CIVILIAN MEDICAL ADMINISTRATION AND THE NEED OF TRAINED LEADERS

To the Editor:  —The need of a better organization of medical activities is generally conceded. Opinions vary as to the best type of organization. A straightforward system of state medicine seems to many to promise the greatest good. Others, who fear the benumbing effects of a law-bound, bureaucratic state service, suggest as a substitute a state-supervised scheme of sickness insurance, with medical relief for the insured. The strongest of all arguments for compulsory health insurance is, to my mind, that it would open the door to effective medical organization. Compulsory health insurance would not necessarily result in effective medical administration, because trained leadership is lacking. It is my belief that the thorough training of even a small group of virile men in the theory and practice of medical administration would materially enhance medical efficiency in this country, and that the time is ripe for such an undertaking. In this connection,