The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1907-10-12

this country was awakened to the enor
nifty of this evil, to it's baneful effects
upon it and the disaster it has brought
upon the people, and through a great
scheme of organization, modelled after
our form of civil government, we band
ed ourselves together in every county,
in ever state to eXterminate it. Find
ing that they had suffered quite as
much as we had from the same cause,
and realizing that there is no more
room or reason for the existence Of
three systems of of medicine than Of
law, upon terms equally honorable to
them and to us, we have invited physi
clans of other systems to join us in the
work, they are doing so in many Sec
lions, and the need for al of this was
so evident, the efforts were so earnest,
and it has gone on so rapidly, that,
here in your own city and state, as ev
erywhere, we have one of the most eff
fectively organized and harmonious vo
cations now in existence. Unfortu-
nately, however, the evil had existed
so long that the public sentiment grow
ing out of it had become a fixed habit
with the people and today, almost as
much as a generation ago, there is a
widespread, complex, passive, often in
tangible, but none the less obstinate
feeling, that ours is not united, har-
monious profession, and consequently
cannot be safely entrusted with the ad
! ministration of great public affairs.
have faced this sentiment in the high
est executive, legislative and judicial
officers at my own state capitol and at
Washington, day after day, cultured
statesmen, who want to deal fairly and
| S with us.
Instances Are Cited.
Reference to three instances in re-
cent history will show what this condi-
ton of public sentiment has done for
us as a nation. On account of the in
adequate authority of our army medic
al officers during the SPANISH meri-
can war we lost Is of our vigorous,
healthy young soldiers from prevent
able sickness for every one dying as a
result of battle-they died like sheep
and So of every 100 were inmates of
the military hospitals from the same
class of diseases. With medical Off
GERS having co-equa authority and rank
with those of the line, except in the
presence of the enemy, Japan, which
we had considered a semi-barbarous
country, lost but one of her soldiers
from preventable sickness for every
four dying from wounds, and but Is OF
every 100 of them ever saw the inside
of the hospital during the much more
severe and protracted struggle in Man
churia. And the report of our sur
geon-general, recently published, shows
that even in the time Of peace. with
one exception, we have the sickliest
army in the world. We have known
: for years that this danger hung over
our army in the event of war, an
constant, patriotic. unselfish effort:
were made for its removal but, ever
with the contrastive object-lessons fur
nished by Cuba and Manchuria before
the congress and the country no legis
lation has been secured, and should {
foreign war occur under existing con0i
tons our armies would again face pes
thence, and the nation possible DANCE
and disgrace because a large part o
our defenders would be in the hospita
and cemeteries who should be on tn,
firing line. From the same caus,
mainly we have been delayed month
after month in digging the Panama ca
nal. Lay men were given sole contro
over a work which at the outset was al
most purely sanitary, and, while mos
of them remained at a safe distanc
and drew their large salaries. DR.. Go,
gas. great trained expert, was ser
down to do the real work, but witt
I his hands as effectually tied as wer
those of Surgeon-General Sternber
! during the war with Spain. His au
thority was gradually extended. an
Mr.. Roosevelt cut all the red tape an
put DIR. Gorgas on the commission 4
soon as he took in the situation TO
= himself, but the failure to appreciat