have not met the situation and that the only thing left was "some form of compulsory legislation" (record pp. 146, 147).

Miss Katherine J. Densford, president of the American Nurses Association, admitted that if we need 20,000 nurses and have not been able to get them by voluntary means, that we must resort to other methods in order to get them (record, p. 179). Miss Densford testified that

The association would accept a draft of nurses as a first step, but only as a first step, in a Selective Service Act for all women (record, p. 178).

Miss Anna Wolfe, secretary, National League of Nursing Education, testified:

In closing, I repeat, the National League of Nursing Education supports in principle a Selective Service Act for women with a draft of nurses as the first step in order to meet the military needs and a National Service Act to meet civilian needs (record, p. 198).

Sister Olivia Gowan, National Nursing League Organization representative, testified that we should have a Selective Service System and induction of nurses under the provisions of the selective service law, not only for the military service but also for the civilian population (record, p. 212).

Mrs. Stella Goostray, chairman, National Nursing Council for War Services, testified:

The council approves this principle, Federal selective service legislation for the procurement of nurses for the needs of the armed forces (record, p. 226).

The Honorable Robert P. Patterson, Under Secretary of War, testified:

* * *

In behalf of the War Department I urge prompt passage of the May bill, H. R. 1284. * Voluntary recruitment cannot be relied on to make good the shortage in time. Passage of the bill will mean that the necessary number of nurses will be on hand. It will be the guarantee of Congress to the stricken soldiers that their nursing care will be adequate (record, pp. 232, 233).

Gen. Frank T. Hines, Administrator of Veterans' Affairs, testified: Mr. THOMASON. Boiled down, General, you favor this legislation provided the first highest priority goes to our boys who have been wounded in combat, and then let the veterans have second priority over the outsiders?

General HINES. That is my contention.

Mr. THOMASON. And on that basis you favor this legislation?

General HINES. I do.

Mr. THOMASON. It is also your considered judgment that these nurses cannot be obtained by voluntary methods.

General HINES. I doubt if they could, with any degree of speed, and apparently from War Department information to this committee there must be speed.

Mr. THOMASON. In other words, you advise this committee resolve the doubt in favor of the wounded boys, do you not?

General HINES. Undoubtedly; no question (record, p. 249).

Maj. Edna B. Groppe, Chief of the Nursing Branch, Military Personnel Division, Office of the Surgeon General, testified:

*

** We are reaching the limit of voluntary procurement. * The only method which would be safe in securing the number of nurses required was selective service (record, pp. 296, 297).

The Honorable Henry L. Stimson, Secretary of War, in a letter to the chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs, House of Representatives, stated:

Late in December, after studied consultations with the Surgeon General of the Army, I became convinced that the War Department could not in good conscience,

longer hazard the proper nursing care of our sick and wounded with the uncertainties attending voluntary recruitment. Accordingly, after assuring myself by study and council of the power of the Congress to act, I placed the facts before the President urging that he recommend amending the Selective Service and Training Act so as to provide for the induction of nurses into the armed forces (record, p. 244).

It is recognized that since the proposal for selective service of nurses has progressed this far with its attendant publicity, if the proposal is now rejected efforts at voluntary recruitment will be much less effective than before this draft proposal (record, p. 127). The psychological factor involved is that the draft proposal is considered to meet an emergency, and if it is rejected the normal assumption on the part of the nurse population is that the emergency does not in fact exist and that they are not badly needed. This would play havoc with the voluntary program which, even without this handicap has failed to bring forth sufficient volunteers during the last year (record, p. 142). Obviously then if this legislation is not quickly passed we are going to fail our stricken combat soldiers (record, p. 232).

UNITED STATES CADET NURSE CORPS

By act of June 15, 1943 (57 Stat. 153), Congress authorized to be appropriated sums sufficient to effect a program for the training of

nurses:

For the purpose of assuring a supply of nurses for the armed forces and other essential services (50 U. S. C. sec. 1451).

The statute further provided that no student nurse should be included under the plan unless in the judgment of the head of the institution. undertaking the training of such nurse, she would be available for military service, or other essential service, upon her graduation. Thus the Cadet Nurse Corps was created for a twofold purpose: To augment civilian nursing service so that larger numbers of graduate nurses could be released for the military, and to create a pool from which the military could draw when cadet nurses became seniors and graduates (record, p. 288).

