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Show ' "" r' ' ' ' '""TTilY'fp Washington, D. C. RURAL HOSPITALS TO GET SURPLUS WASHINGTON - Rural hospital, and health centers can look for a major share of the hundreds of mil. lions of dollars of medical equip, ment to be released by the. army and the navy. A policy has finally been worked out at the surplus prop, erty board to assure release of this material for public health use, first in areas that have no existing facilities, facili-ties, second in areas which have Insufficient In-sufficient facilities. So great is the need of rural and small-town hospitals hos-pitals and clinics that there will be little equipment left for replacement. This policy was achieved only after aft-er a long and bitter dispute between the surplus property board and Dr. Morris Fishbein, editor of the Journal Jour-nal of the American Medical Association. Asso-ciation. Fishbein, in whose journal advertise the largest makers of medical med-ical equipment, had urged that this vast volume of surplus material not be released at once. Instead, he wanted it stored and released gradually in small quantities quanti-ties in order not to upset the market for manufacturers of medical goods. In addition, Fishbein insisted that huge quantities of certain supplies, such as bandages, could not be used because they differed somewhat from accepted standard sizes. However, in a lengthy session at the office of U. S. Surgeon General Thomas Parran, Dr. Fishbein finally final-ly was wqn over and even agreed to serve on the overall board which will recommend on the disposal of medical med-ical supplies. Three types of equipment will be distributed public health supplies, surgical and therapeutic instruments, instru-ments, and pharmaceuticals. A board of public officials and physicians physi-cians headed by Dr. Parran will recommend rec-ommend their allocation to Federal Security Chairman Paul McNutt, who will work through the surplus property board. Actual allocation of the supplies within the states will rest with state boards to be composed com-posed of various federal government and state medical officials. Note Federal officials are worried lest the state boards become be-come a weak link in the setup. They fear that, in areas of great- est need, state groups will not be anxious to aid in the equipping equip-ping of Negro clinics and hos-I hos-I pitals. Therefore, an effort will be made to work out rigid requirements re-quirements in Washington. No building program is yet arranged ar-ranged to go along with the disposal dis-posal of medical supplies, though every effort will be made to convert army buildings Into hospitals and clinics. CHURCHILL'S NEEDLING Backstage fact about the Joe Da-vies Da-vies pilgrimage to London is that originally he was picked to go to Moscow for an intimate talk with Stalin, but his doctor forbade lt. Davies was slated for the Moscow trip because he is the only U. S. ambassador since the United States recognized Russia who has been welcome at the Kremlin. This was primarily due to Joe's book, "Mission "Mis-sion to Moscow" and the film by the same name, which gave a sympathetic sym-pathetic portrayal of Soviet progress. prog-ress. Therefore, it was planned to have him impress on Stalin that recent re-cent diplomatic snarls had alienated alienat-ed American public opinion. When Davies was unable to go to Moscow, it was decided that Harry Hopkins should do the job instead; while Davies would go to London and urge Churchill to stop needling Russia. This latter job is considered almost al-most as important as the Hopkins trip to Moscow. For several White House advisers are convinced that Churchill, always critical of the Russians, delights in anything which keeps the United States and the Soviet So-viet in a state of mutual suspicion. The British diplomatic game for a hundred years has been to balance two powers off against each other. Therefore U.S.-U.S.S.R. rivalry is right down Churchill's alley. That is why Joe Davies is empowered empow-ered to pull no punches in telling Churchill that balance-of-power needling is not appreciated in Washington. Wash-ington. CAPITAL CHAFF ft When French statesmen Bonnet and Bidault appeared at the White House, President Truman and staff were so confident the discussion would be friendly that Truman's statement was prepared before the conference. Mimeographed copies, with the ink already dry, were handed out by White House Press Aid Eben Ayres the minute Bonnet and Bidault left. ft When New York Congressman Gus Bennett presented President Truman Tru-man with a special pocket Bible recently, re-cently, Truman pulled a magnifying glass from his pocket and told Bennett Ben-nett "You see, I'm all prepared to read this gift, which I'm very happy to receive." ft Democratic members of congress were amazed to see Senator Pappy O'Daniel of Texas turn up for the recent testimonial dinner to Ed Pauley and Bob Hannegan. The bitterly bit-terly anti-Roosevelt and anti-admin-tstration O'Daniel led the applause during most speec' |
