Show kathleen norris says women may have to be bell syndicate service W 11 46 IN A 6 av 1 believe beliele be liete that wilbirt six months eiery woman and girt girl in the united states slates ivill hate hare to resistor register there trill be training camps lor for officers and no more room lor for petty squabbles that threaten aomen s tiar work by KATHLEEN N ORRIS NORRIS LL american women want AL A 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 to do but american women are not drafted they are not obliged to register state age and capability and await the order to serve that has been the procedure with men for generations they expect to obey 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 uniform and I 1 have heard lately of many who would not 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 m must stop fighting for places of power or prominence that they must av avoid oid duplication of service and con concentration cent ration of help in certain popular areas may need regimentation does that same condition exist among the women of your group or neighborhood if so and it if it continues the only answer is government regimentation of women as well as men when that comes every woman will do what she is told to do the women placed in authority over her may be infinitely less capable than she is herself but she wont be allowed to question orders or choose her own way of doing her own job site she will report where she is told to report on the minute and 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 to be content with the potentialities of our own magnificent land now that is changed we must meet attack from without and even i if f it takes us years to get our full fighting power organized there can be no turning 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 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 s slow low growth and time is the one thing we have not just now Nc nevertheless in a few weeks or months the incompetent tent officer is moved to some less important command there ther e is a shake up and gradually the utmost mos t is S exa exacted acted from a wellor well or gani zed tightly knit well controlled soldiery meanwhile the recruit obeys and keeps his mouth shut WAR IS WORK Arne american rican women are willing trilling 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 to find it more convenient to plead a previous engagement brizen 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 N orris believes that unless women voluntarily unta rily toe the mark they will have to submit to the draft and to military regimentation the bombs aront wait for you to f finish in that rubber and the cry of human suffering will not be stilled by promises war is work and that work must be done now if they draft women our sex will learn more about discipline and authority in six weeks than most of us experience in a lifetime life to some women will seem one long outrageous injustice how ma many ny women would have been silent as the boys were silent ov over er the conditions in our first enormous army camps a few months ago the conditions have been c hanged changed they are being steadily bettered but at first they meant almost constant discomfort for the draftees cold boredom mud poor food uncertainties 0 of f 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 we women do our full share of war work i without being harn 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 and girl will have to register th there e re win will be training camps for 0 officers and there will be n no 0 more room for the petty squabbles and jealousies that threaten war work today quarreled for power I 1 say this because of my own experience peri 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 sons but from the beginning they quarreled for place power and title they wrote me endless letters complaining of each other on several occasions they took petty cases case s to court once trying to prove th that at one of their leaders really been the first one to think of the ideals of the league and at another time to challenge the th e citizenship of a valued charter member months were wasted while they argued and threatened on the occasion of our first annual colv convention brition certain disaffected members threatened the delegates with warrants and warned us all by wire that our meeting would be broken up by the police the millions they were actual millions of peace loving members faded away men cant get alo along ng and take orders without definite unquestionable authority when the top sergeant or the pip squeak lieutenant or the unreasonable captain captai n speaks they obey I 1 in n the ranks of our armies today humbly taking orders are some of the boys who it if they live will be our great men tomorrow the president ot of 1962 probably 1 is s doing KP duty turning out earl early y and gulping his camp coffee and beans with the r rest est of them |