The Washington times., 1915-09-04
QUEEN OF BULGARIA
SPEAKS TO AMERICA
Royal Florence Nightingale Ad.
vlses All Women to Learn
Red Cross Work.
By HENRY WOOD.
(Copyright, 1915, by the United Press. COP!
right In Great Britain.)

SOFIA, Bulgaria, Aug. 10 (by maiD.--
The woman who Is Queen OF bulgaria
has an Interesting message for tne
women of the United States. 1t 10 all
who possibly can should learn the REQ
Cross work
Queen Eleanora. who BY reason OF hcr
work as a nurse on the actual he'd
Of battle In the Russo-Japanese war
and the two Balkan wars. has been
called another Florence NightenyaIe,
talks IN a way familiar to American
readers. Her message 10 such as msnt
come from one ct the ni.ns nmer,ee% ,n World sf
fairs. And this Is not strange. for Bui-
CERT, sc.~ctlr"es Is called the America
Of the Balkans.
The Queen was gracious when the re-
quest for an authorized Interview vas
presented. Through an intermediary
To appreciate the authority WITH
which her majesty sreaks-her supJeGt
II that Of women's work In war-Ame,t ,t
years Of prenaration in the leading
hospitals Of Europe. served then ior
fourteen months at ~tne head OF the
Russian imperial ambulance at Man
churia during the war @ WITH Win japan. ,n% .srwed
her own country when the Balkan wars
began. She worked not only IN fhe
hospitals. but under the enemy nre
at the front. The gratitude OF the army
military decorations awarded solely for
jersonal bravery.
Work Unceasing.
Since the outbreak Of the present war
and the strong prospect that Bulgaria
NAV be drawn into II. she has worked
INCREASINGLY to perfect Buigaria's Red
Cross and hospital facilities.
Her statement to the United Press
follows:
"After her natural role Of mother.
no greater, no nobler. and no more
in, n,p"rtsnt neld Of usefulness IL heIa
out to the woman OF today than tnas
work. Only woman who hiss known
personally all the horrors OF modern
warfare can grasp what thi: neln
really means. And strange az II maS
NOR. pressing Than ever before. win
all the perfected means OF Wholesale
destruction which modern warfare
has at it's command. tho preparauons
wounded have become very made
a"Wr;at a""SWtsr; nob,er work can ther. he
! than that OF saving human lifsI Nc
usefulness to the wcrld should have
difficulty in knowing which way to
turT; n,,, ~. u,., !, - awaken not
countries a realisation on the part Of
| the women Of the role which they
have to perform In that sreatest
tion Of the Red Cross and auxiliary
societies up to date, yet the exigen-
cies Of modern warfare have demon
stratcd that 1t Is quite inadequate.
Solving Problem.
Here in Bulgaria we are now solv-
ing the problem In the manner In
which our experience has taught us
II can best be met. This Is by the
! establishment OF training schools for
nurses and the organizing OF auXtl
iary societies to the Red Cross Why.
| indeed, should not every woman In
the world have an adequate train
ing for this service? Is II not a duty
that woman owes to the state Just
as much as the military service that
asking too much that all women
should re prepared for this work
there are thousands at least OF young
women in every country who can well
undertake It. For these. all of the
strtctreRs and requirements Of the
full Red Cross service are perhaps
too much. but there Is nothing to
hinder a preparation that will enable
|
toward the alienation Of the horror.
OF war should the moment ever come
when their services may be needed;
TT was largely the desire to study
training OF nurses that prompted m,
plans last year for visiting the United
States. but which tho clouded inter.
national horizon at the time forced
is a dream which expect yet te
realize and in the meantime through
the aid of the Red Cross unit which
the American society has sent US. We
organization in Bulgaria.
nrst hand your American hospital,
and especially your hospital organi-
the big centers Of population. was
only one of the objects Of my ex'
NEXT in importance was to hay
sstion. and. above ali. Of Your national
State. and municipal care Of the unfor
tunate. Beginning as Bulgaria is. al
entirely new country: we want % to sstab
course, has become a recognized dut.
Of every state. on the most advance,
lines that have been developed. Thes
we are certain we would find In Amer
lea Your blind. your deaf, your poor
your crippled. your. mentally deficient
we want to know how you care 70
them. True, the number OF our unfor
tunate Is not great, but this duty o
the state toward them we want to per
form in the fullest manner that moderl
method and science have devised.
| Would Study Immigrants.
"And then. the third and last grea
object OF my visit was to have been tn
study of your problem of immigrants
How that could be Of service to Bul
garia you perhaps do not see. But ou
problem Of refugees must be very sim1
lar to your problem Of Immigrants
From the districts of Macedonia
Thrace, Roumania, and Bessarabis
where the Bulgarian population Is |
the majority. but which are not ye
united to the common fatherland, hun
dreds of thousands of our countryme
flock to us to escape the foreign yoke
| They come to us without money. with
out work, without trades, and wit
only the few clothes that cover thei
! poor bodies. Their arrival, l am sure
Is analogous to the arrival in Americ
of thousands Of immigrants. and tina
Is why / desire to study your solutio
of the problem. and especially of you
distribution Of them throughout tn
country.
"Of course, many OF our problem
here have been a direct result of wal
Like every other true woman, 1t Is m
deepest hope that the end of the presen
conflict. which Is devastating the Euro
pean countries of that greatest of ma