I believe the Commanding Officer can be rated a skilled social service worker more competent to deal with the problems of his patient than any other individual, if he is a keen observer of human nature, if he has the interest of the patient at heart, if he searches for, what we call, the soul of the man and not merely observe his flesh and blood, if he is determined to correct the mental restlessness as well as the physical agony, if he considers his patient individually and not as a case, and if he impresses on his patient that no one is as much interested in him as his Commanding Officer. No one in an institution should be able to take the Commanding Officer’s place in the sympathetic understanding of the patient. Of those in the military and naval service it has been said, that the uniform stands like a closed door between officer and patient. There should be no reason for this. If it exists, the officer is responsible. You will appreciate why I make the foregoing remarks. The Commanding Officer cannot perform all the duties incident to the operation of a hospital and the care and treatment of a large number of patients, but, while he must have various types of personnel to care for the patient, he cannot delegate his responsibility for the patient’s welfare. In the organization of our hospitals there is a proper place for social service the detail operation of which must be left to personnel which devotes its entire time to matters of a social nature, and to matters touching the personal, family and community problems of the patient. Obviously it would be most desirable to have all classes of personnel working in our governmental hospitals to be paid governmental employees. We are working toward the millennium but we are far distant from it, hence, we must avail ourselves of what we find at hand. The United States is populated with a kindly, sympathetic and generous people, which fact makes it possible for the unfortunate hospitalized to enjoy the generosity of our citizenry, much of our social programs in hospitals is made possible by the great membership and charitable organizations of our country. Through these organizations the American people can and do desire to assist constituted governmental authorities to provide for the welfare of the war disabled as well as the regular service man. As I have stated in the first part of my remarks, the Congress has legalized the assistance the American Red Cross can render the Army and Navy. When the veteran is hospitalized in Naval institutions he is given every consideration and treated as a naval patient. We cannot and have no desire to make any distinction between him who is serving his country today, and him who went to its defense yesterday. The truly patriotic would not have it otherwise. The service man of today has been actuated by just as high patriotic motives to serve his flag as the man who stood willing to sacrifice his all in the