MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF JANUARY 6, 1945

The message from the President of the United States which was communicated to the joint session of the Senate and House of Representatives on January 6, 1945, contains the following statements which were made with respect to the need for drafting nurses:

One of the most urgent immediate requirements of the armed forces is more nurses. Last April the Army requirement for nurses was set at 50,000. Actual strength in nurses was then 40,000. Since that time the Army has tried to raise the additional 10,000. Active recruiting has been carried on, but the net gain in 8 months has been only 2,000. There are now 42,000 nurses in the Army.

Recent estimates have increased the total number needed to 60,000. That means that 18,000 more nurses must be obtained for the Army alone, and the Navy now requires 2,000 additional nurses.

The present shortage of Army nurses is reflected in undue strain on the existing force. More than a thousand nurses are now hospitalized, and part of this is due to overwork. The shortage is also indicated by the fact that 11 Army hospital units have been sent overseas without their complement of nurses. At Army hospitals in the United States there is only 1 nurse to 26 beds, instead of the recommended 1 to 15 beds.

It is tragic that the gallant women who have volunteered for service as nurses should be so overworked. It is tragic that our wounded men should ever want

for the best possible nursing care.

The inability to get the needed nurses for the Army is not due to any shortage of nurses. Two hundred and eighty thousand registered nurses are now practicing in this country. It 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 population for nurses.

Since volunteering has not produced the number of nurses required, I urge that the Selective Service Act be amended to provide for the induction of nurses into the armed forces. The need is too pressing to await the outcome 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 maintained at all costs. We cannot tolerate a lowering of them by failure to provide adequate nursing for the brave men who stand desperately in need of it.

NEED FOR ADDITIONAL NURSES

The Army must have 60,000 nurses at this time in order to furnish presently needed essential nursing service to our soldiers. This requirement is based upon a ratio of 1 nurse to 12 beds in overseas operations and 1 nurse to 15 beds in the zone of the interior. amount of nursing service is necessary to provide only minimum adequate nursing care.

This

According to the latest available reports, about 400,000 of this Nation's soldiers have been wounded in this war. In the last week for which a report is available, 16,538 of our soldiers were wounded. In addition to these wounded, a large number are sick, a situation aggravated by the extremes of climate in which our armed forces must live and fight in this globe-girdling all-out war.

We are now receiving in our Army hospitals in this country from foreign theaters between 30,000 and 32,000 patients each month, as compared with 8,500 patients monthly for the first half of 1944. This represents an increase of 270 percent. Approximately 15,000 patients leave Army hospitals each month, either to return to duty or to be separated from the service. Thus the patient load in these hospitals is being increased at a rate of double the number released.

The Army now has about 44,000 nurses. This represents a shortage of some 16,000 nurses presently needed to furnish minimum essential

nursing services. In addition to relieving this shortage of 16,000 nurses, the Army needs more than 250 nurses each month to replace those lost through normal attrition.

Unless this shortage is eliminated and these needed nurses obtained without delay, the wounded and sick soldiers of this Nation will not get even the minimum essential care they should have. Unless this critical situation is relieved, the devoted women now serving as Army nurses will be called upon to work beyond the limit of human endurance, which limit is already being closely approached.

PROCUREMENT OF NEEDED NURSES

Voluntary recruiting cannot be relied on to make good the critical shortage of nurses in time. Experiences of the past year afford a clear indication that something more than purely voluntary methods are required. On the 28th of April 1944 there were 40,000 nurses in the Army Nurse Corps. At that time a program was commenced by the Army to secure an additional 10,000 nurses by the end of the year. In the course of this program some 27,000 letters were mailed over the signature of the Superintendent of the Army Nurse Corps to prospective nurse appointees who were classified by the Procurement and Assignment Service of the War Manpower Commission as available for military service. Only 710 replies were received from these letters, and of this 710 approximately 200 applications were made which resulted in appointments to the Army Nurse Corps. The Recruiting and Publicity Bureau of the Adjutant General's Office has had many national agencies working on this procurement program. The American Legion, the Girl Scouts, the 350 American Red Cross recruitment committees, and several private advertising and publicity agencies have been contributing their efforts toward this campaign. Some 818 radio stations throughout the Nation have been carrying transcriptions on Army nurse recruitment. In addition, newspapers, periodicals, and visual aids have been utilized.

