The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-11-12
DR. DAGGElT'S ADDRESS.
Ccontinued from Tenth Page9

(Continued from Tenth Page.)
 and. had they not been the noble, high minded women that they were, the ex- pertinent would soon have failed. But they persisted and took ward after ward away from the old regime at last. and this was the crowning sin in the eyes of the obstructionists. even under taking the care of the male wards. They triumphed as they were bound to do. for the betterment of the patients and the improvement in the appear ance of the wards were obvious. Pay day was no longer signalized in the manner already mentioned; the pa- tients were clean and well cared for, the wards were neat, and all that sys- tenn and well directed effort could &C., complish were in evidence. The change in that hospital was not more marked than was observed in almost every such institution in the country. Thus the old went and the new came The new has been on trial and has not been found wanting. The trained nurse has supplanted the untrained in all hospitals and in most families. The graduate nurse Is a picked woman, self-reliant and capable. trusted by the people, and depended upoon by the physician to intelligently supplement his efforts. She represents high char acter, fidelity. skill obtained by long training under good teachers, preci- sion and orderly system in her work. and a fair knowledge of the usual ail- ments and injuries. The non-graduate may have some of the traits and ac-
 
 but she can not have them all, and there is no way of knowing in advance what her limitations are. The expres- sion trained nurse" which formerly was supposed to apply only 10 the graduate of first-class school, has come to mean more than one thing. It lis used by many who have had partial training in good schools or indifferent training in inferior schools. Women Hare even urged to become trained nurses by correspondence travesty Ion the education of the nurse. You who have faithfully prepared your Iselves to do the best work are now le- |gally on the same footing with many incompetents This works an injustice Ito you and to the public. If a woman |claims to be a graduate nurse and 'seeks employment as such, the correcf hess of her claim may be questioned, but proof of it's truth or falsity may be difficult to secure The diploma Is now the only evidence. and this, for one req son or another may be inaccessible, so that from 3 practical standpoint the abatement of the individual is often the only evidence of her standing. Fur ther evidence in refutation of 9 false claim may be obtained only at the cost of d life. There are many who have for various reasons only partially com spleted their training, who seek live lihood in nursing and assume the pre- rogatiyes of a graduate. Many have been dismissed from schools because of faults of character or iHcapactty, and yet they have learned to enable them to sail under false colors, and they may be- clever enough. even if the truth is known, to win sympathy by tales of misfortune and injustice. One such sase came under my observation in the person of a nurse who had been dis &nissed from this school, and who made tt appear that she was the victim of &niustice. She was seemingly taking care Of the patient at whose house l stnet her, and I was impressed with the plausibility of her story. On inquiry it proved that while acting as night nurse kn d ward she had written up all the ward notes for the night before nine o'clock in the evening. She was not trustWorthy. It is time now to have the line drawn in this state. as has been done in several other states, so that it will be easy to tell the genuine from the spurious. This can be done on1y by legislative enactment, and Understand that one of the purposes of 'your organization is to secure such leg isIation. This purpose is praise worthy and your endeavor should meet with success. You ask only that nurses lwho have attained certain education- al standard be allowed to use the let ' Sters ''R N" after their names. You } Sput no burden of expense on the state. You do not aim to prevent any person from engaging in nursing. The field is left as free as it always has been. Yours is not the spirit of the trades &union which seeks to prevent it's mems bers from working with other crafts- lnen who have not the union badge. The honest nurse can work as she al- Ways has done. No one is to be in jured. You aim only to protect the public from imposters, and to secure 5 flor yourselves merited recognition. II is the policy of the state to encourage excellence in It's citizens. and our legis- lators will surely see the wisdom of acting favorably on your modest and reasenabIe request To secure such ac- tion you do not need to call into service the expensive and elaborate machinery sometimes depended upon by corpora. < Stions to insure the passage of measures of doubtful utility to the general pub lic.A Your bill will commend itself and Twill all but pass itself. But in spite 0l fthat you must take some precautions 5and must anticipate some opposition ET1e steps which suggest themselves tt $rne, and which have doubtless occurred Ito you are the following:
 l. The submission of the present draf , sof the bill to some friendly laWyersfa i, rniliar with such matters. for his criti cism and suggestions as to it's eXac
 Accumulation and phraseology.
 2. The formal presentation of the bil
 by some member of the House of Rep
 resentatives.
 3. The attendance at the committe