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

school would be very serious,v m.
pUseo by every interest connected
~ and, on the other hand. if
.ou aoopt the policy of accepting
! .neI grading and maintaining their
ns' you have embarked upon the
poAcy OF following the notions and
ene denominations Of people who are
noe citizens of Maine, who have no
hnowiedge of your problems, and YOU
are not concerned with your econ
omic or social interests.
so much for the proposition in re-
latton to the expense and the nros-
peo.s OF the future! Now is there
any otner alternative? We have con-
sioered what the expense of this may
ne and whether it is likely to meet
tne problem. Is there any other pos
sloie solution of this problem? It
mas been stated that the boys of this
schooi, or future boys in Maine who
want to study. cannot get an oppor-
tunlty for a medical education or for
continuing it elsewhere. There are
Two schools in the country today
which are refusing applications, one
OF them only temporarily. Those two
SCHOOLS are Harvard and Johns Hop
klns. Harvard University is at pres
ent refusing some applications, but
Will almost certainly increase its
NUMBERS very shortly. Both of these
SCHOOLS, however, are what are term
ed graduate schools, requiring a de-
gree from college or university be-
fore boy can even enter it's gates.
certainly the rural problem in Maine
is not going to be met by boys who
nave to have college education end
a university education. Therefore
those schools are not concerned with
a rural problem. There are numer-
Gus other schools, however, taking in
boys every year, and available, on the
same brade and rating as the Maine
Medical School, in Boston and New
YORK, and in other centcrs of popu.a-
tlon not more remote. Those schools
are available for Maine boys today,
and will continue to be so. The ques-
ton is to find the boys and then to
get them to go through the schools:
and in that connection you must con-
slider the fact that during the past
ten years the number of medical stu
dents in this country has declined
from $4,000 to approximately 10000,
a decrease of over one-half in num-
ber That has not been because of a
lack of schools, but because as an
economic problem the boys could not
carry out tile requirements of a med
ern medical education or for some
reason it did not appeal to them; but
coincidentallv with that, and as a
necessary result of the failure of boys
tn hQ Mt
other in the continuance of a medtca.
education, schools have necessarily
been closed
Now is there any other step which
can meet this problem? You have
heard the fund of Bowdoin College
spoken of amounting to approximate
ly $4,000. That fund was given to
the trustees of Bowdoin College to
use for medical education, bearing in
mind the needs of poor boys in secur-
ing a medical education. l quote the
substantial phraseology of that deed
of gife ito be administered by the
trustees" AS the gentleman who
first spoke on this proposition stated,
1t is a serious question whether or
not that fund, with it's $4,000 income,
might be turned over to another
school under different control. 1t is a
much less serious question whether
or not the fund might be used for
scholarships for Maine boys in carry
ing on a medical education, with the
fund under the administration of the
trustees constituted by the ones who
created the gift-the Garcelon Mer-
rift Fund,-as it is called. That is it
inr
whether or not the Supreme Court of
Maine, which must decide it. would
not say that the trustees of Bowcoin
College could carry on this fund by
means of scholarships for Maine boys,
with such additional stipulations as
they might provide inthe interests of
the medical conditions in the State of
Maine Suppose, for instance, and
this has been seriously considered by
responsible authorities-that scholar
ships of $500 each were given to
Maine boys for this very purpose.
Twenty boys would then be carrying
on their education, and that would
much more than cover the difference
between the cost of a boy going to
school in Portland and the cost of a
boy going to Medical School in Bos-
ton or New York. That is the only
question. It is not question of sup
plying the boy with money enough to
get his whole education, because you
do not propose here to subsidize
bow to go through school. You are
not going to pay his board and room
You simply cover the expense of the
difference as between Boston and New
York and Portland, and in addition
Won provide that the boy who takes
advantage of that scholarship shall for
a period of five years. or for some
limited period at least, spend his time
in some rural community in Maine or a
community designated by the public
health department. In this way you
have gone very much further in as
sisting the rural communities of Maine
in meeting the problem for themselves.
I Now in addition to that, If you take
any portion of the fund which 1t is
proposed to create here for the estab-
lishment of a State medical school
and let the State authorities admin
lister it without relation to what the
trustees of Bowdoin College may do
and they are as concerned in the af-
fairs of Maine as are we-but let the
state take such fund as it may create.
$50. 900 a year, which is the proposed
amount here, and that would give leo
scholarships of $500 each for Maine
l. nd