Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-10-26
Organize World for Health and Strength

ara.
Consider the single matter Of trench
fever. Surely the work in that connec-
ton was a service beneficial to all OF
the allied nations. Well. unless l am
mistaken. Strong was picked for the
task Of investigation which resulted in
the victory by the Rockefeller Institute
of New York city, at a time when the
United States was not at war And he
went across to study this disease be-
cause Of his extraordinary record in in
vestigating the diseases of the tropics.
Thus through sen r'vate organization
the best man in world was put upon
the job for the benefit of all the allies.
Why should such a service be conceiv-
able in wartime only? Ought not all
such things to be the tasks OF interna-
tional machinery? In matters of the
public health must any nation suffer be-
cause the greatest expert is the native
Of another country?
Long before we went into the war
Americans had established laboratories.
hospitals, ambulance corps. nursing
units and many other relief organiza-
tons in the region Of hostilities The
American medical profession did not
wait for tho American government to
give official sanction to assistance of
the allies. Tho American Ambulance "a
hospital organization) in Paris was one
Of the very early efforts Of the war and
became world-famous
\ Il +
Tho war did a great deal for the
doctor in America and elsewhere
Hero the system of Army medical
schools forced physicians throughout
the nation to bring themselves up to
modern standards or confess them
selves incompetent. II they were
ignorant they had to learn.
MANY learned. In consequence, to-
day the medical standards of the ma
ton are higher than they ever were
before. The whole profession was
reviewed, for instance, in diagnoses
Of many things; especially it was
given vast instruction with regard
to chronic ailments. Thirty-fve thou
sand doctors were put through what
amounted to a postgraduate course,
stimulated, energized, made up-to-
date and capable Of seeing the to-
morrow. .S' .e
"And after they were mustered out
these doctors took that which they
had learned back to their medical So
cieties throughout the nation, stimu-
lating every other doctor. The whole
profession, therefore. has been stir
red into new impulse. The Same
thing, In general way. has hap
pened among the European allies, but
It may be that the results here have
been particularly notable because the
strain on the medical profession here
was far slighter than that upon the
doctors in the allied nations. But the
point is that the habit Of organiza-
ton really has been achieved.
Cali sorts Of wonders have been pro-
duced in medical. surgical and sani-
tary appliances. We have reached
out and we have found much. We
must not lose the value Of that
which we have found because the
war has come to an end.
II have two axioms which, I think,
have been Of value to me. One Is:
Nothing is impossible in medicine:
and the other is: The human being
is the hardest thing of all to kill
We all make tremendous efforts to
die before our time. The medicine OF
tho future will consist very largely Of
teaching people to avoid such efforts.
II this is really to be accomplished
there must be national endeavor.
fully organized, backed by boundless
energy and correlated through inter-
national organisation with world
wide striving. 49,
what a waste preventable sickness
is! I kept track of my tuberculosis
patients for ten years-those sent out
from tho sanatorium. In that ten
years they earned in actual cash
Sl700,o00 in excess of every penny
spent upon the plant, for them and
others who had followed them, in
Guiding its construction cost and
maintenance, and still had years Of
earning life before them!
Darlington had an axiom declaring
that no public health measure Is
worth while unless you can convince
a business man that 1t will yield
profit: but I declare. now and with
out fear. that any measure which will
do ever so little to improve the pub