Medicine: California v. New York

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a cure or a palliative for cancer—they are uncertain of the cure, positive of the palliation—the rewards are stupendous in fame and wealth. For the wealth they care little. Dr. Coffey's professional income is more than $50,000 yearly, from the Southern Pacific, the Dollar Line, and private surgery. Dr. Humber "makes a living." His wife Agnes, a War nurse, is content. Say they: let the Better Health Foundations in New York and California get the royalties for the manufacture of Coffey-Humber extract. (They patented the process of extraction last year, before they knew exactly what they had, primarily to keep the drug away from quacks.) But for fame the two men—Dr. Coffey. 63, and Dr. Humber, 36—are avid. "A Square Deal" When Dr. Swing's turn came last week to say why Drs. Coffey & Humber should be excluded from New York, he was a benign Dutch uncle: "The most important question is whether Drs. Coffey and Humber are getting a square deal from the organized medical profession. I am very much concerned about that. A good many physicians have said that it would be a great pity if the organized medical profession should by virtue of its power prevent competent investigators from carrying out research of great value. "Strong financial, social and political forces have been enlisted in California and elsewhere to support the Coffey-Humber process. It has more backing than any other cancer remedy ever put forward. Therefore, there is no danger of them missing a square deal. "I advise you [Dr. Coffey and Dr. Humber] not to push this undertaking in New York in the face of this organized opposition. Confine your activities to California for the present. Other men have been burnt by cancer remedies. I've been burnt by one or two myself." Last Word. The New York State Department of Social Welfare which conducted hearings last week and in March on the Coffey-Humber fight, issued no immediate decision on the Coffey-Humber permit. It is not stretching a point to say that this decision involves Governor Franklin Delano Roosevelt's candidacy as Democratic Presidential nominee. Ambitious Governor & Mrs. Roosevelt are striving mightily to build up voters' goodwill and sympathy. (So preoccupied is he especially, that Mrs. Roosevelt must make specific appointments for any of their five children and two grandchildren to visit him.) Governor Roosevelt dares not alienate the powerful medical profession and its allied professions, arts and businesses. And he needs, apart from the populace, the goodwill and co-operation of political machines. In California Dr. Coffey, chief surgeon of the Southern Pacific and the Dollar Line, is a powerful political force. If Californian Coffey is not treated well in New York, New Yorker Roosevelt might not be well-treated by Californians at the Democratic nominating convention. Most potent of all is William Randolph Hearst, whose 23 newspapers have been whooping characteristically for Coffey-Humber cancer extract. In his own State, with Tammany Hall in New York City lukewarm to him, Governor Roosevelt has need of solid support from Buffalo. Mrs. Conners' late husband was the Democratic boss of western New York. Although his namesake, her stepson, who has the heritage and power of the Buffalo Courier-Express, keeps his newspaper free from partisanship, the Conners machine still