Mexico weekly ledger. (Mexico, Mo.) 1855-1956, 1917-10-18
| ENGLISH WOMEN BUSY
FOR THEIR OWN MEN
(Reciprocal News Service)
By Margaret Walter

By Margaret Walter
LONDON, September 18. By
mail. } = The Chief of the Women's
Army Auxiliary Corps was at her
desk at headquarters in Devonshirc
House in Piccadilly bright and early
the other morning, when I called as a
preliminary to visit to the army IN
France. She isthere bright and early
every morning and has been since
February when she was called from
the practice of her profession in En-
inburgh to attend a conference at the
War Office. The chiefs name is
Mrs. Chalmers Watson; she is very
Scotch, a Geddes in fact and a sister
of the First Lord of the Admiralty.
There is another thing which distin-
guishes her from just anybody; she
was the first woman to take the de-
gree of M. D. from Edinburgh Uni.
versity.
81 have just heard that there has
been some talk of America asking our
Corps to do for our Army what we are
doing for our own," she began without
waiting for the usual barrage of ques-
tions.
"Well, and what if we did? Would
your" The quick touch, the absence Of
useless red tape in gaining her pres
ence helped things to develop splen-
didly.
eyes, we should be only too pleased
to do everything in our power. We
should like to give American women
the benefit of our experience, for it
has been costly and bitter at many
points. But it will probably be found
that your own women will be needed in
France just as we have BEEN"
"Do you mean that there are not
enough of you to do the job?'
at isn't that, but merely matter
Of organization. You see the Ameri-
can soldier receives much more pay
than our soldier, and it would not be
just that our women, paid in accord
ance with our standards, should work
for an Army paid on a different
scale.
"Only the women in America who
have been giving their time and the
best that is in them to organizing the
woman-power of America will appre-
ciate what it meant to the women in
England to have their efforts re-
warded by a Government order to
serve in France. They had been
serving at rest and convalescent
camps as cooks, mattresses and store
keepers, they had driven motor cars
and trucks for the War Office, and been
used by the government as stenogra-
pliers and clerks and telegraph and
telephone operators from the begin
ming of the war, but to serve in
France as part of the expeditionary
forces, under military command -
that seemed out of the question.
"Then a report was sent in last
January by general officer who had
been sent out to France to investigate
the question of labor supply for the
army. In it was this statement:
In the employment of women to do
mans work results have shown that
the sex difficulty has not been any,
thing like what some have predicted.
They have been hard at work now for
two years, have felt that they were
out for the job, and the men have re-
spected them. In my opinion the fol-
lowing functions could be usefully
performed by women in France"
"Then followed long list of 'func-
tions,' which included motor driving
and technical workers for the flying
corps and the army service corps,
printers, grooms, and last of all that
pathetic function, gardeners for
graves.
"The process of co-ordinating and
extending the various organizations
of women's service was not easy. In
its course much feminine vanity was
injured, but with the issue of an army
council instruction last February the
women of the Auxiliary Corpe were
authorized to be employed in France
and that settled the matter. The
first unit was sent out by the end OF
April"
"Then the slogan, "a girl for every
soldier is not all romance?"
WELL" and the Chiefs grey eyes
twinkled sympathetically 'it isn't
nlitn that in anv SAMOA Wa fraukIy