Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-08-14
LAUDS MEDICAL CORPS;
SHOWS ACHIEVEMENTS
Believes Federal Government Should
Take Over the Gotham Sta
ton at Once.

MS experience WIN the leuei al AtSoi'iA
officers in the Philippines and other
plague-infested regions, and is an eager
advocate of the federal plan.
The following is a digest of paper
prepared by Mr.. Taft for the New
York Academy of Medicine and now
given wide publicity by the Survey
press service, by Mr.. Tafts personal
permission. The Survey Is an assocla-
ton whose purpose is to investigate
facts about working and living condi-
tons and suggesting means for social
advance.
The article is considered especially
timely because of the expected heaVy
immigration at the close OF . Inc va" ths
some of it without doubt from ths
countries through which typhus and
cholera have swept.
Every part of the country IS inter
ested in the quarantine station at tne
mort of New York, for immigrants pass
ing through it scatter to every state
and almost every city and town.
Mr.. Taft's Ideas.
The digest of Mr.. Tafts article fol-
lows:
"For many years I have been inter-
ested in the subject of preventive neu-
icine. I have had official responsioil-
,+v with respect to it's investigator
and its work.
"Tbe spanish war, though we may
depIore war, did in some respects stea'
good. 1t brought the American pi -
sion of medicine into active STUDY y.
tropical diseases It brougnl tn Gnrns
Medical Corps, the Naval Medical Corps
ana the public health service OF the Iso.
eral government into situations tna'
stimulated their activity. AND l ven.
tire to say that the work OF al rooo
corps since we went into Cupa . ~ tbs
American profession OF medicine. roa
IN this time greater progress has oeen
made in the discovery ana tIeasne
of tropical diseases than In the nun
dred years before america h tro,;cs
spon sibility for health in the ropes
The discovery with reference to tnaI
little busybody, the mosquito. through
Drs. Reed, Lazier and Gorgas. was
worth all the money: certa'n my, 'n"'
was expended in the Spanish war.
was a war with disease. The interna-
tional nuisance that Cuba had pecome
was largely due to the yellow IeSel
and to the dangerous proximity ~
that country, from which SHIPS CAME
constantly to our s s,ao hser made that
the United States governments heaIth
bureaus had not a large enough e1-
perience to be trusted win quar-
in New York. l want to run through
with some of our experiences 10 see
whether that is true.
q. S. Medical Achievements.
1--WE did away with the yellow-fever
MOSQUITO in Cuba through our Army
Medical Corps. In Panama we tackled
the malarial mosquito. In the Phlllp-
~
beri and cholera We had there DR..
Richard Strong, now professor OF tropi-
cal diseases at Harvard, who did SO
much in China 5-Dr. ]. A. Perry and DR..
Victor G. Heiser of the public health
health Of the Philippines and conduct
ed the quarantine at every port. And
when one is quarantine omcer IN the
Philippines, in the neighborhood OF
China and the far orient. he mas TO Pc
ON the job
I'VE had smallpox and vaccinated
100000 people in the Philippines.
Some critic will remark that there
were only 100000 inhabitants aon IT'S IN o ,ne
were vaccinated twice! We had 10000
cases a year then; now there are only
a few hundred. In some OF the prov
inces there were 5000 cases year.
After every OHe was SdSNihASoN .sHStS
were no cases at all.
Then beriberi. This disease, 1T Is
said. we do not understand in the fed
eral government. Why. we were treat
ing it when l was in the Philippines
and have been at it ever since. They
think they have discovered now what
the trouble is-polished rice. If those
who make rice the chief part OF their
diet would eat rough or unhulled rice
they would not get the disease. II this
% hA he r.
tainly great hope that we can prevent
great destruction of life from the dis
ease.
I'VE had cholera in the Philippines
chiefly to the difficulty of keeping peo-
pie away from the river, which was the
water supply of the city. We station
ed cavalry along the river banks to
keep the people back we introduced
the cholera serum and DR.. Strong ap-
piled it, We put in a new water sup
ply and sewage system. pumping sew
age into the sea, and at last made
Manila as healthy a place as there is
in the tropics.
Fought Plague and Leprosy.
1--WE had plague out there. We
learned something from Japan and in
stituted what they have long had in
Japan-crusades against rats.
''Then there is our federal expert
ence with leprosy. When we went
there there was one leper hospital in
Manila, another in Camerines, and the
treatment of the lepers in the outlying
districts was most cruel. We took
census Of the lepers and found there
were ten or fifteen thousand. Then
they were gathered together and taken
to a beautiful island and given houses
and farms. Now they are as happy
as people can be who have that disease.
yellow Fever.-Maj. Gen. Gorgas,
then Dr. Gorgas was working away on
the problem while I was visiting Pan
anna Gorgas worked, as you know,
to good purpose. He made discoveries
about the mosquito that likes swamps
and lives in proximity to human beings.
We burned down part Of Panama in
damages, but they were worth 1T. We
got out the fever.
''Malaria.-Seventy per cent of the
natives have it. When I went down
there first 1t seemed impossible that
any progress could be made. But Cor
gas got rid OF the mosquito.
"Hookworm-In Porto Rico DIR. Ash
discovered hookworm and. with the
public health service, went through the
business of reducing the amount Of
that disease.
Typhoid Conquered.
"And then typhoid, There were
10000 men in the Spanish war of 1898.
and 10000 cases of typhoid, with a