The sun., 1919-08-27
BETTER FOOD QUICK
OR NURSES STRIKE
Kings County Hospital Stu
dents Set Walkout for
Tomorrow.
CAN'T EVEN BUY SWEETS
,"Petrified Eggs" and "Rocky
Mountain Goat" Must Be
Eaten IN Cellar.

| County Hospital have gone on strike,
but like Archy the Cockroach, the hard
working contributor Of the Sun Dial.
their demand is not for more money or
shorter hours It is for something TO eat.
Leave wedge of pie on your desk
where I can get It," was Archy's ulti-
matum to the editor of the Sun Dial.
"or 1 quit work.
! GIVE US something besides Rocky
Mountain goat and petrihed eggs for
our meals" the ninety-hve nurses who
keep the wards of Kings County Hos
+, pital clean and minister to Its patients,
| remarked calmly and decisively to Miss
Isabelle Burroughs, head of the train
ing school attached to the hospital. "or
we shall walk out tomorrow"
| At least that Is what the nurses say
they said. Describing the training
school viands variously, according to
their previous linguistic associations, as
fierce" very unpalatable," simply
awful" nasty" &C.. these ministering
angels of pain wrung anguished brows
| allowed many spicy details of their gus
| tatory trials to leak out 1t got so bad,
several of them declared. though asking
not to be quoted by name. that they
|
her what was what. But Miss Bur-
roughs said yesterday afternoon over
the telephone that nothing OF the kind
had come to her ears.
Denies Getting Complaint.
The head of the training school had
great difficulty in hearing THE SUN re-
porters questions over the wire on ac-
count, she explained. of the noise In her
office. She didn't say whether 1t was
the nurses having a demonstration. She
just said II was very noisy there. And
loud sounds kept coming over the wire,
but amid them Mise Burroughs's voice
could finally be heard denying that the
nurses had made any complaint to her
about the quality of food served to them.
Nothing of that sort has come to my
ears" she said. IT have heard of no
dissatisfaction with the food on the part
Of the nurses" Later she said that the
reports of the trouble were very much
exaggerated"
rs the food good that is served to the
nurses?' Miss Burroughs was asked.
There is no better food in New
| York" she answered.
But the nurses maintain that II they
hadn't been buying pickles and candy
and hot dogs and ice cream sodas and
| so on with their salaries and consuming
these STATS of life during their on hours
to give their stomachs little something
to work on they would long ago have
starved-simply starved. Out of the
munifcent salary OF $40 a month for the
junior nurses and s12 for the seniors
they have contrived to make up the de-
hciencies in the meals served by the
X C. II. T. s. chef, and while consider
ing it very unjust for a free democracy
: | to exploit its hard working nurses so
! they did II because they felt for their
! patients and didn't want TO make any
russ that might interfere with their duty
to the suffering
|. Eat Only in Cellar.
But suddenly Miss Burroughs made4
rule that put stop to all these little
, lunches on the side. There was to be nc
, eating anywhere but in the cellar of the
nurses home. 1t being difficult for the
, nurses to leave their duties TO descend
to the cellar chocolate would melt in
| the pockets of their crisp uniforms, cake
, would slowly disintegrate and pickles
grow limp and lifeless in hidden caches
, while the poor girls, with stomachs
slowly but surely caving in, watched ir
All vain for a chance to relieve their pangs
IN Then endured this for time and then
r they say sent their committee to Mis-:
= Burroughs.
1--WE protest against meat that taste,
/. as " It were tainted" the committee /,
v alleged to have said. 1--WE protes
e against being served a little square o.
r tough meat smothered in greasy gravy
v under the name of lamb. Rock Mountain
: goat is more like 1t. We protest agains
o eggs that must have been put in storage
e in King Pharaoh's time Unless thu
s food improves by Thursday morning W.
| shall walk out in body"
Q No nurse answered the mess call afte
i breakfast yesterday. They subsisted OIL
/, forage from Flatbush delicatessen an,
t candy stores, partaken of secretly il
o corners when Miss Burroughs WASH
y looking. and upon indignation.
e It Is only six months since the in
ternes at Kings County Hospital de
X clared a hunger strike. but they wen
n about It in a brave buccaneering, mas
culine way. They simply went In
| body to the best restaurant they coult
| find, ordered and devoured a squar
/ meal, and sent the bill to the superln
! tendent OF the hospital 1t is said L
? have worked.
DR. Mortimer G. Jones. the superin
q tendent wasn't to be found near the sea
of the trouble yesterday and his OfTic
staff would say nothing. Charities Com
missioner Bird s. Coler said that tn
Il nurses strike hadn't been brought TO hi
10 notice Gin q formal way" and until
d was he could make no comment
. OVERSEE RECRUITING