Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1917-03-31

(By Rose Weston Bull
Author 5 note-The question What
shall | do with my son has, through
all the ages, presented a most import
ant parental problem. With the in
ereasing invasion by women of fields
monOpolized by the now less dominent
sex the question "What shall do
with my daughter!" has become full
| ly as important as the earlier query.
1t is to some extent an academic ques-
tion. Your daughter will have a large
part in answering it, if indeed, she is
not the chief factor in framing the de-
lcision.
In this series of articles / will at
tempt to help parents of daughters
and the daughters themselves answer
this all-important question | cannot
Iattempt to help you find employment.
| cannot give advice as to particular
business concerns. | can, however, ans
wer questions as to certain lines Of
work in general. Questions addressed
TO me in care of this newspaper will
be answered in connection with these
articles or by letter.
In choosing nursing and its var
ious phases as the ,ubject for the first
/ few articles in tie series | have been
Iaetuated by twJ motives: First: it is
the profession in which woman is prac-
tically without competition. Second:
| it is about the most misunderstood ana
underestimate of all the professions
lOpen to women. R. W. b.
I. Nursing
Those who know the nursing field,
and who are trying to fill the ever in
lcreasing demand for graduate nurses
which pours in from all PARTS of the
country, say there is Il dearth of eapa-
| bic, well instructed women. lnstitu-
| tions are looking for supcrintendents
and supervisors; physicians are seeking
Ieompetcnt nurses, graduates of schools
| of nursing of high standard to care for
their private patients; the demand for
social service nurses was never greater
Municipalities are realizing the value
of the nurse, as member of the staff
| of health workers. School nursing is
offering increasing opportunities. The
great insurance companies and indus
trial corporations are making health
conservation a part of their business
programs, and arc demanding nurses
for this branch of their work.
|
opportunities women are slow to take
advantage of them, and to fit them
selves for this one field in which they
do not come into competition with
men, and in which their latent talents
and characteristics would make them
the admitted superior of men, even if
such competition were to be estab-
| lished.
What if War Comes?
If America cannot supply her need
| for graduate nurses during normal
lpeace times how is she going to answer
| the pressing and insistent call for eff
eient hospital workers if the war clouds
which now hang over her head break
into storm9 The high school gradu,
late or the young woman who has fin
tished her college education, and is sean
ming the vocational horizon with a
view to selecting a career, should not
make her choice Sbefore she has exam
incd the fields of cndeavor that nurs-
| ing holds out to her. Naturally the
| war thought is uppcrmost in all MINDS
at present, and the desire to be of
service to the country and to human
I ity prevails above all other desires
But the young woman who takes up
nursing as a profession is cquipping
herself to serve her country and hui
manity in times of peace as well as oI
strife, and she is fitting herself for
an occupation that is practically un-
limited in its scope and its opportuni-
ty for advancement as well as for ser
vice.
More Than Bedside Care
The idea that nursing is confined to
the bedside and that the graduate
nurse 5 chief occupation is to take her
patient s temperature and fill out a
chart is, needless to say, an Anticipated
one. In place of this picture of limited
activities and circmscribed usefulness
we have today picture of the gradu
ate nurse filling important positions
/ in city, state and national govern
J