New-York tribune., 1922-01-05
W. ar Cripples
ow.Likely to
Keep Doctors
Protest Makes
Improbable Any Change
in Status of 1000 Pub
lie Health Service Men
Patients Here Take Action
COMMITTEE of Two Sent to
Capital to Make an Ap-
peal Directly to Harding

: WASHiNGlON. Jan. 4.-ContrOnted
with hundreds of kilograms of protest
sfrom disabled war.veterans in govern
lment hospitals against disenrolling the
$1,000 reserve medical officers assigned
ito disqualification work. the Administra
stion had practically decided to-day to
sreject the suggestion of the Bureau
Sof Efficiency that these doctors be re-
burned TO civilian status.
( Edward Clifford. Assistant Secretary
Spf the Treasury. in charge of public
health, said the department has taken
no action in the matter and no decision
swould be reached on the recommends
stion until it is formally placed before
sthe department by Brigadier General
Sawyer. the Presidents physician, be-
sfore whom Herbert D. Brown, head of
sthe efficiency bureau, has laid the sug-
sgestion.
! Surgeon General Hugh S. Cumming.
schief of the Public Health Service, who
9u-guld Issue the order OF dlSenroliment
"a. Mr.. Cliford's direction, said that
a. such order had yet been issued, and
Che added that he hoped it would not
Ebecomc necessary.
3 Legion Protest Filed
, The strong protest of the American
s1egion against the plan of relieving
sthe 1000 medical reservists now on
ru,iii.arv status was added to the many
sobjections to the proposal to-day by
e5oam Thomas Taylor, vice-chairman of
xthe legislative committee Of the or
sgan,zation He demanded that the
sLegion be heard on the subject before
arrangement in the government hospitals
sras taken.
More than 500 messages condemning
r-the proposal were delivered to the
Treasury Department to-day. The
writer's charged that the proposed ac-
ton would cause the replacement Of
: the present trained medical personnel
with civilian doctors inexperienced in
the treatment OF war cases and would
.physic ans and surgeons appointed as a
reward for political patronage.
Simultaneously with the rapid
Srowth of the protest q condition Of
acute dissatisfaction among the pa
ticnts which bordcred on rebellion
b~okc out in many hospitals here.
This feeling. first engendered by the
reduction III daily ra.ions. has been
Z,
ty Of medical attention being cur
tailed.
Committee Named
The bitter feeling of the veterans
vas illustrated yesterday in an i'm
nromptu meeting in Polytechnic Hos
pitai This meeting was held in the
large auditorium which is used for
clinics. There the manned and disabled
veterans after delibcration decided to
send q committee of two to Washing
ton TO submit their case to the Presi-
dent. The men left for the capital last
night
The American Legion department of
New \ ork. through State Commander
: William f. Deegan and Cornelius W.
Nckolsham. chairman Of the Legion's
; hos spitalization committee, wired Presi-
dent Harding, Secretary Mellon and the
New York Senators urging them to
Withhold action until a hearing was
held. Similar action was taken by the
/ New York State War Mothers, headed
by Mrs. j. Cheever Goodwin, of 159
West Eighty-fourth Street, and the Ma
tional Federated Workers Tor DISABLED
Soldiers. through Mrs. c. D. Simons,
who is 'eodmother" of Fox Hills Hos
pital.
Officers Sign Round Robin
The twenty three regular army off,
icers attached to the local Public
- Health Service hospitals in this city
met yesterday and signed round
robin, which was sent to the chairman
OF their service committee in Washing
ton, asking whether means could be
found to make effective a protest
against the proposed action.
The pitch to which the war veteran
patients have been wrought was demon
Strated IN the meeting at Polytechnic.
There $50 ln-patients, attired in pa
Jamas and bathrobes, managed in some
way or other to congregate in the clinic
room. Those who could not walk either
were carried by their comrades or were
wheeled into the pit, while the more
active flied the galleries where stu
dents watch important operations.
The meeting had as its chairman
Daniel +. Rothermel, whose left leg
was shot of at Chateau Thierry while
he was in the goth Infantry of the 1st
division. Throughout the meeting he
stood up on his crutches. 1mmediate
after he had called the meeting to or
der State Commander William F. Dee
gan of the American Legion addressed
the veterans for twenty minutes, prom
lslng immediate and hearty support in
the fight against interference with
present doctors.
The veterans would not wait how
ever, and heated but orderly discus
sion broke out A resolution was i'm
medlately proposed that two delegates
be appointed to go to Washington and
appear before the President
Faith in the President
During the discussion a blind vet
elan, with dramatic gesture and i'm
passioncd earnestness, declared:
at won't be necessary to go to Wash
ington. If we inform President Har-
ding of our condition am sure he will
come here and see US and do what we
want him to do"
The resolution was passed unani-
monsly, and Rothcrmel, with Stephen
r. Bender, whose right eye was shot
away in Belleau Wood, were appointed
as the committee. After this the vet
Grams, taking the hat of Commander
Dcegan and a newspaper man. went
round among their comrades and COL
lected s74.20 to defray the expenses of
the delegates.
Rothermel and Bender left for Wash
ington last night with petition signed
by the $50 patients. Their departure
was announced to President Harding in
q telegram, in which he was urged to
. see them to-day.
Ell E,,o,>~ W:~Io~v Eo<o1