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the dissemination of information relating to the same. graph would also give the reciprocal right to public-health officials and scientists engaged in special studies outside of the Public Health Service to use the facilities of the Hygienic Laboratory. As scientific research is perhaps the most important public-health function of the Federal Government, the desirability of this provision seems apparent.

Section 2 (b) would authorize the establishment of new divisions. in the Hygienic Laboratory. The act of 1902 reorganizing the Hygienic Laboratory established three divisions in it, namely, chemistry, zoology, and pharmacology, in addition to the division of bacteriology and pathology, the only division in the laboratory up to that time. No new divisions have been established since that date. There is need for additional divisions to permit of greater specialization in research. Problems arising since the passage of the act of 1902 require new divisions, such as industrial hygiene, sanitary engineering, physiology, and the like. As stated by one of the witnesses before the committee, "As knowledge grows, various branches of scientific study are developed." The service would, of course, be controlled and limited as to the number of divisions established by the appropriation, as it is in all other respects.

Section 3 provides that the administrative offices and bureau divisions in the District of Columbia shall be administered as a part of the departmental organization, and the scientific offices and research laboratories, including the Hygienic Laboratory, whether in the District of Columbia or not, as a part of the field service. That is the present practice, but there is fear that the Comptroller General may hold that the practice can not be continued under existing law. This section would make certain the continuance of the present practice and is deemed necessary to insure the most efficient administration by enabling the ready transfer of personnel between the central and field laboratories as occasion requires.

Sections 4 and 5 would put dentists, sanitary engineers, and pharmacists on the same basis as to appointment, pay, promotion, disability privileges, etc., as medical officers. This is one of the major objects of the bill. Public-health work is, or should be, a career service. It has come to be quite as dependent upon these other professions for its success as upon the medical profession. For the good of the service and to encourage members of these other professions to engage in it, it is considered necessary that they should be put upon the same basis as the doctors. Surgeon General Cumming testified (p. 14 of the hearings):

The greatest single administrative need of the Public Health Service is uniformity of method of appointment and status of this scientific personnel.

Other witnesses before the committee expressed the same thought. Such appears to be the general opinion of those familiar with the service.

The Public Health Service has 236 regular medical officers in the regular corps. In addition, there are 24 sanitary engineers, 31 dentists, and 100 physicians, all of whom are on full-time duty and available for general service. The sanitary engineers and other technical officers, other than the medical officers of the regular corps, as well as certain medical officers of the reserve corps, are on civil-service status

and are not commissioned, while the dental officers have temporary reserve commissions. Under the provisions of this section these other officers as well as the medical officers may be transferred to the regular corps after examination and with due regard to their present salaries. Section 6 would authorize the temporary utilization of the services of officers in the reserve corps of the Public Health Service for purposes of training and determining their fitness for appointment to the regular corps. Under existing law authorizing the appointment of commissioned medical officers, there is provision for determining the professional qualifications of candidates. Only by continued observation and training, however, is it practicable to determine the personality and adaptability of an officer to discharge the duties and meet the responsibilities of his office. This section would provide such opportunity with advantage both to the candidate and to the Government, with no additional expense.

Section 7 would authorize the appointment of specialists in scientific research, in case of special need, to grades higher than that of assistant surgeons.

The appointment of persons to the regular corps is limited by law now to the minimum grade. Occasions often arise when it seems necessary to engage persons with special training in scientific research at salaries more nearly commensurate with their attainments than the minimum salary. The method of appointment under this provision is in effect the same as that now provided by law for entrance into the regular corps, except that it authorizes appointments to be made to grades above the minimum. Under existing law the employment of such persons has to be in accordance with the civil service laws, which makes their appointment necessarily temporary and without any prospect of a career service.

Section 8 would limit waiting-orders pay for officers appointed under the foregoing sections to amounts depending on total service at the time of retirement for disability. This restriction is similar to existing law governing other comparable services.

Section 9 provides for the promotion of officers, after due examination, according to the same length of service as officers of corresponding grade of the Medical Corps of the Army. In order to be promoted to the next higher grade an officer must have given satisfactory service, must have passed a mental and physical examination, and must have served, from date of original appointment, as follows: Three years before promotion to passed assistant surgeon; 12 years before promotion to surgeon; 20 years before promotion to senior surgeon; and 26 years before promotion to medical director.

