Upon returning to the office this morning after an absence of two weeks on a Liberty Loan campaign, I learn that Dr. W. S. Rankin, who is at the head of the North Carolina State Department of Health, has volunteered his services in the Medical Reserve Corps.

I desire to enter an emphatic protest against his application being honored. I am satisfied that Dr. Rankin is making this application because he has been so active in getting physicians to enlist in the Medical Reserve Corps that he is afraid that some criticism would be made of him because he failed to enlist himself.

To take Dr. Rankin away from the Health Department of this State would be an irreparable public calamity. I simply could not find in the State a man to do the work which he has so well in hand. I am also of opinion that he can really render the Government better service by keeping on his present job, and giving the Government the benefit of his influence that he could by being detailed for regular army work. My convictions upon this subject are very strong, and I earnestly beg you to write Dr. Rankin a letter advising him that he can be of more service in his present position than he could by entering the army.