Evening star., 1923-01-30
VETERANS BUREAU
NEEDS STRESSED
Medical and Dental Corps
Urgently Demanded, Retir-
: ing Director Says.

A medical and dental corps for the
Veterans Bureau, admission to Which
would he by examination only ana
| not by political influence, was adVo-
| Gated by Lieut.. Col. Robert U. Pattcr-
son, retiring medical director OF the
bureau at testimonial di.Irer for
| him last night at the New Ebbitt no..
tel. as the greatest present need of
1.-THE organization.
Col. Patterson, who was praised
| from all quarters of the. Veterans
Bureau. at the time of his re-aslEn-
ment by the Secretary of War to the
general staff for duty, paid tribute TO
! the cooperation in the medical d.
! vision of the bureau by medical Off
! GERS from other branches of the gov
iernment and by civilian physicians.
| but declared that the salvation or
the medical division lay in the form
alton of the new corps.
High Standards Necessary.
He pointed to the necessity Of keep
! ing high the standards of medical
personnel of the bureau and express
ed the belief that it could be best
achieved if appointment to the corps
were made by strict examination only.
; The medical division also needed. he
! said. to have complete control of it's
supplies.
The occasion was one OF euloSy
for the retiring director by the med
! icul division. which heaped high
| the honors of professional and per-
sonal praise.
His has been tremendous task.
it was pointed out by DR.. Martin
| Cooley, toastmaSter for the evening.
| During Col Pattersons seventeen
months of service in the bureau
| there had been accomplished. DIR.
Cooley explained. decentralization of
the bureau. the taking over of fifty
seven hospitals from the public
health service. and during one year
alone, the admission of $4,000
patients. the establishment of 800
900 ratings and the administration of
more than 100000 outpatient treat
ments.
+! Held "InvariabIy Courteous
Col. Patterson was characterized
! by Surgeon General Stitt of the Navy
as invariably courteous and coop
erative, always frank and direct" and
! d man greatly to he admired.
Lieut. Col. George Ijams. new cxecu
! tive officer of the Veterans Bureau.
J deplored recent statements that GER
| tain Army officers in the bureau had
! been hard boiled" This could not
X; he applied to Col Patterson. he said,
/ adding that the charge was "thc most
. ridiculous statement" he ever heard
4 Judge Roger cooley OF the legal Ill
vision declared they had found Col
| Patterson, the "fairest man in all the
, bureau"
Col. Patterson Responds.
In response. Col. Patterson remon-
Strated that he did not deserve half
the eucomiums bestowed upon him
The men in charge of the Veterans
, Bureau. he said. were actuated by mo-
tives to do the very best thing We
can to take care of those men and
women who offered their lives in the
service of their country which
would be consistent with the policy
! of conserving the resources of the
! pockets of the taxpayers.
With others praising Col. Patterson
; for his services were Lieut.. Col. NJ c.
/ Guthrie. executive officer Of the pub
| lie health service; DIR. w. j. Bott of
the Philadelphia district Office and
| Charles G.. SenSeney. Lieut.. Col
/ Paul S. Halloran. also leaving the
/ bureau on re-assignment, spoke with
mingled pleasure and regrets at leav-
1 ing the bureau for the Army.
! Surgeon General Ireland of the
Army and Surgeon General Cummings
of the public health service sent let
ters of. regret at their inability to be
| present.
The committee in charge of the oc-
| casfon consisted of DIR. A. J. Mcintyre,
DIR. Martin Cooley, DR.. ]. +. Barry
and DIR. L. X. Holt.