The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-08-08
Frederic Haskin's Letter
Honoring General Gorgas.

| washington, u. u, aug. "
MORALS always have been erected
in honoE OF the great men ane
women OF the world. and there
probably always will be such me
MORALS, but there have been rev
to date which have been userul q
well as ornamental. or sucn lew
] the institute for medical research
into tropical diseases, to be erectet
in memory of the late General VII
liam Crawford Gorgas, "Cheval1ei
of Health" will be consp1cuou:
! example. 1t is to be erected II
Panama City, in the heart or the
district where General Gorgas made
some of his greatest efforts TOWARD
| fighting tropical diseases and where
he met with some Of his greatest
success. The Panaman government
has donated the building. site and
keouipment for the GorgaS Institute
and the building may be completed
within the space of a year. Work
on the plans and preparations for
! the actual construction are being
pushed forward as rapidly as pos
soble.
1t now remains for the United
States and many other countries
interested in this great work to
raise the maintenance funds. DR..
Franklin E. Martin, secretary OF
the American College of Surgeons,
is chairman of the committee hand
ling this problem and Admiral w.
G. BREASTED and Senior Lefevre are
the other members of the commit
tee.
Some idea of the part the United
States will play in establishing the
memorial may be gained when one
realizes that in the campaign which
will start next fall the aim will be
to raise from three to five million
dollars in this country alone.
In the charter for the institute
two additional provisions were add
ed at meeting of the provisional
board held here last week in the
Pan-American building. These pro-
visions specify that the institute
shall send expeditions into all
South American countries to make
researches concerning tropical
diseases; that forces of physicians
shall be continually in readiness to
visit regions suffering from cpl
denies, and that the institute shall
devote part of its work to studying
the diseases of animals in relation
to those of human beings, carry
ing on, in this way, the especial
work of the late General Gorgas.
DR.. Belisario Porras. president of
the republic of Panama, originated
the idea of this practical and suit
able memorial to honor General
y
efforts and those of his associates
that the provisional board was es-
tablished to begin and carry on the
work. Great interest in the memo
rial has been evinced in all parts
of the world. DIR. Franklin Martin,
who has just returned from a tour
of the Central and South Ameri-
can countries, says that the presi-
dents and other representatives in
these countries seem especially in
terested in the project. Word has
also been received from education
al institutions such as the London
School of Tropical Medicine. indi-
eating extensive interest in the de-
velopment Of the memorial plans.
Panama the Logical Site.
while much has been done in
our largest and best educational in
situations to endeavor to carry on
research work and to acquire
knowledge of tropical diseases, and
great deal accomplished by many
special institutions and depart
ments, such as the London and
Liverpool Schools of Tropical Med
icine, and the work of institutions
such as Harvard. Johns Hopkins,
the University of California, and
many other organizations of this
kind. nevertheless, all this work
has been limited and hampered by
the dearth of material for such
study and research and on account
of the distance from the tropical
centers." So spoke Admiral Brais-
ted in discussing the location of
the institute in Panama. He con-
tinued:
Panama offers the ideal sftua-
ton in almost every respect for the
successful investigation of these
which have in the past
proven to be an insuperable obsta-
Gle to the development of some OF
the most splendid sections of the
earth. What has been done in
Panama proves that hitherto unin-
habitable and undeveloped coun-
tries of the greatest possibilities for
successful hLman habitation, with
prosperity and well-be-
ing. in the most attractive and de-
sirable parts of the earth. are cas-
lily within our reach~if we can ap-