Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1918-09-29
'IS THE ARMY NURSE MtMbfR
 OF THE ARMY?
Woman Lawyer Says Nurse Is Now Chased as a Civ
 ilian Enploye of Govt.
BY HELEN HOY GLEELEY.

B4 HELEN HOY CLEELE |.
 (New York Attorney and Counsel For the Committee to Secure Ranke For Nurses.)
 Washington, Sept 28.-1s the army nurse in the army?
 She thought so, and the medical corps officers agreed with her. So did the general public. But the Treasury Department regards the army nurse as civilian employe, of no more mili- tary importance than the stenograph- CT in the War Department.
 In active service in military hospi- tals the army nurse is subject to the same regulations as the enlisted men,. So far as official recognition of her military service is concerned the army nurse is civilian employe. The question of the army nurses military statuts was raised by the quartermaster general. In view of ap- preaching conferences between the United States and Germany regarding prisoners of war ruling was sought from the Treasury Department on the matter of payment of United States soldiers during periods of eGrman captivity. The Treasury Department rultd that members of the regular ar- my should receive regular pay while prisoners of war, but refused to pay to nurses who might be taken prison CT on the ground that they were not in the regular army and had the status of civilian employees.
 By the ruling, government officials imply that the army nurse is without any military standing whatever-is mere extra hired help!
 The present tangle as to the status of the army nurse IS new proof of the justice of the plea of the Army Nurse Corps for recognition of the service and standing of it's members by giving them relative military rank. Relative rank means the right to wear the insignia of corresponding actual rank in the army, without the holding of a government commission, without extra pay or better quarters, and with out military authority except in sani- tary matters related to their profes- sional duties in military hospitals. Nurses endowned with relative rank would be subject to the authority of all medical officers who hold actual commissions.
 Under present conditions the army nurse, qualified by three years of study and practice in nursing, is with out authority over the hospital order ly assigned to ward duty, often ignor- ant, usually untrained and frequently resentful of hospital service Such or derlies frequently refuse to "take or ders from a woman" and neglect their duties as aids in surgical dressings, and their responsibility fo rthe heat ing and ventilation of wards. Num- erous occasions when such refusal and conflicts of authority endangered the life of wounded soldiers are known to army nurses and medical officers. A bill to confer relative military rank on army nurses is now before the Mili- tary Affairs Committee.
 The government is asking for 1000 nurses week for Army service. Nur- SC recruiting stations report that all ready the decisions of the Treasury Department is reducing the enroll ment.
 In relegating the enlisted army nurse to civilian ranks the officials overlooked the fact that army nurses were made a part of the regular army by statue adopted Feb. 3, 1910. On that date army nurses were consti tuted component part of the Medi- cal Department.
 The Medical Department is unques- tionably a part of the regular army If the army nurse is a part of the Medical Department which is a part of the army, how can she be chased as a civilian emplOye?"