Evening star. [volume], June 27, 1936, Page B-1, Image 15

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

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i-----1 FEATURES j
News of Churches l m j Books—Art—Music j
' WASHINGTON, J). C„ SATURDAY, JUNE 27, 1936> _PAGE B—1
SCHOOL DENTAL CLINIC A HUGE, MODERN LABORATORY
«
FINER ROAD TESTS
* Federal Bureau to Have Permanent Place
and Improvements at Abingdon
9 Station in Virginia.
. By S. R. Winters.
THE Bureau of Public Roads of
the United States Department
of Agriculture is soon to have
a permanent research station
bn the George Washington Memorial
Highway in Abingdon, Va.
Since 1914 the bureau has dreamed
of occupying permanent research
buildings and having model testing
grounds. This year the dream be
comes a reality, for the Government
plans to start building the Abingdon
Research Station this Summer.
For 26 years the bureau has been
established in Arlington on land desig
nated for the War Department. The
buildings there are temporary, make
shift, frame structures and are in
adequate for efficient experimenta
tion.
The new location for the testing
grounds is very picturesque. The acre
age of the new buildings is part of the
15-mile stretch of land adjacent to
the historic Mount Vernon home
which has been bought by the Gov
ernment. This land was purchased
with intention of preserving the
beauty of the surroundings, and with
the deliberate plan of frustrating any
attempt to obtain the land that might
be made by industrial exploiters fa
voring the location near the national
shrine. In keeping with the sur
roundings, three spacious, dignified.
Colonial buildings, whose design has
been approved by the Fine Arts Com
mission, will form a neat group of
structures on the highwy along the
Potomac shore.
When the testing plant is com
pleted. the United States will boast
the most outstanding highway re
search station in the world. New
eqipment, designed with a view to per
manency. will be added. Each build
ing has been planned to accommodate
the specific type of research that it
will house There will be a special
building for bituminous and subgrade
investigation, another lor concrete,
structural and non-bituminous studies,
and the third building will contain the
machine and carpenter shops, where
apparatus will be made and tested.
The most modem system of air-condi
tioning will be used in those rooms
where temperature is important in the
testing of road materials. There will
be several outdoor testing tracks for
the purpose of studying the behavior of
concrete under a series of varia !e
conditions.
'J'HE outdoor tracks are of special
value in the study of road-bui.i
lng. Modern roads do not wear out
as a result of the grinding action
of autos on high top surfaces. De
terioration of pavement results mainly
from the workings of the forces of
nature. Testing teaches what these
forces are, and what composition of
concrete best checks their action. The
element of time is important in a
•tudy of the effect of natural condi
tions on paved roads. The outdoor
tests will be applied to a study of na
ture's forces for a period of years
The bureau will work with several
different types of surfaces and will
have adequate means of testing each
mu a result of careful, technical study.
The main job of the Bureau of Pub
lic Roads is to see that Pederal funds
appropriated for highways are properly
spent. In order to carry out this ob
jective conscientiously, it is necessary
for the bureau to engage in research.
The United States has the greatest
network of roads in the world High
ways are constantly being ouilt and re
built. Each year brings new improve
ment in road building Methods of
highway construction have been devel
oped largely within the last 25 years.
Each year travel is smoother and safer.
The finer, more durable surfaces have
been achieved through experiments
and laboratory work.
The increase of compressive strength
illustrates the vast improvements in
road making that can be brought about
through laboratory testing. From
1915 to 1920 a compressive strength In
concrete of 2.000 pounds per square
Inch and less was most frequent. En
gineers today require strengths of at
least 3,000 pounds per square Inch, and,
occasionally, they see fit to use
strengths up to 4,000.
Tms great gam in strength, which
means a great financial saving, was
made by no single discovery. Engineers
decided on the final composition of
concrete as a result of technical re
'ports based on thousands of careful
twts R E. Royall, senior highway
engineer of the Bureau of Public Roads,
says: "Mixing concrete is like mixing
A
| cake batter. Change one of the in
i gredients and the cake doesn't tastfc
' the same as the time before. Con
crete is that way. too. When mixing
j concrete, great attention must be paid
' to the mixing of the proper ingre
dients."
FORMERLY materials were mea
sured by volume. Now they are
weighed for increased accuracy. Con
crete is more carefully compacted or
made into a dense mass and is far bet
! ter than earlier concretes. Engineers
I have developed a system for curing
j concrete after it has been properly
‘ placed. Great care is used in mixing
the correct amount of water and in
thoroughly compacting the concrete
after it has been placed on the road.
The knowledge of these Important facts
, led manufacturers to produce road
, machinery equipped with apparatus for
gaining exact control of water. There
are other machines used especially for
! the compacting of concrete.
