Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-08-30
Red Cross Needs
Woman Cha uffeurs
By Frederic ]. Haskin

Three hundred women motor drivers
are needed by the American Red cross
| for duty in France. The recruiting Oh
| female chaiiffeurs has already begun IN
| New York where. 1t rs hoped, the nfst
| unit Of fifty women may be mobillzod
and sent across by the first Of October
Meantime. other cities are preparing
! to supply their quotas:
This call il Issued by the Director of
| Motor Service at national headquarters
| of the American Red Cross in answer 10 a
cabled request from the Paris office,
! which states that there is a great need for
women messengers, ambulance and canton
| drivers behind the lines need that VIII
| he temporarily met by these hrst 3oO
| drivers. Already more than o'oOO
| English and French women are reported
| To be engaged in this work, but many
more are needed This is only the hrst
| call
| Women who can afford 20 donate their
services are asked to do so. The Ameri-
can Red Cross will pay their travelling
| expenses, and if necessary an allowance
of $50 francs txS5) month outside of
| Paris and OF 600 francs (SfO0l month
when in Paris will be paid 10 expert
| drivers who are dependent upon their
| own resources.
| SOME IHpfsPEN sAetEs
To he eligible for this work woman
must have passed her tuenty-hfth birth
day must be fairly robust, and possess
an impeccable patriotic record As lar
as possible, candidates for this service VIII
he selected from the local divisions OF the
American Red Cross Motor Corps al
| ready in existence, for the women Of the
Red Cross Motor Corps are thoroughly
| trained and experienced IN the duties
| Of war messengers and ambulance
| chauffeurs
Early last year the American Red Cross
realizing the need for women drivers both
| at home and abroad created separate
bureau, known as the Bureau Of Motor
| Service, with offices at the National
Headquarters, for the purpose OF organiz-
ing chapter motor corps throughout the
country. II now has lf0 such organza-
tons to its credit. with a membership Of
over 5000 women.
The size Of a local motor corps depends
entirely upon the requirements Of the
local Red Cross chapter II ranges all
the way from six 70 sixty drivers. Red
| Cross motor drivers are classified IN two
divisions, the first division including
ambulance and truck drivers. and the
second division including the drivers OF
passenger cars for messenger work
THE yARroU DIVISIONS.
Drivers in the first division are chosen
for their ability 0 drive trucks and ambu-
lances owned BY the local chapters.
They must be graduates Of a mechanical
| course specified by the Red Cross, and
possess q first-a certificate In most
cases candidate for the ambulanc
division Is sent 10 hospital for twelve,
days' experience IN it's emergency room
or on one Of its ambulances, bat this IS
not insisted upon The Red Cross
Motor Corps conducts sanitary and
stretcher drills which are sufficient 70
teach the members how to lift and care
for wounded soldiers.
The second division Of the chapter
motor corps. on the other hand. Is re-
cruited entirely among women who can
afford 10 donate not only their services
but the cars No woman IS accepted.
| however who cannot Dass an examination
demonstrating her ability 10 drive, as
we'll as a knowledge Of simple mechanics
and traffic rules motor corps messen-
ger makes all other volunteers fade into
lnsignihcance She even buys her own
gasoline. oil and tires, and if she Is tlned
for exceeding the speed limit while
hurrving some Red Gross message TO It's
destination she pays the tine.
Each Red Cross motor corps has
I
them and assigns them TO various duties
There are lieutenants. too. but these are
ranks of distinction rather than OF utility
When YOU are messen ger in a Red Cross
motor corps your car Is pledged tor "a
certain number of hours each week, and
three failures 10 appear at these hours.
unless detained by illness, Is considered
sufficient cause for dIshonoI able discharge.
When your hour of duty approaches YOU
report al the motor corps headquarters
and are detailed by the officer IN charge
for certain service. sometimes NOu are
turned over to the Home Service section
and spend the morning dI wing Red Cross
social workers from point To point.
Canteen workers are transported 10 and
fro m railroad stations, and supplies
delivered and called for Occasionally
# lucky YOU are detailed 10 drive an Amerl-
can or a foreign officer IN a reSpoendant
uniform about the city, greatly 10 the
envy OF admiring friends.
SOME OTHER DUTIES
These. briefly. are some OF the duties
Of the Red Cross motor corps as described
bv one of them IN addition, they are
often called upon TO 'ip out the canteen
committee OF their s4apter, by carrying
supplies and passengers.
The other day. for instance, troo
train arrived IN a certain eastern city
where it stopped for only forty minutes.
The commander of the train was asked by
"A member of the local Red Cross canteen
committee If he needed anything. and he
replied that the train supply of potatoes
was exhausted There were two officers,
also he said who were IN need Of assistance.
One OF them wanted to get medical sup
plies and the other to visit a local military
post The member of the eanteen com
mittee simply passed these orders on TO a
motor corps messenger sitting few
feet away at the wheel of large touring
car That young lady proceeded to drive
the two officers where they wanted TO go,
then to a wholesale grocery where they
bought large supply OF potatoes, and
back to the train-aH in the space Of
! forty minutes
Sually the work Of hauling u plies
Tor the cantcen comittee IS done b the
truck drivers OF the motor corps, however.
. Zach local chapter owns ITS own truck
sometimes several Of them and these
. are used to collect the many articles that
pass through the hands Of the Red Gross
. HANDBAGS, surgical dressings, old shoes,
! tin foil, old kid gloves clothes for refugees
etc are some of the things handled hy