Show Kc kaathleen athleen norris sacci aci i i u JL JL j 0 say s t women may have to be regimented Regin tented bou service P r I 1 believe that within six six months every woman and girt girl in the united states slates wit will have hate to register there will be training camps for officers and no more room for petty pett squabbles that threaten war work by KATHLEEN NORRIS L american women want wan AL to help the country now thousands are enlisting for service any service nursing sewing making bandages canteen work entertainment whatever each one may do she is eager todo but american women are not drafted they are not obliged to register state age and capability and await the serve that has been the procedure with kith men for generations they expect take orders work humbly in the lowest ranks until they prove their right to promotion women volunteer eagerly enough but presently they question the right of mrs wilson to give orders they dont know who ever told mary davis that she was boss they want a becoming uni uniform forni and I 1 have heard lately of many who would not e ot report for duty until they got that uniform when an emergency call came for certain others who had taken nursing courses and suddenly were needed several answered that they had engagements or were playing bridge yes the latter answer was actually given to the anxious superintendent who needed vital help to save life A san francisco paper had an editorial that is a reproach to every woman in the state it warned women volunteers that they must pull together that they must stop fighting for places of power or prom indence that they must avoid duplication of service and concentration of help uncertain in certain popular areas may need regimentation does that same condition exist among the women of your group or neighborhood if so and atit continues the only answer is government regimentation of women aswell as men Wh when enthat that comes every woman will do what she Is told to do the women placed in authority may be infinitely less capable than she is herself but she wont be allowed to 9 question orders or choose her own way of doing her own job she will report where she iskold is told to tb report 0 on n the minute a and nd she will endure whatever conditions meet her without any redress we are the neatest nation in the world but we never have been a truculent nation looking about for excuses to make trouble with our neighbors and we have been rich enough tobe to be content with the potentialities of our own magnificent land now that is changed we must meet attack from without and even if it takes us years year sto to get our full fighting power organized there can be noi noAd turning ming back now and no halfway measures and unless our women can do their share without actual military regimentation they must be prepared to be mobilized utmost Is exacted Es acted in every army there are temporarily at least mistakes in command it would take a superhuman commander in chief always to delegate authority to the right person fitness for office Is a thing of slow growth and time is the one thing we have not just now nevertheless in a few weeks or months the incompetent officer is moved to some less important command there is a shake up and gradually the utmost is exacted from a wellor well or gani zed tightly knit well controlled soldiery soldier yi meanwhile the recruit obeys and keeps his mouth shut WAR IS WORK american women are willing even eager to volunteer for war service of one kind or another but after a little time many of them begin to question the authority of those in command to demand smartly tailored uniforms at the price of efficiency efficient effi cien ayi to find it more convenient tr to plead a previous engagement when that inevitable emergency call comes and finds them just too tired to make the effort war is work hard work for everyone and kathleen norris believes that unless women voluntarily unta rily toe the mark th they e will have to submit to the draft draft and to military regimentation the bombs wont coret wait for you to finish that rubber and the cry of human suffering will not be stilled by promises war is work and that work must be done bowl inthey if they draft women our sex will learn more about discipline and authority in six weeks than most of us experience in hi a lifetime life to some women will seem one long outrageous injustice how many women would have been silent as the boys were silent over the conditions in our first enormous army camps a few months ago the conditions have been changed they are being steadily bettered but at first they meant almost constant discomfort for the draftees cold boredom mud poor food uncertainties of every sort were their life but they were in the army and they took it as a matter of course are you ready as a woman for that sort of thing or cant mie we women do our full share of war war work without being hammered into line I 1 am afraid it will have to come to that I 1 believe that within six months or a year every woman woman and girl will have to register there will be training camps for officers and there will be no more room for the petty squabbles squabble sand and jealousies that threaten war work today quarreled for power I 1 say this because of my own experience peri per lence ence in an enormous organization of women a few years ago these women were first of all for peace and secondly almost all mothers of I 1 sons but from the beginning they quarreled for place power and title they wrote me endless letters complaining of bf each other on several occasions they took petty cases to court once trying to prove that one of their leaders really been the first one to think of the ideals of the league and at another time to challenge the citizenship of a valued charter member months were wasted while they argued and threatened on the occasion of our first annual convention certain disaffected members threatened the delegates with warrants and warned us all by wire that th atour our meeting would be broken up by the police the millions they were actual millions of peace loving members faded away men cant get along and take orders without definite unquestionable authority ahen the top sergeant or the pip squeak lieutenant or the unreasonable captain speaks they obey in the ranks of our armies today humbly taking orders are some ome IS of the boys who if they live will be our great men tomorrow the president of 1962 probably is doing KP duty turning out early and gulping his camp coffee and beans with the rest reat of them |