The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-04-06
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
MEORMATIO BUREAU
FREDERIC J. HASKIN, Director.
Washington, ID. c.
CAN WOMEN COMMAND?

women competent to be placed in COM
mand of military organizations upon
which lives depend?
The war department has decided
that they are. By rule when mas
just been issued as part of the man
ual for the medical department, the
chief nurse in a military hospital ware
is made the responsible head and
commander of that ward, the army
surgeon in charge of the hospital be-
ing her Immediate superior.
| To understand the significance OF
the order, you should know tnat IN
each ward of a military hospital there
are a head nurse, with several ASSIST
ant nurses and a ward master, W.T.
several male assistants OF the enhsteo
personnel. Heretofore, the head nurse
has had charge of the patients, unoer
the supervision of the army surgeon
but the ward master has been the re-
sponsible head of the ward as Whoie.
Miss Dora E. Thompson, superin-
tendent of the army nurse corps, sue
ceeded in convincing the surgeon gen
eraI that the women of her corps, by
reason of their special training ana
proven fitness were the right1ul anu
often the eff ective chiefs of the nos
pital wards The issuance of the oruer
followed.
feminine figure of the war mach1ne'
she is the greatest woman executive
and commander which the war mas
brought forth. She has held her po-
sition as superintendent OF the army
nurse corps for three years and a nan,
Int when the war broke out she had
under her charge only 373 nurses.
Now she has over 5000 nurses, and is
rapidly building an organization when
will include 10000 women, and Will De
one of the greatest feminine FORCES IN
the world.
The part which the trained nurse
plays in modern warfare is we'll
known; hers is the merciful and ter
rible task of saving what may De
saved from the human wreckage OF
battle No woman lacking in strength
and ability would ever undertake such
work. much less stick to it. Miss
Thompson believes that the qualities
and sacrifices which are demanded of
the army nurse should receive more
substantial recognition than they nave
hitherto received Thru her influence
a bill has been introduced in congress,
with the approval of the administra-
ton granting substantial increases of
pay to army nurses. An amendment
to this bill has been offered, and is
strongly supported by leading suffra-
gists, which would give to army nurses
definite military rank, such as the Of
ficerS of the medical corps have.
Whether this rank should take. the
form of commissions, making our
nurses probable the first female COM
missioned officers in the world, other
than those of an honorary sort; or
whether they should be given titles
corresponding to the various ranks, is
a question which admits of some diff
ference of opinion. There is general
agreement, however, that women who
command as officers do, who bear re-
sponsibilities of the greatest, and are
as much subject to military discipline
as any officer of the line, should have
some definite status indicated by rank
and title 1t is understood that the
chief argument advanced against the
proposed commissioning of nurses is
that in case all of the medical Off
GERS in a hospital were killed, a wo-
man would then be in command, as
the head nurse would take precedence
by rank over the head man of the
men unhesitatingly reply that the wo-
man would be the one best fitted to
command in such a case, as she would
be the better trained.
The present army nurse corps was
organized in 1901, following the
Spanish war, which dem
onstrated the need for such an or
ganization. At first there were 100
nurses. At the time our troops were
sent to the border this number was
increased to 373. which was consid-
cred large corps ntil the present
war broke out, when it was recog-
nized as the merest nucleus of what
we should need.
Miss Dora E. Thompson, the pres
ent superintendent, became a nurse
in the corps in 1902, served in Manila,
and worked her way up thru all the
grades to her present position The
real test of her ability, however. has
come since we entered the war. She
has remained in complete charge of
the nurse corps, thus making it a
truly feminine organization from top
to bottom, and the ony one in the
military machine
The relation of the Army Nurse
Corps to the American Red Cross is
little understood The Red Cross
Goes .he important work of creating
a nurse reserve. 1t lists trained
nurses in all parts of the. country.
who are willing to respond to a call
for service, whether that service he
N connection with some disaster OF
civil life, or in war. These lists are
used ny the Army Nurse Corps in re-
crulting, and are of inestimable value
About 1000 of the 5000 nurses who
nave beei- enrolled since the war
broke out were obtained from these
i1sts. The creation of this valuab bic
reserve force was largely the work
- Htiss zane Delano, former superin-
teldent of the Red Cross
These nurses become employees of
the United States government. are
pald by the government, and are SUBJ
Ject TO the orders and rules of the
army medical corps. The Red Cross
furnishes to each nurse who goes over
seas an outfit worth two hundred dol
lars.
Nurses are still needed by the nurse
corps IN large numbers, but they must
be properly qualified and trained.
The size of our wartime medical
orga nization is impressive. AItho no
exact figures are given out. it is
known that the enlisted personnel now
numbers in the neighborhood of 100. =
900 men, while there are about 90
600 officers. who are the doctors and
surgeons.
The great size of the enlisted per-
sonnet is a surprise to the laymen, who
generally thinks of the army medi-
cal organization as composed excIu-