survey and planning funds under this program. Seven States had completed revision of the statewide plans required under the law. Construction project applications, which can be made only after surveys have been completed, had been received from two States.1

In August 1954, President Eisenhower approved a bill authorizing transfer of Indian health activities from the Department of the Interior to the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, effective July 1, 1955. During the fiscal year, the Public Health Service worked closely with the Bureau of Indian Affairs in anticipation of the transfer of this program, which involved some 3,400 employees and real property valued at $40 million. A new Division of Indian Health was established in the Public Health Service to administer this program. The development by Dr. Jonas Salk of a vaccine effective against paralytic poliomyelitis was among the most dramatic accomplishments of American science during the year. This remarkable achievement on behalf of the children of the Nation was signalized by the Congress by a substantial monetary award to Dr. Salk and authorization of a medal to memorialize his discovery. In April 1955, Dr. Salk and Mr. Basil O'Connor, president of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, which had supported the work of Dr. Salk and his associates, were awarded special citations by the President.

Licenses for the manufacture of the new vaccine were granted six pharmaceutical concerns on April 12, 1955. It was apparent, however, that the vaccine would remain in short supply throughout the poliomyelitis season. Acting on the direction of the President, the Secretary began to develop plans for assuring an equitable distribution of the vaccine that was available. The plans were developed in consultation with representatives of the governors of the States, the medical and health professions, the pharmaceutical and drug industry, public interest groups, and others concerned with the problem. The Secretary recommended a system of voluntary allocation and distribution of the vaccine while it remained in short supply. This recommendation was based on the conviction that a voluntary plan was the best way to assure an orderly and equitable sharing in the benefits of this medical discovery for the entire Nation. The Secretary also recommended the creation of a national advisory committee to advise on matters associated with the distribution of the vaccine, including the establishment of priority groups. These recommendations were accepted by the President. A National Advisory Committee on Poliomyelitis Vaccine was appointed by the Secretary, under the chairmanship of Dr. Chester Scott Keefer, Special Assistant to the Secretary for Health and Medical Affairs. Shortly after the close

1 On July 8, 1955, the first project was approved under the new program-a nursing home for Pinal County, Florence, Arizona.

of the fiscal year, at the request of the President, the Congress authorized the expenditure of $30 million for grants to the States for purchase of the vaccine.

Additional details on the distribution program, as well as the activities of the Public Health Service with regard to safety and effectiveness of the vaccine, are contained in the report of the Public Health Service.

The Food and Drug Administration, whose duties are fundamentally concerned with health, was subject to thorough study during the latter part of the fiscal year by 14 distinguished members of a Citizens Advisory Committee authorized by the 83d Congress. The two main conclusions and recommendations of the Citizens Advisory Committee, delivered to the Secretary on July 7, 1955, were that:

1. The Food and Drug Administration had insufficient funds, staff, and facilities to carry out its statutory responsibilities to protect the public health. A three to fourfold increase in personnel and facilities should be achieved within 5 to 10 years.

2. A more effective job of law enforcement could-and should-be accomplished. An expanded and improved informational and educational program was urged.

Midway in the fiscal year, the Food and Drug Administration began expanded research and educational efforts to improve the sanitary handling of grain. The regulatory program with respect to rodentcontaminated and insect-infested grain was resumed, with 12 carloads totaling more than a million pounds being seized during the year. Many times this amount was voluntarily diverted from human consumption.

The intensified grain sanitation program was recommended by a 17-member technical committee appointed jointly by the Secretaries of Agriculture and Health, Education, and Welfare. Both Departments, as well as the Fish and Wildlife Service of the Department of the Interior, are cooperating in this effort. Levels of contamination on which seizure decisions are based will be changed progressively as growers, shippers, and grain-elevator operators further improve their handling of this vital raw food.

Two amendments to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act were put into effect by the Food and Drug Administration during the year.

One amendment facilitates the establishment and amendment of food standards by simplifying ponderous and time-consuming procedures.

A second amendment enacted during the year provides a simplified procedure for establishing safe tolerances for pesticide chemicals which are necessary and useful in agriculture. Under the new pro

cedure, 23 petitions for tolerances or exemptions therefrom were submitted during the year. Final action was taken on 4.

Amended definitions and standards of identity were promulgated for several cheeses, cheese foods, cheese spreads, enriched farina, catsup, and certain canned vegetables.

The Office of Vocational Rehabilitation, a third unit of the Department concerned with health, was engaged chiefly this year in expanding its program under the Vocational Rehabilitation Amendments recommended by the President and unanimously enacted by Congress in 1954.

"This law is especially noteworthy in two respects," President Eisenhower said at the signing ceremony. "In the first place, it reemphasizes to all the world the great value which we in America place upon the dignity and worth of each individual human being. Second, it is a humanitarian investment of great importance, yet it saves substantial sums of money for both Federal and State Governments."

