War calls for unselfish effort and sacrifice on the part of every one. This particular war will drain our resources of money, men and material and will tax the skill and brain power of the country immeasurably. American medicine has already contributed a good share in skill and talent to the military efforts and is now cooperating well on the realization of a program of distributing itself equably to care for military, civilian and industrial needs. The military needs naturally are to be satisfied first with those best qualified for such duty. This will throw added burdens and duties on those who are left to care for the civilians. The whole program will result in a readjustment of every one's manner of living or conduct of business, and there will be no easy berth for any one\p=m-\noteven the slacker.The effort has to be extreme, and the only ones immune from the pinching effects of it should be institutionalized psychopathic patients and babes in arms.When called into service, the first lesson for a der¬ matologist to realize is that he is a doctor and will be used as such. He has defined himself as an "internist who knows the skin," and he will be challenged accord¬ ingly. This is not meant to indicate that specialists are not needed and will not be used as such in the armed forces, for every specialist will be of value. However, the plans of organization call for a distribution of med¬ ical officers according to where physicians are needed and what is most expedient. These requisites are to be satisfied first before a physician can be expected to be put into a limited field wherein he does nothing but the work that he did in civil life. This is no time for any of us to indulge in any misgivings, whether we are civilians or in uniform. It takes time to organize men and distribute doctors properly, and we must remember that in days of peace the reserve force was not fully equipped with men ; so that when war started it was necessary to use doctors first as doctors and not as specialists. We have a war to win, and each of us has a part to play. We are expected to have a working knowledge of general medicine and to con¬ tribute this. Our specialty qualifications are a secon¬ dary consideration.Military medicine has three chief purposes : ( 1 ) the selection of the physically fit, (2) prophylaxis and (3) the treatment of the injured and sick. While very important, the last is the easiest and the least important in war. The selection and separation from the service of the physically unfit, the malingerers and the psycho¬ pathic persons is essential in the formation of a strong man power. These persons should be, and many are, eliminated by the local draft boards, and some more are culled at the induction centers. Yet a number of undesirables get into the service. They are encum¬ brances and the military forces have no place for them. The Army and Navy are not rendezvous for criminals and men with dementia precox ; they are not vacation adventures in which to place problem children, and they have more serious duties...
