from the individual institutions. It included the number of beds, the average clinical load, the extent of pathological material, the opportunity for autopsy work, the opportunity for ward instruction, operative reports on such surgeries as eye operations, appendectomies, decompression of the skull, stomach operations, mastoid operations, and other major operations performed in the teaching hospitals, and a description of equipment and facilities for teaching in the following laboratories, namely, anatomy, bacteriology, histology, physiology, and pathology, and information and description regarding the courses in immunology, tropical diseases, and public health.

That information was compiled and furnished to the Surgeon General on July 23, 1940.

Some 8 months afterward the Surgeon General informed us he felt. the information should be supplemented by a visit to our colleges and teaching hospitals by Navy Medical Corps personnel. Each of the six colleges recognized by the American Osteopathic Association immediately invited the visitation, but the Surgeon General was unable to spare the personnel to make visits to other than the coast colleges, namely, the Philadelphia College of Osteopathy and the College of Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons at Los Angeles, which are fairly representative of the remaining four colleges. The inspectors in both instances appeared to be favorably impressed, but still no opportunities were given to osteopathic graduates to qualify for Medical Corps commission.

As a result, in October 1942 the Navy Department not having availed itself of osteopathic services, the Congress took special notice of the availability and desirability of utilizing osteopathic physicians in their professional capacity by including in the Second Supplemental Appropriation Act of 1943 a provision for their use as commissioned medical officers. The law read:

pay of commissioned medical officers who are graduates of reputable schools of osteopathy.

Representatives of the American Osteopathic Association appeared before the Subcommittee on Navy Department of the House Committee on Appropriations the following spring, April 1943, in regard to the provision, and it has been included in every annual naval appropriation act since that time.

Now, manifestly, the Congress would not have appropriated money for the pay of persons ineligible for service. Yet, the Navy contends that is what happened. Navy regulations under which osteopathic graduates had been ineligible were continued, and still continue in effect, not withstanding the provisions of the naval appropriation laws indicating and providing compensation for their use.

The hearings before the House Appropriations Committee during the last several years show that when the Surgeon General has been challenged by committee members as to why osteopathic appointments have not been made, he has stated that osteopathic training appears to be weak in preventive medicine, and he has made suggestions to the colleges visited that they make certain improvements. I venture to suggest that were the Navy to visit the so-called class A medical colleges, it would likewise find occasion to offer suggestions for improvement. As a matter of fact, the preventive medicine departments in most medical schools were weak in the same department. The pre

liminary report of the committee on the teaching of public health and preventive medicine of the Association of American Medical Colleges, which appears in the March 1942 Journal of the American Medical Association, contains the following findings and conclusions as to the status of teaching preventive medicine and public health to medical students in approved medical colleges:

Compared to other subjects taught in a medical college, the attempt to provide a course in preventive medicine and public health is a new undertaking * *.

*

From a study of time of day and the time of week assigned for the teaching of preventive medicine and public health in the various medical schedules, it would seem justified to believe that in many instances the hours provided are those which no one else particularly wants

* *

I wish to state at this time, however, that the suggestions for improvements which the Surgeon General made to the osteopathic colleges have been carried out. Still no appointments of osteopathic graduates have been made in the Medical Corps, although many applications by qualified candidates have been filed with him.

During the course of the hearings on the 1945 naval appropriation bill, the Surgeon General expressed his willingness to make intern appointments, but he has failed to appoint a single osteopathic graduate as a medical intern.

It is my understanding that Navy regulations require that applicants for medical appointments must be graduates of schools approved by the American Medical Association, and must be members of medical societies affiliated with the American Medical Association. On November 12, 1942, a director of Naval Officer Procurement wrote:

An applicant for commission in the Medical Corps of the Naval Reserve must be a graduate of a class A medical school and a member in good standing of the American Medical Association.

Being denied the privilege of serving in their professional capacity, many osteopathic physicians served as pharmacist mates, second class. On November 20, 1942, Admiral McIntire wrote an osteopathic applicant as follows:

Since there is no provision in existing United States Navy Regulations whereby a graduate doctor of osteopathy can obtain an appointment in the Medical Corps of the United States Navy, a large number of osteopathic physicians are applying for and enlisting in pharmacist's mates' ratings in class V-6 of the United States Naval Reserve as outlined on page 27 of the Naval Reserve Circular.

According to letters received from them, much of their time is spent in the performance of menial chores, but their superior officers did, and do on many occasions, make use of their professional services, but that is against regulations, as only medical officers, I believe, are permitted to occupy the role of physician in the Navy. In other words, as noncommissioned officers their professional services were utilized on the quiet whereas their medical brethren served as commissioned officers.

The physical training department of the Navy recommended and asked for the assignment of physicians who were osteopathic physiians, to their department, but without avail.

It is our sincere belief that osteopathic physicians and surgeons can make a necessary contribution to the health of naval personnel, and we are willing and anxious to meet equivalent educational and training qualifications along with graduates presenting the degree of

doctor of medicine. As stated in my letter to you, Senator Walsh, osteopathic graduates take the same examination before the same medical boards and receive the same or equivalent licenses to practice as do medical candidates in a number of States. The osteopathic colleges are geared to meet the demands of such boards, and the fact that their graduates successfully meet the requirements along with graduates of class A medical colleges evidences the comparable quality of their training. Their objective is the training of physicians and surgeons of the osteopathic school of medicine in the healing art in all its branches.

The appointment of osteopathic graduates as commissioned medical officers will not only be in consonance with the high standards of naval medical service, but will serve to make available to naval personnel the needed benefits of a school of medicine that is legally licensed and practiced in all the States.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

The CHAIRMAN. Let me see if I understood you correctly. I understood you to say that some osteopaths are graduates of regular medical colleges.

Dr. SwOPE. Well, that might be true, but that is not necessary.

The CHAIRMAN. I understand. If there was an osteopath who was a graduate of a medical college, what objection would there be to taking him into the Medical Corps of the Navy?

Dr. SwOPE. On the part of the Navy?

The CHAIRMAN. Yes.

Dr. SwOPE. Well, I presume that there would be no objection on the part of the Navy whatever, because they would qualify him on his "M. D." and not on his osteopathic qualifications.

The CHAIRMAN. That is right; they would qualify him as an M. D. Dr. SwOPE. That is right; and he would still have to be a member of the American Medical Association, you see.

The CHAIRMAN. And they would put him in charge of general medicine, rather than osteopathic work?

Dr. SWOPE. Probably so.

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, sir.

Any other witnesses that desire to be heard?

(No response.)

The CHAIRMAN. Very well. The committee will have all this record printed on S. 1917.

The committee is adjourned.

(Whereupon, at 12:30, the committee adjourned, subject to the call of the Chair.)