Under this cadet nurse training program the training schools receiving funds thereunder .were required to accelerate their program of training to 24 to 30 months instead of 36 months. In addition, students enrolled in the cadet nurse program were required to pledge, "to engage in essential nursing, military or civilian, for the duration of the war" (record, p. 50).

It should be remembered, however, that the Bolton Act creating the Cadet Nurse Corps was not signed until July 1943, and that it was not until September 1943 that the girls could enter nursing training as members of the Cadet Corps (record, p. 288). Accordingly, only 1,206 cadets graduated in 1943-44, and these were student nurses who were well along in their training before the corps were formed. In 1944-45 only 9,165 cadets will graduate (record, p. 289). It is evident, therefore, that the graduates of the United States Cadet Nurse Corps training program will not be sufficient in number at this time to take care of the immediate needs of the Army for additional nurses. Of the approximately 10,500 nurses who have graduated from the Cadet Nurse Corps during its first 18 months existence, ending January 1, 1945, approximately 40 percent have applied or

have actually been accepted by the military services. They have responded for military duty in much greater proportion than have their classmates who are not in the corps (record, p. 52).

MALE NURSES

The question has been raised as to why the some 8,000 or 9,000 male nurses of this country are not being commissioned and used as nurses in the Army Nurse Corps. In this connection, it should be pointed out that all qualified men of draft age are wanted first for combat duty. Therefore, it would seem improbable that most of the male nurses not in the Army already have been deferred for physical reasons and therefore few could pass the physical tests necessary to become a nurse (record, p. 270). In addition it should be pointed out that there is a great shortage of male nurses in civilian nursing, and a great many have deferments because of their essential occupation (record, p. 40). No segregation of male nurses has been attempted by selective service. The Medical Corps is now utilizing all of the male nurses that have been made available to it.

Of the men identifying themselves as nurses and requesting service in the Medical Corps, some 700 or more have been so transferred. Their duties are those of medical technicians of many sorts as well as of battalion aides. There are units in the Souhwest Pacific where there are no female nurses and male nurses have been given technical ratings and assigned to those units (record, p. 40). The Medical Corps is also using male nurses in other places (record, p. 40). More than 13,000 Medical Administrative Corps men have been commissioned and are serving as auxiliary medical officers. Male nurses have the same opportunity as any other enlisted man to attend this Officer's Training School and to qualify for these commissions. They may apply for officer's training, and some have done this and been commissioned (record, p. 290).

The male nurse specializes in particular fields for which he is best suited by virtue of being a male, such as amputation cases, genitourinary diseases, and psychopathic cases (record, pp. 40, 63, 300). It is for this reason that they are not suited to be commissioned as an Army nurse and undertake all of the diversified and general nursing activities of the Army nurse (record, p. 300).

Finally, it should be remembered that the Army Nurse Corps is set up by the statute passed in 1901 as a "female" corps. There is a very general and sincere sense of the value of retaining the Army Nurse Corps as a woman's corps, and to continue to use such trained male personnel as presents itself in the auxiliary medical services. where they are exceedingly useful and often very necessary (record, pp. 290, 300).

NEGRO NURSES

The Army is accepting every Negro nurse who puts in her application and meets the requirements (record, p. 15). Several hundred Negro nurses have already been commissioned and are being used in this country and overseas (record, p. 15). Whites and Negroes are not segregated, but are all put in wards together. There is no segregation of color in the Army hospitals unless there happens to be a division at one post where there are nothing but colored troops (record, p. 15). There has not been any discrimination with respect

to nurses so far as race, color, or creed is concerned (record, p. 239). Some charges of discrimination have been unjustifiably made. For instance, the press recently carried an article about 18 Negro nurses said to have been rejected because they were Negroes. An investigation revealed that only 2 of these had ever applied for a commission in the Army Nurse Corps, one did not pass the physical standards and the other was declared to be essential in her present occupation (record, p. 239).

JAPANESE NURSES

The question has been raised as to whether the Army is utilizing nurses who are American citizens but of Japanese extraction. The principal source of these nurses would be Hawaiian and other Central Pacific Islands. At the beginning of the war it was ruled that all nurses in these areas, whether white or of Japanese extraction, were needed for nursing in the civilian defense activities of the islands. Accordingly no nurses have been taken by the Army Nurse Corps from these islands. The Medical Corps has recently formally requested that it be allowed to commission Army nurses from this area. There are a few nurses who are American citizens of Japanese extraction, presently commissioned and on duty with our armed forces. The number, however, is negligible, as is the number of trained and qualified nurses in this country who are of Japanese extraction.

