might continue "to be maintained as the only medical museum of national character as it has been for the past sixty years," with exhibits "for the purpose of educating the lay public in preventive medicine and hygiene" and an "entirely separate collection of a scientific nature" or (2) that the Museum should confine its activities to fields of general and preventive medicine as directly applied to the Army, leaving the broader field of medicine to be dealt with by another institution; or (3) that the Museum should "confine its activities to diseases particularly affecting troops;" or (4) that the Museum, as a temporary policy only, should continue to accept "temporarily the display of hygienic and preventive medicine, awaiting further developments."
In analyzing the various plans, Major Callender put the cost of maintaining and operating the Museum proper, exclusive of rental and repairs to the building, at about $40,000— an expense so small that the institution was being "run below par." Costs under plan 1, he estimated, would be about $100,000 more than the prevailing level of costs, in addition to the requirements of larger space. Plans 2 and 3 would have little effect upon costs, while plan 4 would mean that additional help from some source would be required, if exhibitions of preventive medicine and hygiene were to be done by the Museum.
"The Army has had the only national museum worthy of the name in the United States * * *" Major Callender wrote, which "is one of our most valuable contacts with the civilian profession." Under Army control the facilities of the Museum had been offered "to other government services which might and should be interested in studying, particularly human pathology." Specifically, the U.S. Public Health Service and the Veterans' Bureau had been "apprised of our willingness to take care of their material for them."
"In a similar way," he continued, "we are now cooperating with all societies who desire special representation in a museum of national character with the idea that one medical museum is sufficient for all." Because Army medical personnel are so mobile and are therefore subject to infection with diseases to which they are not accustomed, he added, "medical museums are absolutely necessary" for the education of medical officers in dealing with unfamiliar diseases. The same thing was "becoming important to the civilian profession because of the ease of travel throughout the world today" — truly a prophetic note to strike in 1922, when transatlantic flight had been achieved by only two stripped-down military planes, and the age of the jet airliner was not yet even on the most advanced drawing boards.
Major Callender also pointed out that the Medical Department of the Army was in far better position to conduct a medical museum than was any other government service or an independent organization. "This is true," he said,
