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140 HISTORY OF DENTAL SUEGERY

incident for officers stationed upon the frontier to be obliged to travel hun-
dreds of miles by ambulance, across the unsettled country infested with hos-
tile Indians, in order to reach a dental surgeon and obtain the necessary
treatment. The expense in time and money of such a trip was often very
considerable.
Admiral Porter, in his characteristic manner wrote:
"Dental surgeons would be of the greatest benefit to the navy, especially
when on long cruises. Had the navy been provided with dentists when I was
a youngster I sliould not now be gumming it."
In an interview with General John M. Schofield, in 1883. he informed
the writer that while lie was in command at West Point Military Academy he
was impressed witli the great need of dental services for the cadets, but as no
provision was made by congress for such service, he detailed a hospital stew-
ard, who had some knowledge of dentistry, to perform such service as he was
qualified to render, allowing him to charge a small fee for such service.
The Annapolis Naval Academy fared better than the West Point Military
Academy in this respect, as a regularly qualified dental surgeon was appointed
by the naval authorities to care for the teeth of the cadets. Tliis service began
in 1852 and lias continued witliout interruption up to the present time.
During the Spanish-American war tlie question of furnishing adequate
dental treatment for the army was brought prominently before the war de-
partment through official reports of the suffering endured by the men on duty
in Cuba and the Philippine Islands, from the fact that there were no qualified
ilental surgeons furnished to the army. Another and more determined effort
was, therefore, made to induce congress to pass a bill authorizing the estab-
lishment of a commissioned corps of dental surgeons. Such a bill was pre-
pared by Dr. Robert W. Morgan of Lynchburg, Va., and presented to congress
by the Honorable P. J. Otey of Virginia, in May, 1898. Its provisions did
not, however, meet with the approval of the surgeon-general, nor of the war
department, consequently the measure advanced no further on its way toward
enactment than the committees on military affairs of the senate and the house
of representatives.
Later, through the efforts of the National Dental Association and its com-
mittee on army and navy dental legislation. Surgeon-General George M.
Sternberg, United States army, was induced to approve a bill creating a corps
of dental surgeons. This bill provided for the organization of a corps upon
the contract basis, as it was thought to be something of an experiment and
should be tried out before making it a permanent commissioned organization.