Scientific analysis has been made not
only o< concrete roads but of bitumin
ous as well. A good bituminous road
must have stability. The two materials
which are used In this type of road are
asphalt and tar. Over at Arlington,
trial mixtures of these materials are
tested in the stability machine. The
machine indicates when rounded, soft
particles, too soft an asphalt, or too
much asphalt, are present. These ma
terials must be eliminated, for. if they
are not. the result will be a road which
loses its shape under traffic.
Of recent years there has been a
great saving in the cost of building
roads. Engineers have discovefed that
roads could be laid with cheap local
materials and finished off with a sur
! face treated with tar or asphalt to
make them waterproof or dustless. Not
many years ago it was considered risky
to treat gravel or soil roads with a
bituminous mixture. On some roads
the surface peeled off and became so
bumpy that a good deal of plowing up
or reshaping had to be done. After
I years of laboratory work and exposure
of samples to the sun, the qualities
that are necessary for a satisfactory,
enduring road were discovered Tests
were then devised to insure the neces
sary characteristics in purchased ma
terials.
I One of the most amazing discoveries
made by the Bureau of Public Roads
engineers has been the development
of an instrument called the "pene
trating eye.” Bridge engineers have
found this mechanism helpful. When
a bridge builder desires to know how
deep he must dig to find solid rock to
use as a foundation for the support
of his bridge, he can secure aid from
the Government testing grounds. One
of the public roads' men will be sent
to the scene equipped with an elec
trical apparatus of a convenient, port
able size, some wire and a few blast
ing caps. TNe first thing that he
does is explode the caps into the
ground. He then measures the time
for impulses coming through the
ground to reach points at different
distances from the explosion It takes
only a few minutes to estimate how
much digging would have to be done
in order to meet rock This task would
ordinarily take several days with the
common drilling method.
_
LOW-COST SERVICE OFFERED TO POOR
.-:
Georgetown University Establishment Has 79 Chairs With Latest and Best Type of
Equipment—Effort Made to Avoid Competition With Dentists in
Private Practice—Specialized Work Undertaken.
- - - . .- - 4
(1) Anatomical artist. Drawings, wax models and
lantern slides are made of anatomical structures for pur
poses of instruction. (2) The library. Fn this room stu
dent and practitioner have access to over 1,200 volumes
of scientific reading. (3) Rev. David V. McCauley, S. J.,
Ph. D., regent. f4) Dr. W. N. Cogan, DD. S., LL. I).,
D. Sc., F. A. C. D., dean. (5) General operating clinic.
In this clinic all single fillings, crowns and bridges, prophy
laxis and general operations are acomplished. (6) Gen
eral exodontia clinic. Here all simple extractions are
accomplished under careful supervision. (7) Group dem
onstration in denture prosthesis. (8) Using large, over
size models of teeth for group demonstration and study.
(9) Sterilization room.
- <
By William Bell.
WASHINGTONS poor now
can receive dental treat- j
ment at one of the finest
dental clinics in the coun
try—that operated by the Georgetown
University School of Dentistry.
That the clinic is among the finest
is not just a boast of its sponsors but
a fact attested to by the compliments
of experts and by the quantity and
quality of clinic equipment.
Newest addition to clinical facilities
is an oral surgery room in the medical
and dental school building at 3900
j Reservoir road. University officials
! believe it has no equal. It is equipped
to accommodate eight patients simul
taneously. Light from numerous win
dows streams on a gleaming array of
metal instruments, white tile and
! porcelain.
This rocm has only been in opera
tion hut a short time and is a far
j cry from the one-chair equipment
! which was all the school clinic had
when it began. As many as 40 patients
can be treated in a morning, it is
estimated.
Sterilization facilities are in charge
of a registered nurse who supervises
two ultra-modern steam sterilizing
i machines and the solutions in which
instruments are kept ready for imme
diate use.
The surgery in this room is chiefly
tooth extraction, although fractu;ed
jaws are set and other serious surgical
operations of the mouth are performed
by senior students of whom there are
75, under the watchful eye "of trained
instructors, themselves experienced
dentists. Some of the instructors are
among the best of Washington's pro
fessional dentists. Three always are
on duty during mornings and one in
afternoons. Two in private practice
come every day to be sure the students
do a professionally competent job.
'y'OOTH trouble unfortunately hag no
economic barriers: the poor have
it as well as the rich. The George
town Dental Clinic does not offer a
free service. And yet it does not wish
to compete with private practice where
the patient is able to pay. It charges
fees small enough to make it possible
for poor folk to obtain quick and safe
relief from pain and complete dental
service.
Without this clinic and one at How
ard University, which cares for col
ored patients, many pel-sons unable to
pay for expert attention would be
forced to place themselves at the
mercy of charlatans. The George
town clinic charges $1 for a simple
extraction and correspondingly small
fees for other services, depending on
their type and extent. If the patient
shows, however, that he is in pain
even though "flat broke" and unable
to pay at any time for the required
dental treatment, the clinic will not
turn him away.
