Wise questions were put to the Chief Medical Purveyor of the U. S. Army by the Association, to which kind and patient verbal answers were returned. But it was evident that he regarded its solicitude as exaggerated, and its proffer of aid as almost superfluous, believing the Medical Department was fully aroused to its duties, and able to meet them. There can be no doubt that this opinion was perfectly honest, loyal, and faithful. But the women still believed that something might be done for the objects of their solicitude. A committee, consisting of Dr. W. H. Van Buren, Dr. Elisha Harris, Dr. Jacob Harsen, and Rev. Dr. Bellows, etc., was appointed to visit Washington, and confer with the medical authorities and the War Department in regard to the whole subject of volunteer aid to the army. The committee came to the conclusion, after some weeks' observation in and about Washington, that neither the Government, the War Department, the Bureau, the army, nor the people understood the gigantic nature of the business entered upon, or were half prepared to meet the necessities which must in a few weeks or months fall crushingly upon them. Such facts convinced them of the necessity of a much more extensive system than had been contemplated at the period of their organization, and thus the idea of a Sanitary Commission, with an office and resident staff at Washington, presented itself to them as alone able to meet the views of the Central Association and the emergencies of the case. The ordering of a Sanitary Commission _without rights or powers_ was finally granted, the _duties_ being enough to satisfy the most active. The order for the Commission was issued by the Secretary of War June 9th, and approved by the President June 13th, 1861. Women feel that our soldiers belong to the _nation_, and thus local, and personal prejudices have yielded to the truly _federal_ principles of the Sanitary Commission. They are withdrawn from local politics, and have felt the assault upon the life of the nation in its true national aspect. They have been the first to appreciate and understand the all-embracing duties of the Sanitary Commission. With Milwaukee, Chicago, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Louisville, Pittsburg, Philadelphia, New York, Brooklyn, New Haven, Hartford, Providence, Boston, Portland, and Concord for centres, there are at least 15,000 Soldiers' Aid Societies, all under the control of women, employed in supplying, through the Sanitary Commission, the wants of the sick and wounded in the great Federal Army. The skill and business energies of the women managing the vast operations of the chief centres of supply unfold a new and glowing page in the history of the capacities of the sex.