Letter

              26 rue Duvivier, Paris 7e.
14th September 1936.
Dear Dr. Morgan,
I write to you personally and unofficially and for your private information, as I see you are on the Spanish Medical Aid Committee.
I was in touch with the medical unit when it was in Paris, and it seems to me there are several things to be avoided when the next one is sent out. I know you will not take anything I say as criticism of any individual, as it is not meant in this way at all, and it is of course obvious that there is a lot to be learned from the experience of the first group.
In the first place, the necessity of their staying in Paris for nearly a week wasted a lot of time, created, I should think, a bad impression and cost an awful lot of money, as you know. I suppose this was largely due to the inability of the group, as it was the first, to estimate its exact requirements quickly, forcing them to hang about while lorries were bought, and I suppose also this will largely be avoided by any future groups, which will presumably also be provided with the number of drivers they need, so that there is no delay on this score either. (The delay caused by these two points was, I believe, concurrent and not subsequent, but it is obviously better for both to be avoided.)
If it would not be considered presumptuous on the part of a layman, I would also like to say that, in my view, a better choice of personnel is needed. What I mean is that three surgeons to one doctor are surely a better proportion for war service than three doctors to one surgeon. I naturally don't know anything about army ser-