This procurement program has been successful insofar as it has made the mass of our people aware of the nurse shortage in the armed forces, but it has failed to bring forth sufficient volunteers for the Army Nurse Corps. The Gallup poll published February 1, 1945, indicated that 78 percent of those persons tested were aware of the nurse shortage in the armed forces, but the Army's net increase of nurses during the program up to the 1st of January 1945 was only slightly over 2,000, about 20 percent of the number sought and needed. Following the President's message of January 6, 1945, and the introduction of nurse draft bills, there was a temporary increase in applications by prospective nurses, but already these applications are falling off. The Army has gained an additional 2,000 nurses since the 1st of January 1945, making a total of 44,000 nurses, but even at this increased rate of recruitment it would take 9 months to overcome the shortage and to make good the normal attrition. The wounded and sick cannot wait that long. In the President's words, "The need is too pressing to await the outcome of further efforts at recruiting." At the present time there is no accurate or complete record of the number, qualifications, and identification of nurses in this country. Registration of nurses as provided in this bill will assure a complete record of this information not heretofore available, which information

is necessary for a proper distribution of the limited supply of nurses between the armed forces and between essential civilian usage.

Selection of nurses for induction through the selective service methods will assure an equalization throughout the country in the drain upon nursing population and thus insure adequate personnel for essential civilian nursing services on the home front.

CONSTITUTIONAL BASIS

The committee is aware that the question has been raised of whether or not this bill would constitute unconstitutional class legislation. It has been contended by some that since the bill does not provide for the registration and conscription of all women but only renders registered nurses of certain ages eligible for conscription, it is unconstitutional as class legislation. However, there can be no doubt of the constitutionality of this measure.

The Constitution of the United States contains the following provisions with respect to the war powers of the National Government:

SEC. 8. The Congress shall have the power *

To raise and support Armies

* *

To provide and maintain a Navy.

The Supreme Court of the United States has held that the execution of these war powers is the duty and obligation of the National Government, "and its control over the subject is plenary and exclusive" (U. Š. v. Tarble, 13 Wall. 397 (1871)).

In the recent case of Hirabayshi v. U. S. (320 U. S. 81 (1943)) the Supreme Court of the United States further describes the war power of the National Government in the following language:

The war power of the National Government is "the power to wage war successfully.' (See Charles Evans Hughes, War Powers Under the Constitution, 42 A. B. A. Reports 232, 238.). It extends to every matter and activity so related to war as substantially to affect its conduct and progress. The power is not restricted to the winning of victories in the field and the repulse of enemy forces. It embraces every phase of the national defense, including the protection of war materials and the members of the armed forces from injury and from the dangers which attend the rise, prosecution, and progress of the war.

One phase of the plenary war powers of the National Government frequently sustained by the courts is the power to compel a citizen to register, and, if selected, to serve with the armed forces. (See cases collected in 129 A. L. R. 1171; 137 A. L. R. 1183; 140 A. L. R. 1504; 147 A. L. R. 1313; and 150 A. L. R. 1420.)

There have been three national military draft laws enacted in the course of the history of this country. The first was passed in 1863 and was entitled "An act for enrolling and calling out the national forces" (12 Stat. at L. 731). The second conscription act was passed in 1917 and was entitled "An act to authorize the President to increase temporarily the military establishment of the United States" (40 Stat. at L. 76). The last such law is the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940.

Without exception, the courts have uniformly upheld these statutes against all sorts of objections based on constitutional grounds, including that of class legislation. These statutes have provided for the drafting of only specified classes of citizens and have expressly exempted from military service certain other classes of persons. Thus only male citizens within specified age groups have been made liable for

service, and other classes such as females, public officials, ordained ministers and theological students, and conscientious objectors have been expressly exempted.

In the case of U. S. v. Sugar, et al. (243 Fed. 423 (1917 affirmed 252 Fed. 79, and petition for writ of certiorari denied by U. S. Supreme Court 248 U. S. 578)), the defendants were indicted for conspiracy to violate the Conscription Act of 1917. The defendants moved to quash the indictment on the ground, among others, that the act was unconstitutional as class legislation. In ruling on this point, the court held:

(6) (2) It is further contended that the act constitutes class legislation, in that it exempts from military service, although not from registration thereunder, certain classes of persons mentioned therein, and that, therefore, it violates the United States Constitution. No provision of such Constitution has been called to my attention, and I have found none, which would prohibit Congress from making the exemptions complained of. Section 1 of the fourteenth amendment to the Constitution provides, among other things, that:

"No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."

