The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1900-09-14
NURSING THE SOLDIERS,
Dangers Threatened in Chinese roube-The United States
Prepared to Care for Sick and Wounded.

The manner in which civilized ma
lions care for their sick and wounded
soldiers at the present time modifies
to some extent the horrors of war.
The conditions which prevail in China
may interfere to great extent with
The work of the physicians and nurses
whose duty will be to alleviate the
sufferings of the sick and wounded Of
the present campaign against the Box
er uprising. The fighting in the ORR
ent will be between the civilized SOL
der and the Chinese fanatic whose
record puts him on standing with
the savage, and who is alike without
respect for womankind or pity for the
sufferings Of the wounded. In civil
lied warfare, physicians and nurses
are considered as non-combatants and
are shielded and protected in the per-
Torrance Of their merciful mission.
All civilized nations have signed a
compact to honor the sign of the Red
Cross. To this compact China has
always refused to become a party, and
for this reason, and because of the
savage instincts of the Chinese it b
probable that the government Of the
allied forces will not allow the wo-
men nurses of the Red Cross society
to accompany the allied forces on the
march to Pekin and thereby expose
themselves to the barbarities of the
yellow fanatics.
Ample hospital service will no doubt
be provided by all the governments
OF the allied forces and in this particu-
lar the United States is we'll in the
van in the preparation for the great
struggle in Asia. We have now prac-
tically $50 nurses in the gateway of
China. Some of them are in the Phil
ippines and still others are en- route
across the Pacific on the transports
which are carrying the bluecoats to
the Celestial empire. On the trans
port Grant, with Gen. Chaffee, were
nineteen nurses, and on the transport
Sumner, now we'll out into the Pacific,
are a half dozen more. If present
plans are carried out there will be
more than 200 nurses in service or en-
route to the seat of war ere the allies
have proceeded upon the advance of
Pekin. Should the conditions in
China be found dangerous, perhaps
none of these nurses will be ordered
to shore duty, but all will be utilized
on hospital ships, which will be sta
toned at the ports most readily ac-
cessible from the field of operat .ons.
At the outset it is likely that none of
the nurses would be taken farther in
land than Taku were they ordered
ashore.
There has been no neglect, how
ever, for the emergency or field hos
pital service. This will be composed,
of course, entirely of men. The Ninth
Infantry, which has already performed
such gallant service at Tientsin, has
with it a full regimental field hospital.
an additional outfit for fifty beds,
medical supplies for 5000 men for
three months and hospital fund Of
$4,000 in gold to be used In purchas-
ing delicacies, SO that there need be
no fear lest the men who fell with
the brave Liscum are not receiving
every attention which can be bestowed
The immense hospital supply depot
Of the government at San Francisco is
busy day and night preparing supplies
Of every imaginable character and see
ing to it that they are rushed to the
region of the rising sun.
One of the best features in the
preparations of this country is the dis