Paragraph 2, subdivisions 1, 2, and 3, of section 9, was not in the bill in the Seventieth Congress. It has been placed in the new bill for the purpose of increasing the efficiency of the regular corps. It allows officers to be permanently separated from the service if not promoted from the grades of assistant surgeon and passed assistant surgeon with six months' pay and one year's pay, respectively. The purpose is to eliminate inefficient officers without further obligation on the part of the Government. It is the same procedure as is followed in the Army.

Section 16, as a matter of convenience and brevity, would change the designation of Assistant Surgeon General on field service, now called "Assistant Surgeon General at large," to "medical director."

It would also repeal existing law which limits the number of senior surgeons to 10, outside of 2 authorized by special act of Congress because of distinguished service during the construction of the Panama Canal. There are now 12 senior surgeons in the service on active duty, including the 2 just mentioned.

There are altogether 18 doctors, 6 besides the 12 already commissioned, in the service eligible to take the examination for the grade of senior surgeon and who, if found qualified, might be appointed senior surgeons if the present limitation is removed. A medical officer must have served at least 20 years in the service before being eligible for appointment as senior surgeon and 26 years before being eligible for appointment as Assistant Surgeon General. All original appointments in the service must be made under existing law to the lowest grade, namely, assistant surgeon. An assistant surgeon receives the same pay and allowances as a first lieutenant in the Army. To be eligible for such appointment a person must be a graduate of a regular medical college and must have had at least one year in hospital work or two years in the general practice of his profession.

Section 10 (b) would increase the pay of the Surgeon General of the Public Health Service. It would give him the pay and allowances of a major general of the Army, the same as the Surgeon General of the Army receives, instead of that of a brigadier general which he now receives. In dollars and cents this would raise his total pay and allowances from $7,500 to $9,700 per year, or an increase of $2,200 per year. The present Surgeon General of the Public Health Service, Dr. Hugh S. Cumming, is an outstanding figure in public-health work. He has been in the service over 33 years and has an international reputation. Your committee believes that he should receive the same compensation as the Surgeon General of the Army. He has a responsibility not exceeded by any other bureau chief in the Gov

ernment.

Section 10 (c) is a new paragraph to provide an additional Assistant Surgeon General to be in charge of the new narcotic division of the Public Health Service created by the last Congress.

Section 11 would correct an administrative difficulty. Under a recent ruling of the Comptroller General a field officer must await the official approval of the Secretary of the Treasury before placing a laborer, nurse, doctor, or any other employee on duty. In case of emergency, such as the recent outbreak of plague in New Orleans, it is necessary under that ruling to await telegraphic or other instructions from the Secretary of the Treasury before emergency employees can be put to work. The section would make the appointment of such employees effective as of the day on which they go on duty. It is obvious that the delay caused under such conditions seriously handicaps efficient administration and causes unnecessary expense, especially at stations abroad and other distant stations. The necessity for this corrective provision is evident.

Section 12 is a new section.

Section 13 would change the name of the advisory board for the Hygienic Laboratory to that of national advisory health council and would authorize the appointment of five additional members. It would also broaden the functions of that board, authorizing it to

advise the Surgeon General in respect of public-health activities generally, in addition to the strictly laboratory problems to which it is now limited.

It is considered desirable to have the board enlarged so as to include a greater number of specialists. The board has always had among its membership some of the most distinguished men in the profession and it undoubtedly will continue to have the benefit of the advice of men of the same standing. The members receive $10 per day and expenses for attending the meetings of the board. The meetings of the board have not averaged one per year for many years passed.

It is the opinion of the officials of the Public Health Service that the increase in cost that this legislation will entail, if any, will be more than offset by resulting economies and efficiencies. It is difficult to estimate with exactness just what the increase in salaries and allowances under the bill will be. The best estimate of the Treasury Department is that it will not exceed $30,000 the first year and that that amount will be reduced to a little over $20,000 in 1933.

