Am'iJayr'i9ifrm'  J  Pharmaceutical  Corps  in  U.  S.  Army.  319 
at  the  time  and  since,  has  advocated  reorganization  and  efficient 
assistance  to  the  physicians  and  editorially  stated  "  there  should  be 
no  opposition  from  any  quarter  to  legislation  that  would  remedy 
an  obviously  dangerous  condition." 
The  Surgeon-General  is  held  responsible  for  the  health  of  the 
Army  and  the  efficiency  of  its  medical  service  In  the  recent  hear- 
ing before  the  Senate  Committee  on  Military  Affairs,  "  Surgeon- 
General  Gorgas  described  the  difficulty  of  caring  for  the  men  in  the 
camps  with  the  untrained  orderlies  who  are  generally  charged  with 
looking  out  for  the  less  serious  cases  of  illness."  In  this  statement 
he  admits  the  inefficiency  of  the  hospital  service  for  which  the  re- 
sponsibility is  upon  his  Department  and  which  the  enactment  of 
the  bill  now  under  consideration  would  in  a  large  measure  correct  by 
providing  an  organized  pharmaceutical  corps  which  would  give  to 
the  physicians  the  needed  intelligent  assistance  and  provide  the 
grade  of  service  in  this  Department  which  the  soldiers  are  entitled 
to  receive. 
The  Soldier  is  the  Ultimate  Concern  of  the  Medical 
Department. 
Those  in  the  military  service  of  the  nation  are  entitled  to  the 
very  best  medical  attention  that  the  government  can  procure.  A 
nation  that  is  proclaimed  as  the  wealthiest  and  as  the  most  pro- 
gressive of  all  nations  must  not  assume  any  second  place  in  provid- 
ing the  means  for  the  preservation  of  the  health  and  lives  of  those 
serving  in  its  army.  The  people  of  the  United  States  will  expect 
the  Medical  Department  to  adopt  the  most  efficient  methods  for  the 
conservation  of  the  health  and  lives  of  our  soldiers  and  for  the  re- 
cuperation of  the  unfortunate  wounded.  In  this  war,  as  never 
before,  must  human  lives  be  salvaged  and  national  resources  con- 
served and  our  national  assets,  of  education  as  well  as  of  materials, 
be  utilized  to  the  best  advantage  if  victory  is  to  be  ours.  The 
nation  will  not  be  contented  to  accept  such  platitudes  as  "  the  needs 
of  the  soldiers  can  be  provided  for  satisfactorily  under  the  present 
organization."  Especially  not  when  the  inefficiency  of  the  service 
has  been  pointed  out  in  reports  emanating  from  the  same  Depart- 
ment. 
Surgeon-General  George  J.  H.  Evatt  of  the  British  Army  very 
aptly  stated  "that  the  Medical  Department  existed  for  the  indi- 
