322 A Short History of Nursing once concluded that the Canadian system was the correct one, and on his return home his recommen- dation to adopt it was carried at once into effect. Australian nurses received relative rank in the beginning of 191 6 and all friction with orderlies ceased automatically. New Zealand gave her army nurses the rank and privilege of officers, in army orders, but they were not given the insignia to wear. A New Zealand nurse wrote: "on the whole, the nurses have had their position, but many difficulties would have been avoided had the Sisters been given the out- ward sign of rank. ' ' When American army nurses were sent abroad to United States army hospitals the question of their The United ^^^^^^ came up afresh. They had not States army even the protection of the British regu- regulation lations, and orderlies and corpsmen questioned their right to give any directions. More than this, sergeants serving as wardmasters in- sisted that the nurses, as well as the orderlies, should take orders from them. The army is a world in itself, with its own codes. Its inner workings are little understood by those who have never been a part of its machinery. No patient is more docile or grateful than the sick soldier; no hospital orderly in civil life is ever so
