Evening star., 1943-05-28
McCarran Asks Gas
Priorities for Doctors
In Letter 10 Brown
Calls for Quick Action
To Protect Health
Of D. 6. Residents

Price Administrator Brown had
before him today a demand from
Chairman McCarran of the Senate
District Committee that local doc
tors be given priority for gasoline
during the acute shortage to pro-
tect the health of the city.
Calling for swift action without
prolonged study of the situation,
Senator McCarran told Mr.. Brown
he was writing to him in the belief
that "as price administrator, you
have both the power and the in
teS'A1a: ft1titude to c',t this Cor
dian knot with single stroke"
Higher Case Load Cited.
Senator McCarran's letter read,
in part, as follows:
Doctors in the District of Colum-
bia are unable to secure the gaso-
line needed to make their calls and
a very substantial proportion of the
entire medical fraternity here are
faced with the dilemma of either
refusing to respond to calls and
abandoning their usual rounds, or
making their calls as best they may
through the use of public transpor-
tation. The former alternative is,
of course, unthinkable, and the lat
ter is hardly more agreeable to con-
template. Certainly it entails an
appalling waste of skilled profess
sional manpower. and there is no
doubt in my mind as to the COM
plete inability of the city's doctors
to provide anything approaching
adequate medical service under such
conditions"
"As you know. the case load of
individual doctors has been greatly
increased because of the Army's de-
mands for medical officers. and the
problem of providing even minimum
decent health service in the District
is severe enough without being ag-
gravated by any additional factor
which can in any way be avoided.
Pleas to OPA Fail.
L am advised that attempts of
the District Medical Association to
persuade the Office OF Price Admin
istration to bring some sort of pri-
orlty on gasoline to doctors have
been consistently unsuccessful. Fol-
lowing failure Of these efforts. the
Medical Society made ARRANGEMENTS
with certain individual proprietors
OF gasoline service stations to hold
portions of their gasoline stock in
reserve for doctors; in effect, to give
doctors cnrf nf iol
These arrangements gave promise of
aiding the situation until. upon COM
plant OF certain persons unknown.
the OPA advised the gasoline sta
ton proprietors in question that
they must sell equally to all persons
holding ration coupons, in the order
in which such persons presented
themselves.
Thus the OPA, which on the one
hand, according to the public press.
Is urging that gasoline be reserved
for essential users, on the other
hand Is forbidding any reservation
OF gasoline for one of the most i'm
portant classes of essential users,
This situation is not only anomalous,
Uut ABSURD.
Crisis Demands Action.
The problem is not one for study
and lengthy conferences, looking to-
ward the dotting of every Il and the
crossing of every IT, in a lengthy
and carefully worked-out pro-
nouncement. 1t is, on the other
hand. a crisis Of no inconsiderable
proportions which demands coura-
geous and fortnight action i'm
mediately.
"A similar situation may exist
throughout the gasoline shortage
area, I do not know. It does exist
IN the District of Columbia, and as
chairman of the Senate Committee
on the District of Columbia, feel
myself very much concerned"