Patients are registered at a hall desk
in the medical school building. Then
they are taken one by one, or two by
two, to an examining room where a
diagnosis is made. There it 's de
termlned what teeth should be re- j
moved or if filling or other dental work
is needed and where.
The students suggest that all pa
tients have X-rays taken. If they
cannot afford this, it is nevertheless
done before any extraction. If the
patient is in pain the X-rays are de
veloped immediately and the opera- I
Won performed. When there is no
pain the patient is told to return the
following day, by which time a diag
nosis, aided by X-rays, has been com
pleted.
The X-ray room is equipped with the
most modern, shock-proof machines.
Operators are protected by a lead
shield and leaded glass "peep holes.'
Automatic timing devices determine
the length of exposures. Patients may
not remove the developed X-ray films,
it being a rule that these are the prop
erty of the clinic. Reason for the
rule: The clinic does not wish to “do"
private practitioners out of X-ray fees.
Some unscrupulous patient who might
be well able to pay a practicing dentist
for his service might have it done at
the clinic if allowed to take away the
films. Likewise, the films are needed
for teaching purposes.
p ■ - • I - .
J7ACH student is assigned a patient
and must follow his case from be
ginning to end. This procedure is de
signed to give students the practical
experience of running an office which
they will need when they "hang out
their shingles.” ^
Most impressive of all the clinic’s
elaborate equipment is the room where
filling and bridge work is done. It
looks a block long, has 79 chairs and
33 window's. With each chair, of course,
is a complete dental unit, electrical
drill, sprays, etc. Then there is the
orthodontia branch of the clinic which
performs the highly specialized service
of straightening teeth, principally
children's teeth. Children with mis
shapen mouths and distorted teeth
which threaten serious effects later in
life can have these maladjustments
treated at small cost.
jVEOPHYTE dental students, before
they are permitted to do clinical
work, practise on over-size teeth mod
els. preparing and filling cavities in
teeth as large as one's finger. When
they have become expert on the
"giant" teeth, they are made to prac
tise on smaller models about the size of
actual teeth. These are mounted in
artificial Jaws, which simulate the
muscular movements of real jaws.
All materials used in the clinic are
twice tested. Only those materials
approved by the Bureau of Standards
are bought from manufacturers. Each
shipment then is subjected to careful
tests in a laboratory of the Georgetown
Dental School. In this way. students
learn to do their own testing, so when
they become professional dentists they
can learn for themselves what ma
terials to acept for use.
ABINGDON RESEARCH STATION
ARLINGTON COUNTY VIRGINIA
, BURE All OF P#!HLIC
IINIIKP STAIRS l*tr \ RT MI NT OS AG RlC OCCURS
CAMPAIGN FASHION
i . . 4
Radio and Plane Represent Climax of Ways
to Sway Public, but Future Sets
No Limit to Ingenuity.
By John L. Coontz.
N JULY 4, at Monticello, Presi
| I dent Roosevelt will inaugu
V J rate the Democratic drive for
the presidency. Oov. Landon,
Republican oponent, has already
plunged into the political stream and
is looking daggers, figuratively speak
ing. at President Roosevelt on the
bank.
So swiftly do time and science move
| in the four-year interims between
presidential elections that we may ex
pect most anything to be employed in
their conduct when they get under
way. For instance, four years ago the
airplane was introduced into the strug
1 gle, the first time in history. This was
when President-elect Roosevelt flew
from New York to Chicago to address
the convention, just before closing.
Will the airplane play a part in this
year's field campaign, now that it has
been introduced into national politics?
Stranger things have happened. The
! country is big. the high spots to be
touched are far apart, and speed in
covering them 1s something to be de
sired. A plane campaign would mean
less wear and tear on a presidential
aspirant s nerves. It would afford him
opportunity for more leisure than he
would get otherwise.
* However, plane or no plane, not so
! with the radio. This year the Nation
! will almost see it worn out by the
presidential candidates. Hook-ups will
be unsurpassed, territory encompassed
virtually infinite, and population served
the maximum.
The> radio saw its introduction into
| presidential politics in 1924. Remem
i ber sitting out there under the shade
of the old village apple tree with the
! only set in town blaring forth between
fits and starts the events as they
transpired in Ngw Yo>k? Remember
Alabama's famous stand?
“Twenty-four votes for Underwood?”
And the storm that came in and
around Lorain. Ohio, breaking up the
| telephonic connection right at the time
| the balloting was the hottest?
