El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1917-10-06

CORPS mas Edl~el JUS DM % lANAc All
America paid its own way, ana was
as busy a little angel OF mercy as
ever wore SuEpeuderS over MS wings.
In May. 1916. the corps took IN
section known as the Har1es section,
operated under the direction OF II. H
Harjes. of the Morgan house OF Nor
gan, Harjes & Co. in Paris. Mr. Har-
ies found himself unable TO give all
of his time TO field work and as he
was the French delegate OF the Amer
lean Red Cross at the time. ne took
the two corps under the protection OF
the American Red Cross, AID Mr. Nor
ton supervised two sections in the
field instead Of one M. Morgan do
1916. and a third section was formed
r. W GOelet donated a fourth section
early in 1917
L. :. Takes the Work over.
Early in the spring OF this year.
when il began TO be evident that
America would 90 into the war. the
American Red Cross took a lively in
terest in the work OF the Ambulance
Corps. and on August 81, 1917. the
corps had Is sections and was getting
out two sections a month
Then the federal government de-
cided to take over the service as
part Of the new conscript army. Tn
til that time IL had been a volunteer
Corps-a kind of corps d'elite- The
men served for nothing and their
LFIEnuE NI0N.Tl NnELn. AfN ENnLNfl
from experience the rules Of the ser
vice. They were free to so whenever
they chose
Under the liberalization the men
must conform TO the rules of the fed
erai army service as to age and physi-
rules may not be so strictly pressed
upon candidates for this service. The
men must enlist for the war and he
subject 10 every army regulation
h. al naH NHrahna vi
Norton. who refused 20 accept a ma
jor's commission in the new ambu-
lance service. somewhat from mod
esty and somewhat because he felt he
where IT. the army The men in the
Army Ambulance Service will. Of
course. get $50 per month. and tie
American army ration which is more
liberal theoretically than the French
ration. but which translated into food
far less palatable than the food the
boys now have.
The Effect OF LIBERALIZATION.
There is much TO be said for and
against the. liberalization OF the am
hulance corps Under fedcraliz ton
the chara cter Of the CORPS. OF course.
will change II viii be recruited on
another basis than that which
brought Into IL 4 majority OF young
men from our American colleges and
oughly American than II is now. but
IL can be no Drawer nor finer IN up
holding the best traditions 81 Ameri-
can chivalry than the old corps has
been Naturally the men OF the pres
ent corps as rule DO not like the
liberalization A letter from a chief
Of a section sets forth their position
well The letter reads:
During the last attack good road
vas blocked REGULAR shells and "a
shells hgE struck - r-#fffa~r-
md when three OF our cars arrived
the road contained in 50 yards eight
dead horses. Is partly overcome by
gas and one other. the only one stand
ing The is horses down and still
alive were mixed NJ in four loaded
artillery carts, hundreds o. gallons OF
mud and their harness. II was an.
and the drivers. not having a volun-
teer spirit. had left for safer place.
as the Cas was anything but plea SAINT
and shells we're landing frequently. 3
am not casting any reflection on the
men OF the French army The drivers
had probably reported the traffic Jam
IN the regular way. and the engineers
would soon be up TO clear It.
Fighting Their Way In
Meanwhile many wounded were
waiting for ambulances Would paid
ambulauclers have waited for the en-
gineers2 The volunteers did not
IheN put on their oxygen masks took
out their knives. cut harness. used the
knives TO spur the horses 10 their feet
and out OF the road, moved the artil-
lery carts, and got the road clear and
their cars through. In this case q
delay OF five or ten minutes would
nave meant II more dead horses on
the road and the wounded would have
10 wait many hours. As for the num-
Der Of lives saved by the work OF
volunteers-tO say nothing OF the
value OF opening the road will let
you Judge On this day our corps
alone carried rs 'blesses' Cwoundsd).
besides water. bandaEes. etc An
otner American ambulance section
section 24-was using the road. too
TO cite another piece Of volunteer