1942

We are lucky that Sylvia McElin Corrigan has such a good memory, and that she cared enough about what her former husband, Dr. Tom McElin, thought about national health-care plans to send me a copy of his 1979 presidential address to the American Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Otherwise, we might not have heard anything from the "other side" in this debate. Although Tom died in October 1982, the words he wrote IS years ago regarding the role of the federal government in a national program of health care will be seen by many as very relevant. Regardless of your position on this question, I think you'll see why debating coach George Bohman once called Tom McElin "the best debater Dartmouth ever had."

"The advocates of socialized medicine are usually idealists who understand neither the intricacies of medicine nor the economic facts of life. Their words ring compassionate and noble when they expound the virtues of a national health-insurance service that will ensure that everybody, irrespective of means, race, age, sex, or occupation shall have equal opportunities to benefit from the best and most up-to-date medical services available. My heart and yours must leap with enthusiasm at the mention of such a noble and to-be-desired state of affairs. But my eye warns, on the basis of the British medical experience alone, that the medical service that government can deliver, even when government's considerable resources are utilized, is prohibitively costly, frequently dehumanizing, and as discriminatory as private care is alleged to be. Politicians and their appointees become the masters of and interfere with the personalized physician- patient relationship. Thus, 'My eye and heart are at a mortal war,' the opening line of Shakespeare's 46th sonnet."

From sunny Santa Rosa, Calif., a good letter from William J. Mitchel, who shared with Ed Chalfant and me the room in College Hall I wrote about in the November column. Mitch remembers with great clarity the day Ed acquired that home-made super-stereo that sounded so wonderful Ed just had to share it with the whole campus. Returning to our room earlier than I did, he found Ed sporting his "what-me-worry?" grin, and shouting at the top of his voice over the climax of "Fin- landia": "NOT BAD, HUH? THIRTY-FIVE BUCKS!!!" Coincidental!)/, Mitch reports that, with his hearing failing, he has now acquired a second hearing aid and may send the bill to Chalfant. Just kidding, Ed.

Belatedly, a news clipping from a Wilmington, Del., paper of last September features a photo of Irenee du Pont and Wilhelmina Ross driving a Cadillac onto the Tower Hill School's athletic field to kick off the school's 75th anniversary celebration. Ms. Ross, class of 1923 at THS, was present at the school's opening day in 1919, and "Brip" was a THS '38 graduate. The 1918 Cadillac was the one Brip bought in our freshman year for about $40—just a tad more than Chalfant's stereo. Anyone else out there driving a 76- year-old machine?

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