178 A Short History of Nursing to present their views with the strength of union, and in Mabel Boardman, a member of the Red Cross Committee, they met a sympathetic and clear-sighted lay woman. After many conferences the Red Cross War ReHef Board appointed a Cen- tral Committee (1909) on Nursing Service. Ten nurses were placed on this committee. By their efforts state groups were built up as Red Cross branches, and in each state group a committee composed of leading nurses was charged with the enrolment of nurses who would respond when needed for service under the Red Cross. By this arrangement the organized nursing profession ac- cepted the full responsibility for enrolling suitable women, and for providing them in numbers needed for any emergency. So well was this responsibility fulfilled that when the great war of 19 14 broke out, the nursing department of the Red Cross was, it was said, in a better state of readiness to be called upon than any of the other departments. REFERENCES Nutting and Dock. History of Nursing. Vol. ii., Chaps. VIII. and IX., vol. iii., Chap. II. Carlisle. An Account of Bellevue Hospital. Morton. History of Pennsylvania Hospital. RoBB. Educational Standards. Tiffany. Life of Dorothea Lynde Dix.
