The Cordova daily times., 1918-06-28
A CALL TO THE WOMEN

The call that comes from military officials in France for five thousand Red Cross nurses at once, and for twenty thousand additional by De- cember of this year, is easily ex- plained by the statements made by Senator Lewis in the senate. Accord ing to Senator Lewis, the United States now has more than a million men on foreign soil, and by December 1 of this year will have a number equivalent to the British army, which, we may be sure, is more than two mil lions.
 The number of men in France is no doubt much larger than was ex- pected or foreseen. And the same is true of the future transport of sol diers. The German offensive has cre- ated situation approximating an emergency, and it has been necessary for this country to throw itself into the breach. This necessity implies not only a speeding up of the ship ment of men and materials, but also speeding up of the work of the Red Cross. The Red Cross naturally gauges its program to fit in with the program of the army, and when this is suddenly advanced, an equal ad- vance must be made by the Red Gross.
 The question is primarily, of course, how are we going to get this large number of nurses together in so short a time? It is a question that will not prove easy of solution. While there are still plenty of graduate nurses in this country they are all needed, and needed badly, for civilian work. But the needs of the army, of course, 'supersede those of the civilian popu- 1ation, so that the probability is that, after some effort, the twenty-five thousand needed will be found. But their going will bring up an even larger problem. Having once sent so many nurses abroad, we will find our selves somewhat embarrassed at home by the shortage their departure ere ates. Thus, an equally difficult prob lom presents itself-the problem, not of recruiting graduate nurses for for eign service, but that of recruiting women who can take their places.
 There are, of course, a great many women in the United States today who are non-practicing graduate nurses. Some of these are women who have forsaken the profession of nursing to go into other professions; some are those who have merely re- have married, and who gave up nurs- ing after their marriage. From these ranks will have to come the nurses who will be needed immediately to replace the twenty-five thousand who are going away this year. For some of these it may involve sacrifice to go back into nursing, but then sacri- fee is the keynote of patriotism and victory, and it is not to be doubted that these women will rise to the emergency.
 But as the army grows the need for nurses will continue to grow. Per haps before the end of next year there will be needed in France nearer fifty thousand than twenty-five thousand nurses. If the war lasts beyond an- other year, as it we'll might, the need will be even greater. To meet this constant anu probably increasing drain we must have thousands of girls and young women take up the pro- fession of nursing.
 No nurse is accepted for foreign duty unless she has completed two or three-year standard course. It is useless for well-meaning but un- trained girls and women to think of going to France. In France the anna