THE war was over! The perplexing problem of whether to conduct a Student Army Training Corps at Loma Linda could be dropped. The students and teachers who had been taken into Army camps could return to school. The premedical students at PUC and WWC who had been anxious and restless could settle down to their studies. The letter sent by President C. W. Irwin to the faculty at Loma Linda [see previous issue] undoubtedly expressed the relief and gratitude felt by all for the way the affairs of CME had been handled.
With renewed energy and determination Drs. Evans and Magan returned to the work of building up the medical school. The harmonious relationship that existed between these two friends was a strong factor in overcoming the handicaps and obstacles of the divided campus. The interests and talents of one complemented those of the other. Dr. Evans, quiet and scholarly, devoted his attention to the academic interests of the school, while Dr. Magan, bold and aggressive, was successful in fund raising, public relations, and student activities.
In spite of the war much had been accomplished in improving the physical plant, and the building program had made rapid strides. Especially was this true of the Los Angeles campus. Whereas in 1915 the entire Clinical Division of the College of Medical Evangelists consisted of an old rented store building on East First Street, at the beginning of 1919 the White Memorial Hospital was comprised of nine buildings!1 * A pleasant view of the development in Los Angeles is given in the words of Dr. Magan in a letter written to Dr. Hershell Butka, who was still away at camp, on January 14, 1919:
Well, Hershell, you would not know this place now. The lawns are pretty and green. Nice flowers are everywhere. The central court is finished with its cement posts and electric lights and looks very swell. We run an average o£ about one hundred each afternoon at the Dispensary and have gone up to almost one hundred forty. We are using the Administration Building, both Surgeries, and we now have the biggest building of all, back of the Administration Building on Bailey Street, known as the Service Building. This contains a dining room, kitchen, receiving office, autopsy room, garage, classrooms, a large library, and a large laboratory. We had a great time in getting the money for this and collected about $60,000 in sixty days.
But there were still many urgent needs: A children's hospital and maternity building for Los Angeles; a new water system for Loma Linda, a new laboratory for Physiologic Therapeutics at Loma Linda, and money to complete the chapel at the White Memorial Hospital. Many of the buildings that were added to the Los Angeles campus at this time were made possible because of large gifts by single donors who were anxious to see the school for medical missionaries prosper. One sister gave $30,000 for the maternity-pediatrics building. At Loma Linda a large Jubilee campaign was conducted to raise $16,500 for the other three projects. The General Conference was also contributing generously, having turned over $76,000 2 for the liquidation of its debt, and was also contributing $99,000 a year for operating expenses.3
The need for a clearly defined organization policy regarding finance was becoming more acute as the affairs of the institution became more complicated. For instance, all matters of bookkeeping, budget, and bills—to the small-est item for food, linen, and kitchen supplies for the Los Angeles division—were taken care of on the Loma Linda campus. This policy, which probably had been necessary in the early beginnings of our work in the city, had now been outgrown and was unsatisfactory and inefficient. This was becoming more and more apparent with each inspection. Whereas the building progress received commendation, and the high standing of the students at State Board was recognized, weaknesses owing to financial policies were noted by the inspection committee and recommendations were made for improvement.
* The buildings: Administration Building; Boyle Avenue Dispensary; Hydrotherapy Building; Men's Surgery; Women's Surgery; Service Building; Montclair Cottage (Nurses' Home); Minden Cottage (Men's Home); White Memorial Chapel.
The Musgrave Report
The members of the board, the leaders in the General Conference, and the administrative officers of CME had great hopes that the rating of the medical school would be raised to A following the inspection on May 15, 1921, of Dr. W. E. Musgrave, Superintendent of Hospitals of the University of California, and his committee—Mr. Heartley F. Peart, General Counsel for the State Medical Society, and Mr. Cel-lestine J. Sullivan, Executive Secretary of the League for the Conservation of Public Health. But the findings of this committee, known as the Musgrave Report,4 were startling and disappointing, and caused a general furor and dismay at Los Angeles, Loma Linda, and Washington.
Dr. Musgrave, while manifesting great interest and sympathy for the objectives of the school and admiration for the dedication and devotion of those operating the medical school, still could not close his eyes to the serious defects and handicaps under which it was laboring. Chief among these were too small a budget, an "impossible system of organization," and the divided campus.
The "impossible system of organization" criticism referred directly to the business manager, who at that time was the chief executive officer of the board, and who possessed "unusual powers" evidently superseding those of the president or the dean. It may be said in justice to him that he was only exercising powers granted him by the board, which was largely composed of nonmedical personnel, many of whom lacked the essential vision or appreciation of the needs of modern medicine.
The handicaps of the divided campus were also pointed out, and Dr. Musgrave stated that "the heart of the machine must always be in Los Angeles. This is where it will eventually go and you cannot stop it, and that will become the chief center of your school."
Viewed from the perspective of time, the six recommendations made by the committee do not seem unreasonable, consisting chiefly in an appointment of an executive committee of five to seven persons from the large and cumbersome board of trustees; an increase in budget and number of instructors; and the dean or the president to be the supreme administrative officer. But the reaction to the report was "like a flame in the heather of Israel," to quote Dr. Magan. Dr. Magan was even charged with having written the report himself. This was ridiculous, of course, for, said he, they "might just as well have accused me of writing President Harding's inaugural address," and the great Dr. Musgrave and the American Medical Association "would pay no more attention to me than an elephant to a baby fly."
