Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-09-04
CORPORATIONS IS
ASKED BY DIXON
Commissioners of Health Calls
Attention to Army and
Civilian Work

DR.. Samuel G. Dixon. state COM
missioner of health, calls attention
to the importance OF better coopera-
ton between the field army and the
civilian army in the war. DR.. Dixon
says that things would work out bet
ter if a strict medical examination
was made at the very outset.
The commissioners views arc as
follows;
We should look out for economy
in the combination army made up of
the fighters at the front and the men
and women at home laboring to pro-
duce the essentials of war.
The American people are fighting
war of national defense against the
government that has degenerated in
to n savagery such as was common
before the era of higher civilization.
Our fight is by civilized people.
Between our soldiers at the front
and civilians at home there must be
perfect unity. Those at home fully
appreciate that the direct results
of the war depend upon our trained
men at the front, but at the same
time they also know that the
strength of the civil army at home
must be developed so as to produce
the maximum of munitions, food,
and all necessary things,
This great army made up OF its
different parts must work in unset
fish unity. We have had a lesson
taught us by the British and French.
Some of their most valuable men,
,ttfT- nh iph
trained in specialties necessary for
basic work, were permitted to go
into the army at the front and be
sacrificed at the cost of the strength
of both the army at home and the
army at the front.
One great factor in the success of
any movement, great or small, is to
get the right material into the right
place. A bureau made up of OFF,
GERS of the fighting army and OFF,
GERS of the basic army to consider
the proper placement of certain in
dividuals would enable the facts on
either side to be intelligently pre-
sented so that wise and economic de-
cisions might be reached for the best
interests of all concerned.
Facing the shortage of medical
men in Pennsylvania and other
states, even as it existed before the
war, followed by a drastic war call,
we are confronted by the difficult
problem of looking after the health
of those at home, the home army.
This home army as well as the army
at the front must for humanitarian
reasons and on the ground of eft1-
cheney, be we'll equipped.
1t is to be hoped that our medi-
cal schools will be granted a corps
of teachers and, under them, stu
dents, so that we may keep up the
supply of medical men~to care for
the army at the front and at home.
Guarding against the abuse of, ex-
emptions of medical students is only
detail along the lines probably al
ready adopted for the munition
workers and others.
Cooperation of all the great di-
visions of the government, includ-
ing both the military and the home
army of producers, to bring about
the strictest economy is bound to
be one Of the greatest factors in
strengthening us in our present
struggle. The home army must be
kept in good health so as to pro-
duce a maximum of the essentials
for war.
A more thorough medical exami-
nation in the beginning when the
men are first called, would prevent
much unnecessary Generalization in
the home army conditions and at the
same time avert much unnecessary
expense and misplaced energy for
the field army. -.....-