140 A Short History of Nursing was not an organizer. She revered Miss Nightin- gale, but the two women, whose achievements were, in some ways, so much alike, never met. The Red Cross societies had an extensive in- fluence on nursing, which will be met in some detail quality. As the Red Cross had to raise its own funds in every country, not being financed by governments, but rather helping them in that respect, it was obliged to make reliance on volun- teer aid one of its main planks. It did also make the training of nurses one of its foremost purposes, but financial limitations and the ignorance of un- professional leaders often compelled a short and insufficient training to be accepted. Up to the time when the American nursing world affiliated with the Red Cross there was only one country which could show that every Red Cross nurse was fully trained according to the most complete stand- ards of the day, and that no volunteers were placed in care of the sick. That country was Japan. The Scandinavian countries had some Red Cross hospital training of the best type, but they also had a place for the volunteer nurse in time of war. Red Cross on nursing Influence of the in the outlines of different countries. In general, it may be said that for many years this influence was to advance nursing greatly in quantity, but not in