WAR DEPARTMENT CEILINGS FOR NURSES

There has been some confusion concerning the various ceilings for nurses which have been fixed from time to time by the War Department (record, pp. 237, 297). In view of the highly fluid state of the war and the absolutely unpredictable fortunes of battle, these needs will always fluctuate in relation to the varying number of casualties experienced. Accordingly, the administrative fixing of ceilings must be raised or lowered from time to time (record, pp. 237, 297). The need for nurses will always fluctuate as also will the need in every other category of the war, and if it is expected that in a war of this size a perfect job of forecasting can be accomplished, those expecting this result must be bitterly disappointed (record, p. 237). It is now the best estimate of the Army that a total of 60,000 nurses will be needed before June 1, 1945. However, in view of the uncertainties of the situation, it would not be surprising, depending upon the events of the war, that even more might be required before that time, thus necessitating a revision of this ceiling (record, p. 277).

It cannot justifiably be said that the administrative changing of these ceilings has prevented the Army from securing the number of nurses needed. From April 1944 until the end of the year the ceiling remained at 50,000, but the Army was able to procure only 2,000 additional nurses, raising its total number to only 42,000 (record, p. 297). Obviously, if the Army was unable to obtain the 50,000, nothing would have been gained by advancing the ceiling during that period to 60,000. In this connection it is interesting to note the testimony of Dr. Parran of the Public Health Service on page 65 of the record:

Mr. PEARSON. Do you feel if they raised the ceiling early enough to 60,000 there would have been any difficulty in getting the other 20,000?

Dr. PARRAN. In my opinion, there would have been.

All of us know that wartime conditions and the military situation change from month to month.

STANDARDS OF THE ARMY NURSE CORPS

There has been some criticism of the Army Nurse Corps' physical and professional standards as being so high that a number of reasonably well-qualified nurses are prevented from volunteering for the corps. This criticism seems to be completely answered on the basis of the number that are disqualified for professional or physical reasons. Approximately 5 percent of all nurses applying are disqualified for professional reasons, and 20 percent disqualified for failure to meet physical standards (record, p. 116). Of the 5 percent who are disqualified for professional reasons only 2.7 percent are disqualified for failure to graduate from nursing schools meeting the standards of the Army Nurse Corps (record, p. 117).

The qualifications of the Army nurse must necessarily be high because of the responsibilities she has to assume in her position. In addition to having to discharge the duties of a commissioned officer in the Army of the United States, she must be possessed of the highest type of professional qualifications in order to discharge her many and varied professional duties under the adverse conditions under which she must frequently work. In addition, she must meet very high physical standards in order to be able to stand up under the gruelling physical strain imposed upon her as an Army nurse. In other words, the Army nurse must be able to act under any given situation and under any circumstances both as an officer and as a professionally trained nurse (record, p. 11). Our wounded and sick combat soldiers are certainly entitled to the best nursing care that we can give them (record, p. 15). The Army has carefully reviewed its standards, both professional and physical, for Army nurses in order to see if, in view of the existing shortage, it would not be possible to reduce these standards in some ways (record, p. 19). It was found that all that could be safely done. was to lessen physical standards for nurses as to weight and height, and these standards have been relaxed in this respect.

NECESSITY FOR IMMEDIATE PASSAGE OF BILL

It is unrealistic to anticipate sufficient volunteers to meet the Army's present and future requirements for graduate nurses (record, p. 49). The response from nurses on a voluntary basis is unpredictable (record, p. 118), and this method cannot be relied on to make good the shortage in time (record, p. 232). We now have 1 nurse looking after about 26 beds instead of 15, and many vacancies in overseas nursing Tables of Organization. That is why we have to have this legislation now, and not next June, to meet this load; if we do not we are going to fail (record, p. 232). The need of the Army is acute and immediate, and the means of meeting that need are provided in H. R. 2277 (record, p. 232). There is no time to lose. We cannot gamble with the lives of our soldiers, and delay in obtaining the additional nurses that are needed may result in tragedy to thousands of wounded and sick soldiers. This bill is a bill in behalf of the combat soldiers fighting the Germans on the western front and in Italy, and fighting the Japanese in Luzon, Burma, and the Pacific. Prompt passage of this bill will be the guaranty of our Congress to our stricken soldiers that they will not suffer for lack of adequate nursing (record, p. 233). The CHAIRMAN. Secretary Patterson, please.

70840452