Co-operating Agencies.— Other auxiliary and co-operative aids of the Medical Depart ment, with which the office of the surgeon general is in communication but does not con trol, include the War Department and Navy Department Commissions on Training Camp Activities (having supervision of regulations dealing with the suppression of the sale of alcoholic liquors within the five-mile zones around camps and cantonments and of prosti tution within 10 miles), United States Public Health Service of the Treasury Department (which has recently taken over the work for civilian co-operation in combating venereal dis eases), the Chemical Warfare Service of the War Department (which now has charge of gas defense activities), and the General Medici Board of the Council of National Defense.
General Medical The body worked in close co-operation, and aided it the expansion of the nation's medical program during the war through co-ordinating the civil ian resources with those of the government It stimulated enrollment of physicians in the Medical Reserve Corps, and organized the Vol unteer Medical Service Corps, aimed to enlist the services of all physicians, both men and women, during the emergency, who were not already in the government service. In NOV(111 her 1917 the provost marshal-general requested the Council of National Defense to nominate a man in each State as medical aide to advise the governor as to medical questions which would arise in connection with the operation of the Selective Service Law. The chairman of the General Medical Board appointed a committee on medical advisory boards, which met and selected a representative from each These were called to Washington and received their instructions. The committee on medical advisory boards formulated a plan, outlining the duties of these aides, in the selection of the personnel of medical advisory and local hoards and organization of medical activities under the Selective Service Act. Rules of procedure were prepared and approved by the provost marshal-general. It was announced, 28 Sept. 1918, that medical aides in States having a population of more than 500,000 had been com missioned in the army with the rank of major, and in other States with the grade of captain.
The General Medical Board has committees on child welfare, civilian co-operation for com bating venereal diseases, dentistry, editorial, hospitals, hygiene and sanitation, industrial medicine and surgery, legislation, medical ad visory boards, medical schools, nursing, pub licity, research, States' activities, surgery, volun teer medical service corps and women physi cians.
The office of surgeon-general, as the heart of the Medical Department of the army, during the war had a great administrative group, with the immediate office management in charge of chief clerk and civilian employees, the several divisions being in charge of army officers of special experience and qualifications.
The enormous expansion in the work of the surgeon-general's office is indicated by a few comparisons. Just prior to the declaration by the United States (6 April 1917) that a state of war existed between the United States and Germany, the surgeon-general's office staff comprised six officers, including Surgeon-Gen eral Gorgas, and 20 clerks, and occupied three rooms in the State, War and Navy Building. By 1 Dec. 1917, 165 officers were detailed here, there were 535 clerks, 300 office rooms were required, five whole buildings and parts of 20 others were being occupied, and more space was needed. There were 14 divisions and 13 special sections comprising 27 units of activity. Within a year after the war began the whole administrative force comprised 359 officers and 1,008 clerical employees, including enlisted men, and 150,000 mail items and 9,500 telegrams were being handled monthly. These figures do not include the gas defense service, which later be came the Chemical Warfare Service of the War Department, and attached to which there were 2,364 commissioned officers and 20,344 enlisted men. In the year ended 31 March 1918, the department personnel increased from 8,000 to 106,000; 900 officers to 18,000; 375 nurses to 7,000, and an ambulance service of 6,000 men was entirely created. The seven hospitals in the United States were increased to 63, with more to come; their bed capacity of 5,000 was increased to 58,400, and provision of bed ca pacity in France was made for 20 to 25 per cent of the strength of the American Expedi tionary Forces. Whereas the appropriation for the Medical Department in peace times was about $1,000,000 a year, appropriations for the fiscal year. ended 30 June 1918, totaled $130, 000,000, of which there had been expended up to 1 April 1918, $95,000,000, and the current annual outlay was at the rate of $160,000,000.