Address Delivered at Rochester, Minnesota

I hope that the people of Rochester will not feel limited in their pride of possession when the Nation which I have the honor to represent claims the right to call Dr. Will and Dr. Charles by the good word "neighbor." You are beloved at home and abroad and a world deeply in your debt gives you inadequate return in external honors and distinctions. But your true distinction is in the simple fact that you have put men's sense of brotherhood and interdependence into a new setting and have given it a new meaning.

For fifty years you have given tireless, skillful and unselfish service here in this State and city. These fifty years, the span of your medical practice, have covered probably the most remarkable period in the history of science. You have seen practically all of modern medicine and surgery come into being. The rise of research, dating back to the days when you began your practice, has revolutionized the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of disease. The development of the branches of this science has revolutionized not only the science of medicine, but the entire field of effort that we sometimes call public welfare. You have seen surgical technique become one of the finest of all the arts of man. You have seen the development of the science of public health, which has brought the gospel of health to the school and clinic. You have seen the growth of hospitals, the creation of foundations for medical research, and a revolution in the teaching of medicine. You have seen isolated clinics come to be part of great universities, an association resulting in the enrichment of both.

But despite the progress that you have seen and that you have helped to accomplish, the restless spirit of science prompts you to see new visions of achievement. As you have pointed out so often in your predictions of what humanity may expect from medical science in the future, progress is only at its beginning. In the further development of the curative art, in the discovery of new means for the prevention of disease, in the creation of methods by which all of the people may be made aware of the knowledge of hygiene and public health developed in the laboratory clinic, your vision offers promise of a greater Nation and a happier people.

You have helped to give to the medical profession a unique place in the community and the Nation. By reason of his special opportunities, the physician has the occasion to perform a service in his community far beyond the bounds of his own professional duty. His infinitely complex relationships with the people of the community enable him to lead them in standards of ethical right which may profoundly affect human conduct in general. For this reason, the science of medicine comes to concern itself with many things besides the healing of the sick. It has been broadly interpreted as a major factor in the science of human welfare. The problems of disease and the circumstances related to it are to the science of modern medicine only the sequel of a long train of social cause and effect. Medicine has taught us how important it is to look beyond the result to the cause, not only of human sickness, but of those Social disorders out of which individual difficulties necessarily arise.

Those of us who are concerned with the problems of government and of economics are under special obligation to modern medicine in two very important respects. In the first place, it has taught us that with patience and application and skill and courage it is possible for human beings to control and improve conditions under which they live. It has taught us how science may be made the servant of a richer, more complete common life. And it has taught us more than that, because from it we have learned lessons in the ethics of human relationships—how devotion to the public good, unselfish service, never-ending consideration of human needs are in themselves conquering forces.

Democracy looks to the day when these virtues will be required and expected of those who serve the public officially and unofficially. Modern medicine has set an exalted example. It has shown the way for us all.

You whom we honor today have rendered the highest form of patriotic service during the battles of the World War, but, even more than that, you deserve the Nation's thanks for the national service that you have rendered throughout your lives.