we must look.
The fact that this bids fair to be large
" or entirely naval war diminishes the
chance that these large hospitals will be
called into being. It has been definitely
stated that no women in any capacity will
be employed on the hospital ships The
suggestion that rich and patriotic wom-
an might purchase and equip such an aux
iliary .provokes the question why women
who should be carefully chosen in regard
to physical as we'll as professional fitness
might not have some part in the personnel
of the ships company. Some of us have
seen quite as much of the class of work
to be expected as the majority of the
young male doctors who are being taken
into service.-Grace N. Kimball, NJ. D., in
Harper's Bazaar.