Evening star., 1945-01-06

the Army was shipping more men te
Europe than In any previous month
OF the war.
Only 2,000 Nurses Added
In Eight Months.
One Of the most urgent immediate
requirements of the armed forces Is
more nurses. Last April the Army
requirement for nurses was set at
$4,000. Actual strength in nurses
was then 10000. Since that time the
Army has tried to raise the addi-
tional 10000. Active recruiting has
been carried on, but the net gain
in eight months has been only 1000.
There are now $4,000 nurses in the
Army. m
Recent estimates have increased
the total number needed to $4,000.
That means that $4,000 more nurses
must be obtained for the Army
alone and the Navy now requires
1000 additional nurses.
The present shortage of Army
nurses is reflected in undue strain
on the existing force. More than q
thousand nurses are now hospital
lied, and part of this is due to over
work. The shortage is also in
dicated by the fact that IL Army
hospital units have been sent over
seas without their complement of
nurses. At Army hospitals in the
United States there is only
nurse to rs beds, instead of the
recommended / to is beds.
1t is tragic that the gallant women
who have volunteered for service as
nurses should be so overworked. II
is tragic that our wounded men
should ever want for the best pos
sible nursing care.
The inability to get the needed
nurses for the Army is not due to
any shortage of nurses. Two hun
dred and eighty thousand registered
nurses are now practicing in this
country. 1t has been estimated by
the War Manpower Commission that
27,000 additional nurses could be
made available to the armed forces
without interfering too seriously
with the needs of the civilian popu-
lation for nurses.
Suggested Induction
OF Nurses Into Service.
Since volunteering has not pro-
duced the number of nurses required,
I urge that the Selective Service Act
be amended to provide for induction
of nurses into the armed forces. The
need is too pressing to await the out
come Of further efforts at recruiting
The care and treatment given to
our wounded and sick soldiers have
been the best known to medical
science. Those standards must be
at all costs. We cannot
tolerate lowering of them by fail
ure to provide adequate nursing for
the brave men who stand desperate
ly in need of it.
In the continuing progress OF this
war We have constant need for new
types OF weapons. For we cannot
afford to fight the war of today or
tomorrow with the weapons of yes
terday. For example. the American
Army now has developed a new tank
with a gun more powerful than any
yet mounted on a fast-moving We
hicle. The Army will need many
thousands of these new tanks in
1945.
Almost every month finds some
new development in ., electronics
which must be put into production
in order to maintain our technical
superiority-and in order to save
lives. We have to work every day to
keep ahead of the enemy in radar
On D-day, in france, with our su-
perior new equipment, we located
and then put out of operation every
warning set which the Germans had
along the French coast.
Pay for Backwardness
In New Weapons.
If we do not keep constantly ahead
OF our enemies in the development
of new weapons. we pay for our
backwardness with the life's blood
of our sons.
The only way to meet these in
creased needs for new weapons and
more OF them is for every American
engaged in war work to stay on his
war job-for additional American
civilians, men and women, not en-
gagged in essential work, to 60 out
and get a war job Workers who are
released because their production is
cut back should get another lob
where production is being increased
This Is no time to quit or change to
less essential jobs.
There Is an old and true saving
that the Lord hates gutter. And
this Nation must pay for all those
who leave their essential jobs-or
all those who lay down on their
essential jobs for nonessential rea-
sons. And-again-that payment
must be made with the life's blood
of our sons.
Many critical production pro-
grams with sharply rising needs are
now seriously hampered by man
power shortages. The most i'm
portant Army needs are artillery.
ammunition, cotton duck, bombs,
tires. tanks, heavy trucks and even
B-29s. In each of these vital pro-
grams, present production is behind
requirements.
Navy production of bombardment
is hampered by man.
power shortages: so is production
for its huge rocket program. Labor
shortages have also delayed its
cruiser and carrier programs, and
production of certain types of air.
craft.
There Is critical need for more
repair workers and repair parts:
this lack delays the return of dam
aged fighting ships to their places
in the fleet, and prevents ships now
In the fighting line from getting
needed overhauling.
Pool of LAS Under 26
Almost Depleted.
The pool of young men under
rs classified as la is almost de-
pleted. Increased replacements for
the armed forces will take men now
deferred who are at work in war in
dustry. The armed forces must
have an assurance of steady flow
OF young men for requirements