3o8  Hospital  Stewards,  U.S.A.  {^'^Sg* 
ever,  and  outside  of  the  hospital  proper  we  aie  subject  to  the  orders  of  the  junioF 
corporal  of  the  regiment  or  post.  It  may  be  said  that  we  certainly  do  hold  a 
definite  rank  according'to  "  regulations.""  This  would  be  the  natural  inference  to- 
be  drawn  from  the  wording  of  the  law  creatirg  our  grade,  but  this  law,  or  regula- 
tion, is  ignored  in  every  instance,  as  can  be  clearly  shown. 
Our  warrants  are  issued  and  signed  by  the  Secretary  of  War,  and  should,  there- 
fore, have  precedence  of  those  issued  by  company  and  regimental  commanders  to  the 
various  non-commissioned  officers  of  their  commands. 
That  such,  however,  is  not  the  case.  I  will  cite  the  law  which  fixes  the  rank  : 
"  Rank  of  non-commissioned  officers  : 
ist,  Cadets,  4th,  Ordnance  Sergeants, 
2d,  Sergeants  Major,  Commissary  Sergeants  and 
3d,   Quartermaster's  Sergeants,  Hospital  Stewards." 
Now,  although  holding  the  same  rank  as  Ordnance  and  Commissary  Sergeants, 
we  receive  less  pay  than  either. 
Not  only  is  our  rank  ignored  in  so  far  as  relates  to  the  source  of  our  warrants 
and  in  the  matter  of  pay,  but  also  as  regards  the  custom  of  the  service,  for 
example  :  if  the  troops  of  a  post  or  camp  are  removed  and  a  corporal,  or  for  that 
matter  a  private,  is  left  in  charge  of  the  government  property,  the  said  corporal  or 
private,  according  to  the  custom,  commands  the  Hospital  Steward. 
Now  as  to  our  duties:  That  they  are  multifarious,  disagreeable  and  full  of 
responsibility  will  be  sufficiently  clear  to  any  one  who  will  take  the  trouble  to  read 
our  "  Vade  Mecum,1'  the  "  Hospital  Steward's  Manual,11  which  has  been  published 
and  adopted  by  the  War  Department,  as  a  guide  for  the  Hospital  Stewards  of  the 
army.  At  the  same  time,  this  manual  is  utterly  silent  on  the  subject  of  Stewards 
performing  the  responsible  duties  of  the  Post  Surgeon,  which  we  are  called  upon  to 
do  more  or  less  every  day. 
For  the  last  two  weeks  the  writer  has  been  attending  to  all  the  sick  in  garrison 
at  this  place,  and  performing  all  the  .duties  of  the  Post  Surgeon,  on  account  of 
sickness  of  the  Surgeon  in  charge.  In  my  diaiy  I  find  recorded  six  cases  of 
midwifery  attended  to  during  my  last  four  years  of  service,  five  of  these  were  thrown 
on  my  hands  by  reason  of  sickness  or  absence  of  the  Post  Surgeon  at  the  time  of 
their  occurrence,  and  the  other  because  the  woman  had  refused  to  do  the  Surgeon's 
washing  and  was  afraid  that  he  would,  on  that  account,  refuse  to  attend  her. 
Again,  there  are  a  large  number  of  surgeons  who,  when  called  upon  by  the 
enlisted  men  and  laundresses  of  the  garrison,  instead  of  attending  in  person,  send 
their  steward  with  instructions  to  do  what  he  can  for  them,  and  if  necessary  take 
them  into  the  hospital,  where  the  surgeon  will  visit  them  next  day. 
In  this  and  various  other  ways  a  great  amount  of  the  Post  Surgeon's  duty  is 
thrown  upon  the  shoulders  of  the  steward,  and  for  all  which  he  receives  the  munifi- 
cent salary  of  $30  per  month. 
This  brings  me  to  the  subject  of  our  pay.  When  our  grade  v>as  first  established 
our  sole  duty  consisted  of  drawing  the  rations  for  the  sick  in  the  hospital  and 
superintending  the  cooking  and  distribution  thereof.  At  that  time  the  surgeon 
performed  all  clerical  labor,  prepared  the  medicines,  compounded  his  own  prescrip- 
