The Australian Army Medical Corps in Egypt Part 22

"Objects officially stated as--'Red Cross work, to a.s.sist all hospitals in time of war.'

"_Victorian Red Cross Fund_

"For Australian sick and wounded soldiers (Lady Stanley Appeal). The proceeds are being and will be remitted to the Australian Red Cross Society, to be used by it for the benefit of Australian sick and wounded soldiers and inst.i.tutions in which they may be treated.

"_Red Cross Society_ "(Victorian Division)

"Objects officially stated to be 'those of the Geneva Convention.'

"_French Red Cross Society_

"The raising of funds for the work of the French Red Cross Society.

"_Australian Patriotic Fund_

"For the benefit of Victorian soldiers and their dependents, soldiers from any part of Australia and their dependents, other deserving objects consequent on service at the war, and the augmenting of pensions granted by the Commonwealth.

"_State War Council's Fund_

"For discharged soldiers. Its object is to a.s.sist in re-establishing discharged soldiers in employment.

"_Commonwealth b.u.t.ton Fund_

"A collecting body, which has used its organisation for collecting for various funds. It has collected for the Belgian Fund, Red Cross Society, Lady Stanley's Appeal, French Red Cross, Serbian Fund, Italian Fund, Russian Polish Fund, and for inst.i.tutions at the front and in camps belonging to the different churches and the Y.M.C.A.

"_Lady Mayoress's Patriotic League_

"To a.s.sist in providing comforts, extra clothing, and foods for the fighting men in the navy and army.

"_Belgian Relief Fund_

"To a.s.sist in relieving distress in Belgium.

"_Serbian Relief Fund_

"To a.s.sist in relieving distress amongst the Serbians.

"_Polish Relief Fund_

"To a.s.sist in relieving distress amongst the Russian Poles.

"_French Societe Maternelle Fund_

"To collect funds for the Societe d'a.s.sistance Maternelle et Infantile.

The fund is administered in France, money and goods being collected here and sent forward.

"_Y.M.C.A. National Appeal_

"For the benefit of soldiers in camps, on troopships, and abroad, by providing recreation, games, stationery, literature, and comforts, and ministering generally to the moral and spiritual welfare of the Australian troops.

"_Commonwealth Service Patriotic Fund_

"Objects determined, as necessity arises, by a committee consisting of heads of departments and branches. Allocations to different funds.

"_State Service Patriotic Fund_

"Relief of distress resulting from the war.

"_Education Department Patriotic Fund_

"Relief of distress caused by the war, and for providing clothing and comforts for our troops.

"_Railways Department Patriotic Fund_

"Relief of distress in Belgium, relief of distress due to unemployment in Victoria, and Red Cross purposes in the proportion as nearly as practicable of one-third to each."

An additional advantage of the arrangements proposed would be that all those who a.s.sist would be under a measure of discipline. Neither men nor women helpers should be permitted to enter the war zone unless they visit it with a serious purpose and an earnest desire to help. If they enter in this frame of mind they will have no objection to submitting to discipline. If they object it is far better for them to stay at home.

It is furthermore apparent that Red Cross workers should be limited to elderly men of experience or younger men who are physically defective.

In the case of the Y.M.C.A. young and healthy men are required, since their work is very arduous, the living at times rough to a degree, and there is not inconsiderable personal risk undertaken by those who are placed in advanced positions. In national wars every healthy adult is of great value as a soldier, and it is necessary to see that as few of such men as possible are utilised in these auxiliary services.

If the arrangements here indicated had been carried into effect, the work in Egypt would have been much better done and the activities of the Y.M.C.A. would have prevented a vast amount of trouble and disease. As it was, the value of the Y.M.C.A. was not apparent to the public at first, since its activities are not so dramatic as those of the Red Cross Society, and funds have never been provided for it on anything like the same scale.

In conclusion, with regard to the Australian Branch British Red Cross, there is something more to be said. As its name implies, the Australian Red Cross is a branch of the British Red Cross Society, and yet we have experienced in Egypt the spectacle of the Egyptian Branch and the Australian Branch of the same society doing the same work for different sections of troops engaged in a common cause. There were two Red Cross stores in Cairo, Australian and British, two stores in Alexandria, and two in Mudros. Would it not have been much better to amalgamate the two branches and administer the Red Cross in Egypt as a whole? The separation served no good material purpose, and whilst by the exercise of good sense some of the difficulties arising from the dual arrangement were obviated, yet this evidence of particularism was not advantageous.

Vast quant.i.ties of goods were donated to the Australian Troops by the Comforts Fund, and vast quant.i.ties of goods were given to soldiers in hospitals and convalescent homes by the Australian Branch British Red Cross. As evidence of soundness of heart on the part of the Australian public this action was beyond praise, but it is doubtful whether the methods were the best which might be devised. The generosity of the public lent itself to some abuse, and soldiers are known to have sold these goods to Arabs, and employed the cash as they pleased. It is difficult to draw a healthy mean between strict administration with proper restriction and lavish administration and abuse. It is doubtful to me whether it would not better conserve the self-respect of the soldier and be more dignified if these donations were to cease. In their place proper facilities might well be subst.i.tuted for the purchase of such articles as the soldier required at very low prices. This is the plan followed by the Y.M.C.A., who never divorce personal service from any distribution of goods. If the pay of the Australian soldier--which by the way is the highest in the world--is thought insufficient, it could be increased by voluntary help conveyed through the proper official channels. If this system were adopted it would necessitate the appointment of a Y.M.C.A. and of a Red Cross officer to certain defined military units, and a well-organised method would at once make its appearance; in other words, we should subst.i.tute sympathetic order and justice for amateurish enthusiasm.

Does not the necessity for the foregoing criticism indicate our utter unpreparedness? For if we had possessed a national organisation for Peace and War, each and all of these problems would have been solved long ago, and we should have been spared the spectacle of willing helpers wasting their energy for lack of direction.

PREVENTION OF DISEASE

Surveying the whole campaign, the fundamental fault of the Australian Army Medical Service was the insufficient attention given to, and stress laid on, the prevention of disease. Is it not obvious that there should be a staff of medical officers and orderlies, detached altogether from any a.s.sociation with the treatment of disease, who should devote themselves entirely to the problem of prevention? This staff should be presided over by a Surgeon-General who should be second only in rank to the Director of Medical Services in the field, and who with his staff should be armed with authority so far as the taking of steps for the prevention of disease is concerned. At present the medical officers in the Australian Medical Service are entrusted with dual functions, the prevention and the treatment of disease.

So far there has been no Military School for medical officers in Australia, and until they are properly trained the prevention of disease will not be as effective as it might be.

In the Royal Army Medical Corps there is a Sanitary Staff, but it does not seem to me that even this highly trained body occupies the high position or enjoys the distinction that the value of its services really demand, and I cannot but think that it would be far better to abolish the term "sanitary" and to apply to it the term "Prophylactic Staff."

The cure of disease in civil life always attracts the public; it is dramatic and strikes the attention. The efforts of the men who obviate the necessity for anything of the kind never receive the same recognition, because the evil never becomes obvious.

CONDITIONS OF RECRUITS ON ARRIVAL

Captain Lovegrove, A.A.M.C., was appointed Australian Embarkation Officer at Suez whilst I was in charge. He has contributed the following article to _The Australian Medical Journal_ relative to the work he did during his ten months' stay.

"MEDICAL NOTES ON TROOPS FROM AUSTRALIA LANDING AT SUEZ

"BY FREDERICK LOVEGROVE, M.B., Ch.B.(_Melb._), _Captain A.A.M.C., Australia_