Evening star., 1932-12-11

topic and studied improved laboratory
methods, Admiral Riggs recalled.
Admiral Firm In Stand.
BY tradition, by legal title and upon
considerations Of economy, utility and
beauty, the Naval Hospital must stay
right where it is, in the firm opinion
Of the chief of the Bureau of Medicine
and Surgery.
Not less insistent is Surg. Gen. Cum
ming that his establishment shall retain
its present site, grow and prosper. Con-
gress itself-and not the Public Build
ings Commission or any other body
definitely placed the new structures OF
the Public Health Service adjacent to
the Naval Hospital, he said, in point
ing to practical difficulties in the way
of any change from the present loca-
ton. He was firm in saying that
change is out Of the question.
The National Capital Park and Plan
ming Commission, as well as the Fine
Arts Commission, approved the new
that area-an administration and
library building of the National In
stitute of Health of the Public Health
Service and the addition to the labora-
tory, Surg. Gen. Cummings asserted.
He made 1t clear that plans for these
two new structures were harmonized
with those of the new Naval Hospital
architects for both governmental groups
agreeing on the levels to be struck, so
that the whole development on the
heights. up from the Lincoln Memorial,
might be harmonious. Both new build
ings under construction were designed
by Treasury Department architects.
Central Site Needed.
Two laboratories, long built, have
kept the Public Health Service flag
flying now, for some 80 years on that
location, the surgeon general asserted
In opposing any move that would
place the Public Health Service ac-
tivities adjacent to Walter Reed Hos
pital. to the south, Surg. Gen. Cum
ming said that 'it is a total miscon-
ception of our laboratory and its duties
to try to place 1t off in the country"
The whole matter Of the present loca-
tion, he said, was gone over with former
Secretary Mellon, who approved the
new construction; by specialists from
the Public Health Service itself, by
Treasury Department architects and
finally by Congress-to say nothing of
the Fine Arts Commission and the
Planning Commission.
Surg. Gen. Cumming said that there
Is a two-fold aspect to the Public
Health Service establishment adjacent
to the Naval Hospital. 1t is both a
business center and a scientific mecca
To its doors come business men who
deal in vaccines, medicines and other
curative products to secure the stand
ards set up by the Public Health Serv-
ice. To its doors come also physicians,
scientists, biologists and others inter-
ested in the latest in research.
There are dozens of problems CROP
ping up. demanding solution, and any
interruption in this fight against dis
ease would be perilous, Surg. Gen. Cum
ming said.
Built for Research.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars
worth of scientific and research equip
ment is stored in small room in the
laboratories, so that it does not take a
large building to represent a great in
vestment when one Is considering SCI
ence, he asserted.
1t Is eminently fitting, Surg. Gen.
Cumming contended, that persons ap-
preaching the National Capital from
the South, over the Arlington Memorial
Bridge or the Lee Highway, should see
first buildings emblematic of the well
fare functions of the Government-the
Naval Hospital, the Public Health Serv-
ice. the American Pharmaceutical AS
sociation, the National Academy of Sci
ences, the Pan-American Union.
The Public Health Service buildings
were built for research To attempt to
turn them into use for any other char
acter of work would be costly indeed,
the Surgeon General maintained.
A Fitting Environment.
About one-third of the space occupied
by the Public Health Service, near the
Naval Hospital, is provided for animals
used in research work, the Surgeon
General said.
Rel .rring to the proposed shift of the
Naval Hospital, Surg. Gen. Cumming
said: 'I don't see why Naval Hospital
patients are not as well entitled to a
beautiful setting as would clerks in nor
NAL health The curative assistance
givensby delightful surroundings is well
known"
The beauty of the site is conceded
by oil, the officials believe, with the
Lincoln Memorial in the foreground
and teycnd the winding Potomac.
Lions to Be Christmas Gift.
ABERDEEN, Wash, December 10 (41.
What to do with two lions for Christ