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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



designed to make the pay of Public Health Service officers equal to 

 that of the Army and Navy Medical Corps. This hill was passed by 

 the Senate and reported favorably and unchanged to the House by the 

 Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce. Every argument 

 strongly favored its passage. As stated by Mr. Fletcher in the report of 

 the Senate Committee on Public Health and National Quarantine, when 

 the bill was before the Senate : 



In the opinion of the Committee, there exists no such difference in the char- 

 acter of the duties performed and responsibilities assumed, the hazards to which 

 the officers are exposed, or the professional and scientific attainments required 

 in the several services, as to warrant the existing disparity in compensation. 



The committee recommended the bill to the Senate, " believing that 

 the maintenance of the present efficiency of the Service, as well as 

 justice to its officers, demands the equalization of pay proposed by the 

 bill." This bill in an amended form, passed congress and was approved 

 by the President on August II, 1912. It provided for increased salaries, 

 and changed the name from the Public Health and Marine Hospital 

 Service to the more accurate and less cumbersome title, the Public 

 Health Service. The public health functions and duties of the Service 

 were extended. " The Public Health Service may study and investi- 

 gate the diseases of man and conditions influencing the propagation and 

 spread thereof including sanitation and sewage and the pollution either 

 direct or indirect of the navigable streams and lakes of the United 

 States and it may from time to time issue information in the form of 

 publications for the use of the public." 



Quarters of Medical Officer, Cebu, Philippine Islands. 



