Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1945-02-27
Nurse Draft Clears
House Rules Group;
Early Action Certain
Measure May Reoch
Floor Tomorrow; Debate
Limited to Two Hours
BY CARTER BROOKE JONES.

The House Rules Committee
cleared the nurse draft bill to-
day for immediate consideration
in the House.
The measure may reach the floor
tomorrow or may be delayed until
Monday. depending on whether the
House takes up the deficiency ap-
preparation bill tomorrow. The spe-
cial rule which the committee
adopted on the nurse bill limits de-
bate to two hours and makes all
pertinent amendments m order.
The Rules Committee. taking up
the bill again after deferring action
on it Saturday, held an open meet
ing before going into executive ses-
sion and again heard Chairman May
of the House Military Affairs Com
mittee, author of the bill. Mr.. May
renewed his plea for speedy action
in the face of critical shortage of
Army nurses and mounting casual
ties on all battle fronts.
Cites Marriage Clause.
The Military Affairs Committee
approved the measure almost unani-
mously, and several members, in
addition to the chairman, came be-
fore the Rules Committee today to
urge that the. House be given a
chance to consider it at once.
Representative Brown, Republic
an, of Ohio, a member of the Rules
Committee, remarked that under the
bill "all nurse who wants to get
out of the draft has to do is to get
married"
Mr.. May conceded that the way
the committee had written the bill
If woman gets married and she's
a nurse she's exempt"
Representative Sparkman, Demo-
crat. of Alabama, member of the
Military Affairs Committee, said he
thought the committee made mis-
take in exempting all married
women and should have excepted
from induction only those with small
children. ...-..
Urges Family Nursing.
Acting Chairman Cox of the Rules
Committee asked whether civilians
could not go back to family nursing,
as people had done for generations,
so that the Army could have all the
nurses it needed. Mr.. May said he
personally was for that.
Representative Smith, Democrat,
of Virginia pointed out that selec-
tive service has taken plenty of
men by the scruff of the neck and
Iput them in the Army-why not
women?"
Chairman McNutt of the War
Manpower Commission disclosed to-
day that about $4,000 private-duty
nurses have been classified as avail
able for military service. This was
revealed when Mr.. McNutt made an
appeal to hospitals and physicians
to limit private nursing to persons
acutely ILL.,
VINO Recruiting Plans.
At the same time VINO announced
plans, through its Procurement and
Assignment Service, to obtain for
the Army or Navy as many as pos
sible from the reserve of civilian
nurses whose present work is not
considered essential to the public
welfare.
Mr.. McNutt said VINO would ex-
pect that those private-d duty nurses
who could pass the physical exami-
nation would go into the military
service. He also said letter had
been sent to Dr. Donald G. Smelzer,
president OF the American Hospital
Association, asking the association
to recommend to its members that
nurses classified as available for
military duty not be used in private
duty nursing: that only the acutely
I'LL In hospitals receive private nurs-
ing, and that hospitals encourage
the utilization Of private nurses
wherever possible in group nursing,
in which one nurse cares for two
or more patients.
A similar letter was sent to DIR.
Olin West, secretary and general
manager Of the American Medical
Association, urging the association
to request its members to reduce