The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-01-11
MEDAL PRESENTED
 BY TIE PRESIDENT
Capt. jas. R. Church Honored
 byCongresS
SPEECH TO MEDICAL MEN
The President Says the Importance of This Branch of the Army Is Greatly Underestimated and May Some
 Day Cause Trouble.

l roes of the battle of Las Guasimas. Cuba, in the spanish-Ameriean war. was re- warded with a medal of honor conferred by Congress for conspicuous gallantry in action. The recipient of the medal was Captain James Robb Church, of the medi- cal corps of the army, who during the l Spanish war was first lieutenant and assistant surgeon of the First regiment United States volunteer cavalryLthe trough riders
 The presentation Of the medal was made the occasion on account of the notable character of Captain Churohs services of a brilliant ceremony In the presence of a distinguished assemblage including Sec retary of War Taft. Lieutenant General Chaffee. chief of staff and the members of the general staff of the army and sev- eral officers of the navy, including Sur l geon General Rixey, all in full dress uni form. and members of the executive coun- ell of the American Medical association. President Roosevelt presented the medal to Captain Church. The ceremony took place In the Presidents private office ad- joining the cabinet room. In presenting the medal the President sald
 "There is no distinction which confers greater honor on any American in mil- itary or civil life than this-the one hon. or coveted above all others by every man in the military service of the United States.
 Tt was my good fortune as colonel of the regiment in which you served to be an eye witness to your gallantry and to bear testimony to it by letter to thesprop- CT authorities. stating the reasons why I deemed you were entitled to this medal of honor
 ''I wish to state. MT. Secretary. that the letters I wrote were written before I was President. Since 1 have been President have held no communication whatever with the military authorities on the sub ject.
 crasps clark's Hand.
 Captain Church. there could be no greater pleasure than that I now experi- enee in handing to my old comrade and friend this medal of honor'
 Grasping Captain Church's hand, the President remarked an aside:
 There is no greater comradeship than that which comes from having lived in the trenches together"
 Captain Church bowed but words evl- dently failed him, and he accepted the medal in a silence and manner more elo- quent than words would have been
 Turning then to the members of the American Medical association, the Presi- dent said with great eaTnestness: q want to say just a word of greeting to you and to ask your Influence on behalf of the medical corps not only of the army but the navy There is not 8 more exacting profession; there is not profession which | aIroa ing and which entities them to the grat- itude of mankind than is the profession which is yours. The army surgeon has to combine the work of your profession with the military men on the line In saying that I want to call your atten- tion to two specific things; one thing that is now being done by men of your pro- fession and need of men of your profess sion.
 Debtor to Medical Men.
 First the thing that is being done; all the United States is the debtor to the medical men who have accomplished such | remarkable work on the Isthmus Of Pan- | ana. You hear very loose talk about | making the dirt fly in Panama Before making the dirt fly 1t was necessary to get the microbes under it, it was neces- sary to grapple with the mosquitoes, nec- l essary to eradicate disease. That has
 
 l the foundation laid for that wonderful piece of constructing engineering work | to dig the giant canal Too much praise cannot be given to those who have done l this work In Panama. So much for trib- ute for your compeers. Now as to the l need of your compeers
 l You recollect the complaint made about | hygienic conditions during the war with 1 Spain. Complaint was made that the 1 troops were not properly treated, etc. The blame rested not on any man then in 1 office, but on our people as a whole, who had declined, through their respectives to | make provision long in advance for meet l ing such need. If we had war break out tomorrow and had to raise any large army, there would be an immediate break l down in the medical department simply because at presnet our medical corps is numerically only fit to take care of about | 40 per cent of the regular army as 1t is l now. The medical corps is not numeri- cally fit to grapple with & campaign sp which our whole army as 1t Is. the little | army as it Is, should be employed. And of course if we had to mobolze an army of volunteers we would under present con ditIons have to count on widespread disas- ter through the short comings In the med ical and sanitary and hygienic arrange ments rendered inevitable by our present lack of preparation
 Good Lesson From Japanese. '"rhe Japanese have given us a good lesson in this as in many other particu- lars, by the way they handled their army 1 in the recent war. One 6f the reasons why their medical department did we'll the main reason-was the fact that they had an ample supply of doctors who had been practiced in time of peace in doing the duties they would have to do in war. And until we have provisions for an am- pie corps of doctors in the army so that they can be practiced in time of peace, we will not have prepared as we ought to prepare for the possibilities of war. Unless we prepare can make up our minds that we are ourselves responsible for any disaster that occurs to any army that the United States may raise in the future; not the man who may be at the head of the army at the time The ten dency Is to attack the men in office at the time. That is utterly unjust and the people themselves and the representatives of people in public life who have failed to provide the necessary means in ad- vance, they are responsible when disaster comes. That applies to the medical de- partment and if applies to every other