Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-12-14
TO REWARD CARROLL
American Medical Association
Wants Him Promoted.
TALK BY SENATOR HEPBURN
He Condemns Patent Medicines and
Cold Storage Food.
STAND AGAINST 0STEOPATHS
Committee on the Army Medical Bill
Called on Speaker Cannon
This Afternoon.
STAND AGAINST 0sTE0PATHs

| from nearly every state in the Union. They
| talked over legislation and pending bills
| during the morning, heard an address from
| Senator Hepburn of Idaho on the necessity
| for the pure food and drug act and then,
after taking luncheon, went to call on
| Speaker Cannon at the Capitol.
The report of the committee on the med
| ical bill was received and approved. 1t
| spoke of the great shortage of medical otn-
GERS, even in peace time. 1t was pointed
| out that the positions and salaries of con-
! tract surgeons are unsatisfactory mat
| most men decline to consider them, and the
prophesy was made that if another war
| broke out the country would find the army
! in a worse condition from a medical stand
point than it was at the outbreak or the
Spanish war.
| The council decided to appoint commit
| tee to call on Speaker Cannon and urge the
passage of the present medical bill. and
under the lead of Representative Burton of
| Delaware, who is himself doctor and a
member of the council, they started on the
| journey early in the afternoon.
Reports were also rendered by DR.. H. L..
| E. johnson of this city reporting progress
on the bill for the reinstatement of the
| canteen and the Gen. Hammond relief bill
Senator Heyburn's Address.
Senator Hepburn of Idaho was present
and gave short talk on the necessity for
uniform state legislation on the subject of
pure food and drugs. He spoke bitterly
against patent and proprietary medicines,
and said that the time was coming when
Congress would be asked for legislation to
exclude them from the mails. He sa that
many of them in themselves were harmless
so FAR as their effect on tie patient was
concerned. But he said they were all frauds
and were by no means harmless to the
pocketbook though they might be to the
stomach. He said he thought influence
should be brought to bear on the papers to
prevent their printing patent medicine ad-
vertisements. In fact, he said he thought it
would be just as laudable for paper to
print advertisements of bombs and Internal
machines warranted to be sure and eff
fective in the destruction of life and prop
erty.'
In connection with the economic side of
the question he recalled the time when he
had obtained a comfortable pension for an
old couple in his state and when they came
to him little later to get the amount in
creased he found the need for the extra
money arose from the fact that they were
spending more than half their income on
patent medicines.
Needed Legislation.
Another point of legislation that he said
| was much needed was some restriction on
| the time that meat and provisions could be
kept in cold storage. He said that the work
now being done by the Department of
Agriculture to determine the facts in this
case was most valuable and he was con-
WINGED that 1t would turn up some sensa-
tons before it was finished. He said that
he had examined meat that had been pre-
served by cold storage for long periods and
knew that most Of it was unfit for food
and could not be used at all till it had
passed through the boracic acid bath. The
chef in one of the biggest hotels in the
country had told him. he said, that if the
patrons of the house could see the cold
storage fowls and game that was served
them before it was cooked they would
never eat any more of it. The next national
food legislation, he said, would contain
some restriction on this sort of business.
He said that it was for the doctors as eX
perts to aid Congress with their sugges-
tons, and he hoped they would have an i'm
portant part in drawing any future legisla-
ton that was passed along this line.
Proceedings Yesterday.
Among the most important proceedings of
the council yesterday were the revival Of
agitation for the creation of medical de-
partment in the cabinet, the discussion of
| the bill for the relief of DR.. James Carroll
United States army, a bill presented in the
Senate and never reported from the COM
mittee, and the approval of state laws for
! the control of quacks and nostrums.
DR.. Charles A. Reed, chairman of the
council, presided at the meeting yesterday.
In connection with the bill for the relief of
DIR. Carroll, he pointed out that the latter is
the sole survivor, and a totally unreWarded
one, of the yellow fever commission, which
had performed the greatest service for med
icine since the discovery of vaccination. 1t
had established the theory of mosquito
tranmission In yellow fever cases and by
pointing out a method for the control of the
disease had rendered possible the construc-
ton Of the Panama canal; had released the
whole of the West Indies from the grip Of
yellow fever, Transforming the islands from
-
protected the southern seaboard of the
United States against the periodic visitation
of the scourge.
What Has Been Done.
The only thing that has been done in rec
ognition of DR.. Carrolls services was to
make him an assistant surgeon with the
rank of lieutenant in the army, and there
| he has remained, long past middle age and
with scant prospect of any further adj
vancement. DR.. Reed said that bill for
his relief was presented to the Senate at
! the last session of Congress, but that 1T
| had never been reported from the commit
| tee. He thought that II Congress under
| stood the true facts in the case the meas
ure would pass In half an hour by concur
rent resolution Of the two houses:
The bill for the relief Of DIR. Carroll pro-
yides for placing him on the retired list
with the rank of major. 1t is very brief
measure but it is not known what chance
| OF passage 1t STANDS at tHc CoHiiHS SSSSlou'
| The surgeon general, while favorable to the
| bill as q reward for DR.. CarrolFs services,
is not altogether in favor Of letting him be
| retired. as he is, next to former Surgeon
| General Sternberg one of the foremost bac-
| teriologists Of the country, and the medical
department does not want to lose his serv-
| ices. The point against the active promo
ton bill is made by some of DR.. Carrolrs
| friends that 1t probably could not be passed
| without the special recommendation Of the
! President and could be killed by the objec-
| ton Of a single member in either house.
This same objection would not hold against
| the retirement bill, and 1t Is understood
| that the measure will be allowed to stand
| In its present shape.
| Against Osteopaths.
Representatives of the Medical Society OF
| the District of Columbia appeared at noon
| and presented a protest against the enact
| ment of the proposed osteopathic bill, and
| asked the aid Of the council, and, through
| the council, that of the medical profession
of the country. in defeating it. The ques-
| ton was referred to a special committee of
three representatives of the medical pro-
fession in Congress with full power to act.
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