As was said at the beginning of this report, the committee did not consider it necessary to hold hearings on the pending bill because of its similarity to the bill which was reported in the last Congress. It is believed, however, that it is fair to say of this bill, as it was said of the legislation in the last Congress, that the public-health agencies of the country are practically unanimous in their support of the legislation. It is indorsed by the Association of State Health Officers of the United States, the American Medical Association, the American Dental Association, the American Engineering Council, the American Public Health Association, the National Tuberculosis Association, the National Health Council, which includes in its membership all of the national volunteer health agencies, the New York Academy of Medicine, the United States Chamber of Commerce, and the American Federation of Labor.

Health officers, public-health workers, and others, from different sections of the country, appeared before the committee to urge its passage.

A few individuals appeared before the committee in opposition to the legislation. The committee felt, however, that their objections did not go to the real merits of the legislation but rather to certain activities or regulations of the Public Health Service which are not in any way affected by the legislation.

Among others who appeared before the committee in advocacy of the bill were:

Dr. H. N. Bundensen, commissioner of health, Chicago, Ill., vice president American Public Health Association.

Dr. William H. Welch, director emeritus of the School of Hygiene and Public Health of Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md.

Dr. E. H. Lewinski-Corwin, executive secretary public health relations committee, New York Academy of Medicine, New York City. Dr. S. W. Welch, State health officer of Alabama.

Dr. M. J. Rosenau, former director of the hygienic laboratory, now a member of the Harvard Medical School, occupying the chair of preventive medicine and hygiene.

Dr. William C. Woodward, formerly health officer of the District of Columbia and Boston, Mass., now of Chicago, Ill., who represents the American Medical Association.

Dr. F. D. Patterson, of Philadelphia, Pa.

Dr. James A. Tobey, New York City, representing the American Public Health Association.

Mr. Edgar Wallace, Washington, D. C., representing the American Federation of Labor.

Mr. George W. Fuller, New York, a civil engineer, representing the American Society of Civil Engineers and the American Public Health Association.

Dr. Homer C. Brown, New York, chairman legislative committee, American Dental Association.

Dr. Arthur T. McCormack, State health officer of Kentucky. The bill also has the approval of the Treasury Department, as will appear by the letter hereto attached.

Hon. JAMES S. PARKER,

TREASURY DEPARTMENT,

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY,
Washington, January 9, 1930.

Chairman Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce,

House of Representatives, Washington, D. C.

MY DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: I beg leave to acknowledge receipt of your letter of June 26, 1929, transmitting a copy of H. R. 3142, "A bill to provide for the coordination of the public-health activities of the Government, and for other purposes," with a request for a report thereon.

The major purposes of this bill are to provide for the coordination of publichealth activities of the Government by authorizing the assignment of officers of the Public Health Service to other departments upon the request of such departments; to establish a national advisory health council by expanding the functions of the present advisory board of the Hygienic Laboratory; and to provide a unified method of appointment and orderly promotion in the Public Health Service of medical, dental, sanitary engineer, and pharmacist officers.

The extension of the practice now authorized by law for the assignment of Public Health Service officers to other departments which are conducting health activities would effect in a practical way much needed coordination in the Federal health activities. The other provisions of the bill will enable the Public health Service to carry out more efficiently the functions now imposed by law, unifying the methods of appointment of the major groups of its mobile professional service, and providing for the rate and conditions of promotion. several years past I have recommended in my annual reports the enactment of legislation to accomplish these ends.

For

Because of the increasing duties of the Public Health Service, especially the requests from other Government agencies for the assignment of technically trained officers, and the increasing difficulty of obtaining and retaining such personnel under existing law, the enactment of this bill into law is highly desirable and would be in the interest of efficiency in Federal health activities.

In my opinion, however, section 5 should be amended to provide that not more than a total of 55 officers may be commissioned.

I am advised by the Director of the Budget that with the change suggested above, this report is not in conflict with the financial program of the President. Very truly yours,

A. W. MELLON, Secretary of the Treasury.

[H. R. 8807, Seventy-first Congress, second session]

A BILL To provide for the coordination of the public-health activities of the Government, and for other purposes

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That upon the request of the head of an executive department or an independent establishment which is carrying on a publichealth activity the Secretary of the Treasury is authorized to detail officers or