Evening star., 1933-06-29
HEALTH ACTIVITIES
OF j. s. RETAINED
Essential Services Remain
Despite Changes to Meet
Reduced Budget.

Although it is entering the new fiscal
year with drastically reduced appropri-
ationS, the Public Health Service has
been able to weather the economy
storm with most of its essential activi-
ties intact, a check of the various di-
visions revealed today.
The problem of reducing personnel
has been met almost entirely by retire
mentS of commissioned officers and by
-year-service retirements and laying
off married women whose husbands are
employed by the Government. There
has been a large reduction in the
Marine Hospital and field station serv-
ice. where it was necessary to lay of
approximately 400 out of a total of g.
600. The rural health work, with an
appropriation cut from 100000 to $25,-
900, has been discontinued altogether
but this has little effect on the person.
mel of the service itself.
Each division of the service had to
settle its problem in its own way, and
some peculiar problems have arisen.
Thus while most of the divisions will
have paylesS furloughs, the Marine Hos
pital division chose to reduce its per-
Sonnel except in the case of the Leper
Hospital at Carville, La, where a two
week furlough has been put into effect.
Most of the non-technical staff there
are lepers who can't leave the hospital
anyway. SO they couldn't very well be
discharged
22 Officers Retired.
Unlike the Army and Navy, the
Public Health Service does not retire
its commissioned officers for age but
only for physical disability. There have
been rigid physical examinations, how
ever, which have brought about the re-
tirement of % officers, for the most part
on three-fourthS pay although a few
in one of the lower divisions will re-
celVe only 60 per cent pay. These re-
tlrementS brought the commissioned
corps almost within its pay allotment
SO that deaths and voluntary retire
mentS during the next few months are
expected to provide for the difference.
II these do not materialize a short fur
lough may be necessary, but they are
almost bound to come in the normal
course of events.
The commissioned corps includes
some OF the foremost medical research
workers in the United States, some of
whom have passed the cO-year-service
nne. but all the outstanding scientists
nave been retained except few who
nave been retired under the disability
provision.
Among the clerical and other workers
IN the administrative Offices in Wash
1ngton only a saving of $4,000 was
1ouno necessary and it is believed that
THIS can be met almost entirely by
separation from the service of persons
whose spouses have Government Jobs
a le" retlrementS for age, and a verv
lew separations of persons with low
efhciency ratings.
State Aid Discontinued.
The appropriation for the 26 Marine
hospitals and about 20 field medical re-
llef stations was reduced from S. 600 00O
10 S4,420,OOO 1t was decided not to
resort to the furlough system. but to
reouce the stalls, except in the case of
CarVllle. SO far as possible, the sepa-
ratlons have been of persons not di-
rectly engaged in caring for the sick
Dut approximately 100 nurses and about
10 physicians have been stricken from
the lists. About 40 per cent of the re-
auction was met by operation econo-
mics
The rural health unit of the Domes-
tic Quarantine Division has been giving
financial aid to county health units in
28 States. A few Of these units will be
maintained by the counties and States
themselves, but for the most part, it is
believed, they will be discontinued. The
poverty of the counties will prevent
employment of full-time personnel out
of local funds alone. The SIS 900 left
out of the 100000 appropriation will
be used in completing some research
projects in connection with the work.
The Domestic Quarantine Division
suffered so per cent reduction in its
appropriation for trachoma investiga-
tion and prevention work which it was
carrying on in cooperation with Ten
nessee, Kentucky, Missouri and Georgia.
Trachoma is widespread eye disease
responsible for many cases of blindness
in these States. It is not believed that
the States themselves will be able to
keep up the full burden of the work.
Plague Staff Reduced.
There was also so per cent reduc-
ton in the bubonic plague control work
carried on in cooperation with Cali
fornia. In several counties adjacent to
San Francisco the bubonic plague in
fection is known to be carried by
ground squirrels and there is an occa-
sional human case of this dreaded dis
ease. which is the same as the terrible
black death of the Middle Ages. A
relentless campaign has been carried
on against these infected squirrels. AL
though it is primarily a problem for
California, the Federal Government has
recognized the danger to other States
along the Pacific Coast and to the Ma
tions Pacific commerce, which would
be affected seriously by quarantine
of such a port as San Francisco. There
has been reduction of 20 in the per-
sonnel for the trachoma and plague
work
TIE Division of Scientific Research,
which operates the National Institute
of Health here, besides conducting re-
search projects at other stations, suf-
fered a so per cent reduction, which
has been taken up in operation econ
omies in a one-month payless fur
Tough for all the personnel, pay re-
ductions in the higher brackets and
dismissal of %, a few of whom are
married women whose husbands are in
the Government service. All the es-
sential research projects have been con-
tinued although they may be somewhat