Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1921-03-30
sTEn0GRAPHIC REPORT

M they say that we will go out and
attempt to raise an endowment; that
~ will make up the deficit required =?
No. After careful deliberation thew
NV we cannot continue this school
any longer. Now what is the gen.
.,al proposition? You gentlemen
tnow how easy it is when PROPOSE
ton cannot be operated successfully
under private auspices to turn to the
STATE and get the State to take hold
n il. You can find SO many instances
AZ small municipal operations that
hsye not turned out successfully
mere they turn to the government
and get the government to take hold.
m that case it is difficult to trace the
expense, you do not feel it, and it
omes out of the government, as I
say.
Now, gentlemen, there is just one
thought that wish to leave with
vou. and I do not wish to be mis-
understood in this proposition, be-
cause personally I feel it very keenly
AZ a matter of principle that we
oneht not to commit ourselves to
This principle of another State insti-
tuition. Bear in mind that House
Bnl No. 81, calling for $4,000 for
1922 and the same amount for 1923,
;s merely the entering wedge. and it
makes no difference if you pass
House Bill No. sc whether you ap-
nropriate $4,000 or $1,000, because If
YOU once accept the principle of a
state- operated medical school, you
will have it for all time: and there is
m other New England State that has
any such proposition.
Mr. GERRISH OF Lisbon: Mr..
Speaker. in reply to the gentleman
from Portland (Mr. Dodge) he states
that the Council of Education at first
estimated the cost of maintenance at
$4,000 and later found that they
we're $4,000 off in their estimates.
Now remember, What comes from
the Council of Education is simply
suggestion. Now as an actual fact
if we receive $4,000 from the State,
in addition to that we have our tut
ttion money of $4,000 and also the
interest Of SO. 900 on this endowment
which I did not even consider in my
budget ,-.
Mr.. BREWSTER of Portland: Mr..
Speaker, l rise to speak with some
diffidence on this question, as it
might be suggestive that my opinion
would be, the subject of prejudice.
shall accordingly try to confine my
self to facts rather than to. my
opinion or the opinion of others in
discussing it.
The proposition of taking over the
Bowdoin Medical School by the State
has been advanced. so far as 1 have
heard, upon the ground of the rural
problem with reference to physi
clans: and for the purpose of this
discussion | am prepared to assume
that there is very crying need OF
. physicians in the country districts,
and that any steps which thes State
can take to help in the supplying OF
that need is something we should
most seriously consider. The ques-
tons which we would then have
would be first, whether the State can
afford the proposition--and there
Z again when matters so vital as public
: health and safety are at stake, the
State can certainly well afford to go
considerable distance. The second
question is whether the proposed
solution is a solution. whether it is
going in any material way to meet
the needs; and on that think there
are some facts which you should
consider. First, the proposition which
the gentleman from Portland (Mr
Dodge called your attention to-
where Massachusetts,, with three
medical schools and comparatively
few country towns, finds itself with
70 towns without a physician. Sec
ond. that in the past ten years the
largest estimate of students from the
Maine Medical School going into
country towns is about 25 or 80. I'm
questionably, the physicians pass
away more rapidly from those towns
than their places have been supplied
Up to the present time by the gradu-
ates of the Maine Medical School.
One other incident which has come
to my attention is that the more re-
cent graduates of the school. with
some of whom l have been personally
acquainted, and one of whom l knew
in last years classes-the only one
as it so happened-is now located
and practicing in New York CITY
The boys who are graduating from
the present school came down here
at the hearing One of them l knew
and I asked him where he would To-
cate. These boys in the school are
very much interested in the contlnu-
ance of the school, with their nat
>lral loyalty to the school in Whlcn
they have spent four years OF thell
lives, and the boy I referred &c
shared that interest; but he said &c
me in this House at the time OF tine
hearing that there was no reason
whaever to base the continuance Oh
the Medical School upon the rura
problem, because the boys will not &C
into the country to settle. SAID
Where are you going?" He SAID
: am going to. locate in Troy. Ne"
York had an opportunity to go as
an inferno here in Maine, but lei,
ii was wiser to go out OF the STATE.
He was a Maine boy. and from wna'
you might term a Maine country
town. He is one of the eight gradu-
ates Of the school this year.
The question whether this VII
solve the problem is q very serious
one, and you fact also the question
Of whether there is any other stel
which will afford a better solution
In connection with the consideration
Of this solution and the probable ex'
Dense of Il Dir GerriSh stated ina