The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-07-13
President ROOSeveltSpeakS
 to Physicians.
WORK ON PANAMA CANAL
Great Part Played by the
 Medical Experts.
Unaertaking Will bs . Success, De- claFes Chief Executive-Pays HiEh Tribute to Major Gen.
 eral Leonard Wood.

Oyster Bay, July 12.-President Roosevelt delivered a notable address this afternoon before the associated physicians of Long Island. He dis cussed in the course of his speech the relations physicians sustain with the people of the communities in which they reside and the work to be done by the medical experts in connection with the construction of the Panama Canal, declaring that despite all dim culties on the Isthmus and here in the United States the canal would be d success.
 He referred to achievements of the sanitary engineers who cleaned the cities of Cuba for the first time in 400 years and closed by paying tribute to the services of General Leonard Wood. whose career as a military ofhcer, he said, was fiouted by some critics, be- cause he had once been doctor.
 A majority of the 400 physicians reached Oyster Bay on special train at 8 o'clock.
 Attired in a suit of rough linen ana wearing a broad Panama hat, the Pres tdent arrived at the Oyster Bay high school, where the meeting was held, at 3:15 D. m. As he alighted from his carriage he was greeted by pr. H. Beekman de la Tour of Brooklyn and Dr. Fowler of Oyster Bay. members of the Entertainment Committee. He was escorted by them to the assembly hall. where he was accorded cordial re- ception by the physicians. all standing. At the conclusion of the Presidents address and at Mir. Roosevelt's own suggestion an informal reception was held, each member of tho association being presented to the President.
 aAA the hall the Association unanimously elected him and General Wood hon orary members of the Society. The Presidents address was in part as fol- lows:
 President's Address. MT. President, members of the As socfation. friends and .neighbors; needed nos invitation to come before you today. All needed was permits sion. As soon as l learned that .n,s Association was to meet in our village 1 felt that must take advantage Of the opportunity to say a word of greet ing to you in person
 "Of course 1t Is most needless to say there is not and cannot be any other lay profession the members of which occupy such dual position. each side of which is of such Import ance. tor the doctor has on the one
  applied science that there Is in the country; and on the other hand. as every other layman knows and doubt less many a layman in the circle Of &C., ouaintance of each of you would glad ly testify, the doctor gradually oe- comes the closest friend to many dif- ferent people than would be possible in any other profession.
 The scientific man who Is really nrst-class scientific man has claim upon the gratitude of all the country. The man who is the f1rst-class neigh- bor and Is always called In In time or trouble by his neighbors has an equal claim upon society at large. But tne doctor has both claims. Yet, In addi- ton to filling both these functions, ne may fill many other functions. He may have served in the Civil War, he may have rendered the greatest possible ser vice to the community along dozen different lines.
 rake. for instance, just what is be- ing done in one of the great works or this country at the present time-dig- ging the Panama Canal That IS a work that only a big nation could un- dertake, or that a big nation could do, and it Is a work for all mankind. And the condition precedent upon success in that work Is having the proper type of medical work as a preliminary.
 Work Being We'll Done.
 That is the first condition upon the meeting of which depends our success in solving the engineering and admin istrative problems of the work itself I am happy to say that the work Is being admirably done and I am happy to have this chance of saying 1t. NOW and then some alarmlst report will come from Panama. Just couple or weeks ago there seemed to be a succession or
 
 one of whom had some tale or other to tell You will always find in any battle, even If 1t Is a victorious battle. that in the rear you meet a number or gentlemen who are glad they are not at the front: who, If they have unfor- tunately gotten to the front. have come away and who justify their absence from the front by telling tales of how everything has gone wrong there.
 Now. the people who flee from Pan- anna will carry up here just such sto- ries as the people who flee from the forefront of a battle carry to the rear with them. The people to whom this country owes and will owe so much are those who stay down there and do not talk. but do their work and do 1t well. Of course in doing great work like that in the tropics. in a region which until this Government took hold of it was accounted to be a region excep- tionally unhealthy, we are going to have trouble. have some yellow fever. have a good deal of malarial fever, and suffer more from the latter than from the yellow fever, although we hear nothing about 1t. We have every now and then troubles as regards hygiene just as we will have trouble In the en- glneering problems; just as occasional ly we will have troubles In the admin istrative work
 whenever one of those troubles comes there will be a large number of excellent but timid men who will at once say what an awful calamity 1t is, and express the deepest sorrow and concern and be rather inclined to the belief that the whole thing is fail- ure
 VIII Be a Success.
 Tt will not be a failure. It will be a success. and 1t will be success because we shall treat every little check, not as a reason for abandoning the work, but as a reason for alter ing and bettering our plans. so as to make 1t possible that that particular check shall not happen again.
 what Is being done in Panama is but a sample of the things that this country has done during the last few vaars of the things In which your pro-