It will be noted that the language quoted applies only to action by the States, and imposes no inhibition against the action of the Federal Government (Flint v. Stone Tracy Co., 220 U. S. 107, 31 Sup. Ct. 342, 55 L. Ed. 389, Ann. Cas. 1912B, 1312; U. S. v. Ádair (D. C.), 152 Fed. 737).

It is therefore unnecessary to consider the questions whether such exemptions are such arbitrary discriminations as to render such statute class legislation, ***

In the recent case of Hirabayshi v. U. S., supra, a curfew order which only applied to persons of Japanese ancestry was attacked by an American citizen of Japanese ancestry as class legislation unconstitutionally discriminating against this class of American citizens. In ruling against this contention the court held:

** * But appellant insists that the exercise of the power is inappropriate and unconstitutional because it discriminates against citizens of Japanese ancestry, in violation of the fifth amendment. The fifth amendment contains no equal protection clause and it restrains only such discriminatory legislation by Congress as amounts to a denial of due process (Detroit Bank v. United States, 317 U. S. 329, 337-38, and cases cited). Congress may hit at a particular danger where it is seen, without providing for others which are not so evident or so urgent (Keokee Coke Co. v. Taylor, 234 U. S. 224, 227).

From the above authorities it is evident that under the plenary war powers of the National Government, draft legislation may be enacted in a war emergency which subjects only certain classes of citizens to military service, provided such legislation is not so arbitrarily discriminatory as to amount to a denial of due process of law under the fifth amendment to the Constitution. No question of rights under the equal protection clause of the Constitution is involved. In considering these constitutional rights, the body politic may not be divided into male and female classes, for there is no distinction between the sexes with regard to such rights. It is the rights of citizens that are involved. Therefore, in determining whether nurses may be legally drafted, they must be regarded as a class of citizens and not as a restricted group of females. Accordingly, the contention that all females must be made to register and become liable for selection for service in the armed forces, if any females may be legally required to do so, is without merit. The real question is whether the class of citizens falling within the category of registered

female nurses of certain ages may be drafted without drafting all citizens, both male and female.

The above cases demonstrate that certain classes of citizens may be constitutionally selected for military service under the plenary war powers of the National Government if the action in doing so is not so arbitrary as to amount to a denial of due process of law. In the light of the evidence that has been presented to the Committee on Military Affairs of the House of Representatives in the course of the hearings on H. R. 2277, which evidence shows conclusively that there is an urgent need for nurses in the armed forces in order to successfully prosecute this war; that there exists in this country today a large group of female citizens who are registered nurses and the only persons qualified of all citizens to fill this need; that these nurses cannot be obtained in sufficient numbers within the time needed except through selective service legislation, it is obvious that the legislation embodied in H. R. 2277 is constitutional.

* * *

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.

Many thousands of young women have enrolled, have completed, and are completing the nurse training program set up under this statute, thus obtaining their professional training at Government expense for the purpose stated in the statute. It is, therefore, only fair and just that these nurses be the first to answer the call of their country in the emergency brought about by the shortage of nurses in the armed forces. Accordingly the bill reported herewith provides

No person registered with a selective-service local board under this Act shall be ordered by such board to report for induction until after all qualified graduates of the United States Cadet Nurse Corps registered with such board, who are not deferred pursuant to the provisions of this Act, have been ordered to report for induction.

LETTER OF THE SECRETARY OF WAR

Hon. ANDREW J. MAY,

FEBRUARY 14, 1945.

Chairman, Committee on Military Affairs,

House of Representatives.

DEAR MR. MAY: I have been personally concerned for some time with the shortage of nurses for the Army and the unfavorable outlook.

Last 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 volunteer recruitment.

Accordingly, after assuring myself by study and counsel of the power of the Congress to act, I placed the facts before the President, urging that he recommend amending the Selective Training and Service Act so as to provide for the induction of nurses into the armed forces. As you know, the President included such a recommendation in his annual message to the Congress on January 6, 1945. I am enclosing a copy of that portion of his message for your ready reference. Three days later you introduced H. R. 1284, the preamble of which proposes