Who Can Tell How Greatly He Has Served?

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 113, 29 May 1937, Page 7

Who Can Tell How Greatly He Has Served?

H. R.

FEENCH.

Sir,— Like otber- friends wbo from time to "time tender advice I would like., to tell Mr. Linyard .1 bave. tried his prescription' of joining ' W.E.A. classes. Whether they are of value depends on the subject and the lecturer. When some lecturers ' make sweeping statements that are misleading and nnjuSt 'it * wants more thanl mere mental dissent, No. further, qomment . in this particular instance should be necessary. When I made reference' to the -vast and practical'wbrk'of the Eockefeller Foundation, and Education Board, I was not aware of the passing of their founder, Mr. Jphn. Davidson Eocke: feller. ; . . For the last fifteen years I have been privileged to f eceive the annual report of the Foundation. Each volume averages about 500 pages, of which a num' ber are required to tell of the grants made,' of- the funds invested and their earnings. Unless.the xeports are read with imagination,. the full significance of what has been accomplished, ^ and what js being . attempted, might ,nbt be realised, Already books have appeared whieh have won instant reeognition beeause of their xevelation of only some aspects of this great world service. Some of tlie most _ fascinating parts of the Life and Letters of Whlt.er Hines Fage", America's ' Ambassadot and Britain's friend, tell how Mr. Eockefeller set up th'e Hookworm Commission, whose work transfbrmed the lives of tens of thousands of folk in the Southern States, and the outcome that led to the establishment of the Foundation in 1915. It was Ambassador Page who invited guests to meet Dr. Eose at a dinner in London in 1913. Dr. Eose told of Mr. Eockefeller 's plans, and made the first offer of co-operation to help to combat tropical diseases within the British Empire. Mr. Harcourt, the then Colonial Secretary, in accepting the offer, said that in future years that meeting would be remembered as inaugurating °a new chapter in British colonial administrtftion. True words. Inspiring and assisting, the Foundation has helped to save the lives of millioAs of British subjeots, and* the pattial conquest of tropical diseases has opened millions of acres to the occupaney of the white Taces. •At the. preseht time, fwo books lead the saies in the non-fiction class in the United -States, and are likely to do so elsewhere when known. Dr. "Vietor Heiser, from its inception the Foundation 's health dirCetor for the eastern hemisphere, in his "An. American Doctor's Odyssey," tells a story wider in scope than the classic story of Sarn Michele by Dr. Alex. Meuthe, and, with the same touch of humour, and desire to aid suffering humanity. Dr. Alex. Garrel is known. throughout the world for his work at the Eockefeller Institute for Medical Eeseareh. He has kept a portion of a chicken's heaTt "alive" for over twenty years, and with.the help of Colonel Lindbergb has produced an artificial heart. His "book, "Man the Unknown," abounds in interest. Others will f ollow. What a story could be written of the Foundation 's work in fighting yellow fever. 1 As usual the annual reports give the major praise to the pioneer fight'ers. The Foundation called on Colonel Gorgat in 1916 to make a snrvey and submit' plans' for a wide and intensive campaign. It began in 1918. In 1920 Gorgat, died, bnt the battle did not " wand. In 1925 instead of the fairly regular hundreds of thousands of cases per year ifi. North and South America there were enly three cases reported! In that year the Foundation sent speeially-trained bacteriologists, a pathologist, and experts in field work, to Lagos, in Nigeria, to start the fight in Africa. Gomplete victory has not yet been attained, for the jnngle has struck baek, and further complexities have to be overcome. The battles against malaria, hookworm, tuberculosis, and typhoid fever are also epic stories. The study of raeial problems brings many difficnlties to light, and should

deliver New Zealanders from a spirit of grousing. How can the medical servine of India be improved when the average family income was £2 a year before the war, and has not radically altered since? How can China be helped when the poverty of millions is extreme? Pethaps in China, the Foundation is -baslng its work to give the widest assistance. It has there a Medical Board aiding medical schoolsand hospitals. It has taken. over the great Peking TJnion Medical College founded by missionary enterprise, added to it. It is the only case in whieh the Foundation .has accepted full responsibility for "the biiilding, staffing and maintenance of an institution. Such control is -a temporary measure, for the declared objective is to train Chinese doctors, and administrators so that the Chinese may have, when equipped, complete control. Education ^n farming, and other branehes of .science, including governmental administration, are receiving the Foundation 's support in China, to help that country to stability and a larger. measure of prosperity. The Founddtion 's aid to New Zealand is perhaps greater indireetly than diTectly, for we aTe so well off in comparison to most af the world. One indirect benefit is thc result of the five years' intensive stndy of the incidence and cost of sickness in the United States, the expense of which was borne in part by the Foundation. The Wilbur Committee, which carried out this work, was eomposed of medina! men, two dentists and a few social workers. The committee fojnd that though more was spent in the United States than elsewhere on medical treatment, yet approximately sixty millions of its people were in need of some fonn of medical or dental treatment, of * whicli number manv -could not obtain relief beeause of its monetary cost. It is beeause of such evidence that each of our political parties gave a pledge to inaugurate sickness insurance in this Dominion, a quarter of a century ai'ter Great Dritain had inauguratcd such a service. This, and the previous Iettor, only touclies the fringe of a most efficient organisation which is strengthening the

weak places in international economy through existing administrative channels. It does its work with the minimum of publicity, and it is difficult to measure the extent of its contribution to international undersanding and cooperation. Its founder is- no more. Sooner or later a judicial examination of the life and work of John Davidson Eockefeller will be made. It may be shown that the bitterness and hatred which he at one time endured was not deserved. I do not know. One judgment has emerged, and that is the growth of the oil industry is nnder a great debt to his powers of organisation. It is not true, as you have written, that his benefactions are the probable outcome of a desire to atone for any cofijeetured wrong. Eockefeller knew the hardships of extreme poverty. In his boyhood days, from the time he first earned a few cents, there was always a percentage put aside for church and f oreign mission work. "When wealth came to him a family eouneil was held to What good cause could be helped— hnd hojv. That realisation of the responsibility of wealth, plus the genius to organise co-operation in service, has produced a marvel in practi-' cal philanthropy, whose extent, I for one, despite partial knowledge, have to confess I do.not know. — Yours. etc..

Hastings, May 28,- 1937.