Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1919-06-26

Y. JUNE 26, 1919.
The ringing of the old Mn Bell,
The whispering of tho campus trees.
When live the visions of to-day,
In other guise than now they seem,
Then shall we say with loving pride.
AT old Vermont, | dreamed the dream"
PIPE GRAFTON
Alfred x. Krayor delivered the pipe
Grafton. Ho said, in part:
THE enjoyment OF our peace pipes
must be accompanied by lone. long
thoughts of reconstruction. During
the war the government trusted college
men with responsible positions. Many
undergraduates were taken who hlled
their positions satisfactorily. Now that
we are out of college, shall we fail in
the greater problems?
Democracy is the theme of the day.
Our student activities have been gov
erned under democratic principles. The
Student Union, in which questions are
brought up for the approval of the
entire student body, might serve as a
model for young governments. The
Faculty Student Council has not been
a success. 1t must carry through in
pra cticc what 1t stands for in theory.
1t is the connecting link between fac
ulty and students, and it is most i'm
portant that cooperation should be
whole hearted.
"The pipe Grafton this year is of
unusual Significance 1t has been omit
ted from the class day exercises for
the past two years. Why? Because
the smoke of war had taken the place
of the smoke of peace. The smoke of
the pipe is disappearing, but the mem
cries of our college days will last
forever"
MEDICAL SERVICE IN RURAL COM
MUNITIES
Fred :. Kent. medic, spoke on the sub
ject of Medical Service in the Rural Com
munity." He said:
From an economic standpoint, the
question of adequate medical relief for
the rural community has become a seri-
Gus problem Advances in medical
science. new discoveries. refnements in
technique and diagnosis have so COM
plcated the matter that II has been
| truthfully stated that only the very rich
and the very poor can obtain the very
latest and most up-to-date medical and
surgical treatment.
! "Of 2i7 towns and cities in the State
Of Vermont, there are to-day "a or nearly
40 per cent. without doctor, and APP
proximately 81 more with practitioners
! 20 years or more OF age. This situation
places an added burden on the shoulders
! of the doctor in the neighboring town.
True to the ideals Of his profession. he
IT,, -
miles of travel so much time away from
| his regular deld of practice. and the
ultimate result of hasty and inadequate
/ service for a large clientele.
Recent statistics say there is one doc
tor to 500 people in the State, but ex-
Guiding the men who are not in active
practice and the men still in the service,
, this ratio mounts TO one in every S95.
Concerning the men in the service and
| their future service to the State IL Is
interesting to note, that they are not re-
| turning to the towns of their former
practice. The young man out of college
a few years who went when the call
came, has before him a wonderful op-
portunity for postgraduate work in the
base hospitals; an opportunity which
would rarely come to him in private life.
/ When his discharge comes he will go to
some Of the larger cities for he will have
the training of n specialist. The older
men are returning, not to their own
towns but to the larger centers. perfectly
willing to leave the long hours and weary
drives of Vermont hills to the younger
man.
There was time when the State
could reasonably hope to supply men for
some of these towns from her own
f,,,a I,,t .
during the past six years while the Col
lege of Medicine has graduated nearly
$50 men, less than 20 of these are in active
practice in this State. Certainly then the
time is near when the State will have
to assume control of the situation. Dur
ing the recent Influenza epidemic, not
only the small towns but the larger ones
found themselves face to face with a situa-
ton with which they were powerless 10
cope. Is the State any better prepared
to meet another such emergency as it
was on September Is, 1918?
England has been at work for Ave
years on a plan whereby adequate med
zeal service will be available for her
industrial conters as well as her ruraI
communities. A few of our own States
have full-time health officers, the idea
being that without the added burden
of private practice, rural conditions
will be more carefully watched. Thir.
teen other States have supplemented
this with laws concerning the estab.
lshment of community hospitals
managed and financed as civic insti.
tutions.
AS to the English plan: It is found
ed on the fundamental principle o.
the Chinese medical profession that
n,