'pHIS mouthpiece of presidential
seekers, however, failed to make
the grade in the months following the
nomination of Mr. Coolidge. The rea
son given at the time, as revealed by
the yellowing newspaper files in the
Library of Congress, was lack of
broadcasting facilities. Not enough
stations existed throughout the coun
try for a national hook-up.
Mr. Coolidge, in this campaign, it
w as announced, had planned to use the
"mike" to carry his side of the national
argument for the presidency to the
people. Likewise, Mr. Davis' campaign
managers had expressed a prediliction
for the grilled mouthpiece. But radio
broadcasting on a national scale was
so much in its infancy that the project
for campaigning by this method had to
be giv en up.
But not so in 1928. By 1928 the
radio had got to be a big, strapping
fellow—at least we so thought. In
this campaign Smith and Hoover both
used it freely, reaching millions of
their fellow citizens without moving
out of their platform tracks.
When we go back of the radio for
presidential spellbinding we hit the
“front-porch" method. Presidents
| Harding and Wilson both used this
' method of reaching the public.
Mr. Harding, however, did not "sit
ihe campaign through.” This was be
cause his oponent, Mr. Cox, took the
stump early in the fray, compelling
him, after much persuasion on the
part of his friends, to take to the field
j also. But up until that time, both at
Sea Girt—"the Little White House”—
in New Jersey and at Marion, both
Wilson and Harding entertained "pil
grims” In the "cause.” sending them
away, inspired and flaming, to gather
: in more zealots.
A popular belief is that Mr. Wilson
introduced to American presidential
campaigns the "front-porch” ap
i proach to the White House. This is
1 not the case. howqr er. The father of
| the "front-porch” campaign was Wil
liam McKinley of martyred memory.
Following his nomination at St. Louis
in 1896. there began to come to his
home at Canton, Ohio, a flood of loyal
party visitors and workers. These
brought him messages of his cause
with the people throughout the Na
tion, and the gold question then being
fiercely In the foreground, these mes
sages were fraught with deep and
grave meaning It is doubtful If a
campaign by Mr. MAinley, as prac
ticed by his predecessors, would have
gotten him a single more vote than he
received. The greatest orator of his
day was pitted against him. a man
I who swayed the populace as no other
man in American history, perhaps
I (unless it be Andrew Jackson)—
William Jennings Bryan. Looking
back over that campaign one can but
feel that men’s minds were terribly
wrought up over the burning issue
of the day, and that a "front-porch”
campaign was the best and most
: feasible method of “settling” it. To
Vice President Roosevelt was left the
task of "swinging around the circle."
rpHE person*! political campaign, as
• we know it today, dates from the
first administration of Andrew Jack
son, 108 years ago. Jackson believed
himself to be a victim,of a «*>alition ‘
rvpt u ppn AHome artri Plan
referred to by hi*' partisans as the
"bargain between the Puritan and
Blackleg." The duel between City
and Randolph came out of this charge.
Clay becoming incensed at a state
ment by Randolph on the floor of the
House regarding the professed bar
gain.
When the campaign of 1828 rolled
around, therefore. Jackson, with po
litical blood in his eye. went after
his opponents. A man of vivid, pow
erful and dominating personality, still
the hero of New Orleans and the liv
ing soul of the irrespressible, rising
decccracy of the day, abused and de
feated of his rightful heritage in
1824, Jackson aroused and caught the
imagination of the public tremen
dously.
Jackson opened his campaign in
1828 with a gesture calculated to
astound the public and confound his
opponent, Adams. No one had ever
seen its parallel and the novelty,
newness and basic democracy of it
called forth a corresponding en
thusiasm from the rank and file of
the population. It began on the 8th
of January—the anniversary of the
Battle of New Orleans. The site of
the celebra-lon was the city defended
by him from Packingham's forces,
and the iron warrior attended as the
guest of the State. Delegations from
the rest of the country were invited to
do honor to the glorified idol, and
they came by the thousands.
Jackson made his progress to the
fair metropolis of the South one of a
conquering deliverer in triumphant
array. Dcwn the broad bosom of the
Mississippi his steamer made its
leisurely way, and he w'as met by a
delegation of Louisianians at Nate he*.
A procession, banquet and ball marked
this stop, and then, arm-in-arm. so
to speak, the two steamers proceeded
on down the river to New Orleans.
"Twenty-four flags waved from her
lofty decks.” says a chronicler of the
progress of the Pocahontas, bearing
the general to the scene of his former
conquest. A constant roar of artillery
reverberated from the banks of the
Father of Waters as the favored ves
sels. augmented by a whole fleet at
others now. slipped through the spar
kling waters.
Jackson placed himself on the rear
gallery of the Pocahontas, in plain
view of the multitudes lining the river
banks, in every kind of craft imag
inable, and interspersing the roars at
the fleet artillery and shore batteries
with roan from their own deep lungs.