Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1940-11-01
Health Is Part
Of Defense,
Roosevelt Says
Hundreds in Maryland
Cheer President on
Way to Dedication
(Tert of President Rooseuelt's
Address on Page Be-.

AuuJ eos UH fugc o-O1
Voicing "our faith in the power
of mans humanity to man." Presi-
dent Roosevelt yesterday dedicated
the new 100000 National Health
Institute near Bethesda, Md, be-
fore an open-air gathering Of
about 5000
The President emphasized the
Importance of health to national
defense and declared the "ramparts
we watch must be civilian in ad-
dition to military" especially in
view Of the fact that the airplane
has cut down the time between the
United States and areas infected
with dangerous contagious diseases.
The Chief Executive was intro
duced to the audience grouped
before the Institutes administration
building by Wayne Coy, an assistant
to the chief of the Federal Sc
curity Administration. who sketched
the history of public health re-
search in the United States.
Morgenthau in Party.
On the speakers platform with
the President were Secretary of the
Treasury Morgenthau, Gov. O'Conor
of Maryland, Surgeon Gen. Thomas
Parran, DR.. L. r. Thompson, direc-
tor of the institute; Mrs. Luke I.
Wilson, donor of the 86-acre wooded
tract on which the six institute
buildings stand, and a number Of
State and Federal officials. 1t had
been announced that Senator
Tydings of Maryland had accepted
an invitation to attend, but he was
not present.
The President spoke from the
| front porch of the administration
building which faces directly on the
20-story Navy Medical Center under
construction half a mile away. on
the other side of the Rockville
pike.
The Chief Executive held up the
family doctor as a bulwark of the
Nation and espoused "a partner
ship" of Federal, State and local
health and medicine"
In American life" he said, "the
family doctor. the general prac-
titioner performs a service which
we rely upon and trust as Ma
/ ton.
Cites Cooperation.
AS to the partnership" Mr.
Roosevelt added that since passage
of the Social Security Act with its
health provisions in 1885, Federal,
State and local health and medicine
ARE cooperating more broadly
than ever before"
AS a result, he said, the Nation
is better prepared to meet "the
public health problems Of our
emergency than at any previous
time in the history of our country"
Meeting these problems, the Presi-
dent asserted, is a part OF pre-
pairing total defense"
Montgomery County Democrats
cheered the President as his open
car moved into Maryland on Six
tenth street behind an escort Of
motorcycle policemen. A crowd of
500 or more assembled at the Six
| teenth-street circle on the Maryland
line to applaud the candidate for
reelection.
A truck equipped with loud
speaker system was present, broad
casting musical selections and an
announcement that the President
would be asked to stop long enough
TO greet the crowd.
Flags were distributed to men,
women and children and placards
were carried by the crowd. One of
them said, THE Race Is Only Close
in the Newspapers, Mr.. President"
No Time for Stop.
When the Presidents car arrived,
however, there was no time for even
brief speech. The car only slowed
down while the President laughingly
acknowledged the cheering and ap-
plause. Further along the route. in
front of the Columbia Country Club.
there was a sizeable turnout of COL
ored employees in white service coats,
although few club members were
seen.
Hundreds of school children
cheered the President as his car
approached Bethesda, and large
crowds were on hand at intersec-
tons in that city. Automobiles were
parked all along the Maryland route,
filled with partisan spectators.
Mr.. Coy described, among other
duties of the Public Health Service,
how the laboratory at Hamilton.
Mont, has greatly enlarged its
output of yellow fever vaccine be-
cause of the defense program and
changing world conditions.
He spoke of the work which the
service is doing in the development
of typhus and Rock Mountain
spotted fever vaccines.
The National Institute of Health,
which includes the National Cancer
Institute, he said, "is the inheritor
of the traditions of service to man
kind lost to other nations" because
of the European war.
The demonstration for the Presi-
dent was led by Leroy Gray of the
Silver Spring Young Democrat
Club; Mrs. Ralph Wells, president
of the Democratic Women's Clubs
of Montgomery County; Mrs. Will
liam D. Byron, wife of the Demo-
cratic Representative, and County
Commissioner Thomas E. Hampton.