Already, this legislative landmark is bringing to a greater number of handicapped men and women the increased self-respect that comes from earning a living instead of depending upon others. A downward trend in the number of disabled workers restored to useful employment was halted and turned upward by the close of the fiscal year. To achieve a substantial expansion of the State-Federal vocational rehabilitation system, Congress appropriated $4 million more for this fiscal year than for the preceding year. Although State fiscal commitments were determined prior to enactment of the new law, a number of States moved to match the increased Federal funds with larger State appropriations.

Money alone, however, will not rehabilitate handicapped workers. More rehabilitation workers must be trained, more public and private agencies must lend a hand, and rehabilitation techniques must be refined and improved. All these are essential if vocational rehabilitation is to achieve its goal-prompt and effective help to every disabled person who needs it.

To increase the supply of trained rehabilitation workers, 80 teaching grants were made by the Department's Office of Vocational Rehabilitation, 37 short-term workshops or institutes were sponsored, and more than a thousand traineeships were awarded. Physicians, nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapists, psychologists, social workers, rehabilitation counselors, and speech therapists are among those being prepared for the expanded rehabilitation program.

To expand further the Nation's capacity to help disabled workers return to useful work, as well as to improve existing rehabilitation facilities, Federal grants were made to 130 public and private nonprofit organizations. Many sheltered workshops or specialized re

habilitation centers were thus enabled to provide services to more handicapped people. To help improve rehabilitation methods, a National Advisory Council on Vocational Rehabilitation, appointed this year, approved 22 applications for support of promising research and demonstration projects.

Taken together, these measures will make it possible to rehabilitate more disabled workers. It is important also that each disabled person begin his journey to personal and economic independence promptlyas soon as possible after suffering his disabling illness or accident. In this way, his skills do not lapse from disuse and his savings are not swept away by lengthy unemployment.

The 1954 "disability freeze" amendment to the Social Security Act protected the benefit rights of workers insured under old-age and survivors insurance who become permanently and totally disabled. During fiscal 1955, 46 States and Territories had designated their vocational rehabilitation agencies to determine or share in the determination of whether or not an applicant for "disability freeze" protection qualified for such protection.

During fiscal year 1955, the first in which the "disability freeze" was in effect, State vocational rehabilitation agencies were notified of 62,800 disabled men and women interested in securing rehabilitation.

Saint Elizabeths Hospital, the public mental hospital in the District of Columbia, observed its centennial during 1955—marking a century of progress in psychiatry and treatment of the mentally ill.

Major events included a conference of national and international leaders in psychiatry; the completion of a new Intensive Treatment Building at the hospital; and the production of a pageant, staged and acted by patients, depicting the life of the hospital's founder, Dorothea Lynde Dix, and subsequent progress in the treatment of the mentally ill. Scenes from the pageant were shown on a nationwide television network as part of the Department's continuing effort to bring about a a better public understanding of mental illness and psychiatric treatment.

Freedmen's Hospital was also the subject of intensive study during the year, in a long-delayed effort to chart a future course of services to the District of Columbia area and the Nation.

Distinguished business and civic leaders and members of the medical and nursing professions composed the Freedmen's Hospital Study Commission. For the consideration of the Secretary, the Study Commission recommended that a new teaching hospital structure be built and that Freedmen's be affiliated with the Medical School of Howard University.

On January 31, 1955, President Eisenhower, in a special message to Congress, had outlined a number of measures for the general im

provement of the health of the Nation. As has been indicated, a number of these measures were, in one form or another, adopted by Congress. Among the measures recommended in the health message was a proposal for helping Americans meet the rising costs of medical care through establishment of a Federal health reinsurance service to encourage private health insurance organizations to offer broader benefits to insured individuals and to extend coverage to more people. Another proposal was that action be taken to authorize matching grants to the States to help finance the costs of medical care for public assistance recipients—the aged, the permanently and totally disabled, the blind, and children deprived of parental care. No action was taken by Congress on these proposals during the period covered by the report.

Progress in Education

The serious problems confronting the Nation's schools and colleges in terms of shortages in teachers and buildings were of great concern to the Department during the year. This concern was expressed in legislation developed by the Department and submitted by President Eisenhower to Congress to mount an attack on the grave classroom shortage in the Nation's public schools.

School enrollment, which has continued to increase, reached a total of more than 38 million during the year. It is expected to climb to more than 46 million by 1960. Factors contributing to the unprecedented upsurge in school enrollment are an increased birthrate, an increase in the proportion of school-age children attending school, and an increase in the proportion of students finishing high school.

Although construction of schools reached a new high with the building of 60,000 classrooms during the year, proper school housing for the new students and to replace obsolescent buildings is not being built fast enough. President Eisenhower's special message to Congress in January 1954 proposed local, State, and Federal action to alleviate this grave and growing-shortage of classrooms. The President's proposal was for a 3-year program of a fourfold nature:

1. That the Federal Government buy the bonds of school districts which cannot market their bonds at reasonable rates of interest. The President asked for an appropriation of $750 million for this program, which had the advantage of being able to permit school districts to move quickly in offering bonds for sale to the public.

2. That the States and the Federal Government, acting together, encourage more general use of a plan already tested in some States. In these States, school districts which are unable to finance new buildings rent them from State agencies created to build schools. Under the President's plan, the Federal Government would have helped