It was a year and some hundreds of thousands of words later before any action was taken regarding the Musgrave Report. At first the men from the General Conference were inclined to take the attitude that the American Medical Association was trying to tell them how to run the medical school and they would have none of it. But after much study and discussion they came to realize that the adoption of the recommendations would result in a genuine improvement to the school. When the constituency met in May, 1922, there was agreement "that in all important particulars the requests which you [Dr. Musgrave] made were reasonable and right, and they most cheerfully acceded to everything." 5
A clearly defined organization chart was drawn up, and the Committee on Plans presented twenty recommendations that were adopted by the constituency. This was quickly forwarded to Dr. Musgrave, who passed it on to Dr. Colwell with the recommendation that CME be recognized as a Class A medical school. He suggested that the institution should have a letter from Dr. Colwell direct, "complimenting them on their splendid foresight and genuine interest in scientific medicine displayed by their recent reorganization activities."6
There were two requirements from the Musgrave Report that had not been met: They had not yet arranged to have the dean's office and the president's office both in Los Angeles; and they had not yet arranged that the budgeting and bookkeeping work for the Los Angeles campus would be taken care of in Los Angeles. Commenting on this in his letter to Dr. Colwell, Dr. Musgrave said, ". . . and we do not feel that this is of primary importance as long as Dr. Magan is there . . ." and "I feel that these people have made such splendid advancement in concurring in practically all of our recommendations that we may surely count upon them to complete the remainder of the program."
Dr. Colwell's Inspection
Twelve years had passed since Dr. Colwell sat in Elder Burden's office and questioned the financial backing of the fledgling medical school. His kindly interest and helpful suggestions had been of inestimable value through these years of growth. Most important of all was his sympathy with the objectives for which the college had been established. On one occasion he told Dr. Magan: "Well, Magan, I feel ashamed of myself sitting here rating you people, which is a little bit of a job, while you are doing the really big things of the world. You have done wonders in your school and I am proud of you, and while you have not converted me to the seventh-day Sabbath as yet, you have converted me on practically everything else about your medical work." 7
After receiving Dr. Musgrave's report and recommendation, Dr. Colwell presented it to other members of the Council on Medical Education at the meeting of the American Medical Association in St. Louis, and reported that the majority felt that "another inspection by the Council's regular inspector should be made before deciding definitely in regard to the rating of the College of Medical Evangelists."
And so on November 3, 1922, Dr. Colwell met with Dr. Evans and Dr. Magan in Los Angeles and was given a royal reception and tour of the plant. They drove around the hospital block, visited the nurses' home, the Rukker Court, the dispensary, the autopsy room of the Los Angeles County Hospital, and even the boiler plant, the laundry, et cetera. At noon Dr. Colwell was their honored guest at a luncheon held at the Athletic Club of Los Angeles, to which Drs. Evans and Magan had invited fifteen of the leading physicians of Los Angeles and the Pacific Coast.
A number of speeches were made. Dr. Granville MacGowan, outstanding surgeon and organizer of the Los Angeles Health Department, spoke with "wonderful intensity and feeling," and told how he had thought when the work in Los Angeles first began that it was doomed to defeat, but that now it was highly thought of throughout the length and breadth of the Pacific Coast.
When Dr. MacGowan finished, Dr. Colwell rose to speak. He said, "There is one part of Dr. MacGowan's speech to which I can heartily agree, namely, that part in which he said that xvhen the Seventh-day Adventists first started, a number of us felt they were doomed to defeat. I told them over and over again not to make a start. But today I confess that their faith has triumphed over my unbelief. Some years ago Dr. Magan took me over the place which their hospital plant now covers. It was then a mass of weeds and cockleburs, and there were two or three sorry-looking animals feeding upon it. Dr. Magan remarked to me that someday they would have a great medical institution there. I thought to myself: "You poor soul; you do not know what you are talking about. You will never be able to have a first-class medical school." But today I walked over that same block covered with beautiful buildings and a veritable hive of medical activity. I have not completed my inspection yet, but I am almost certain as to the kind of a report I will make; and I am sure you will be satisfied with it." 8
And they were. On November 16, 1922, Dr. Colwell wrote the historic letter in which he reported the favorable action of the Council on Medical Education granting the A rating to the College of Medical Evangelists.
"I will ever feel that it was God's work and not ourselves," Dr. Magan wrote to Elder Burden when he passed on the good news.
And all those who had worked hard to reach this goal and who shared the satisfaction and happiness in this achievement felt that God would expect a great consecration on their part for all that He had done for them.
1 Three Years of Progress and the Loma Linda Jubilee Campaign. (Printed leaflet.)
2 Ibid.
3 Letter of Percy T. Magan to T. H. Kellogg, April 12, 1920.
4 "The Musgrave Report," Document File 210.1, Historical Records, Vernier Radcliffe Memorial Library.
5 Letter of Percy T. Magan to W. E. Musgrave, April 11, 1922.
6 Letter of W. E. Musgrave to N. P. Colwell, April 20, 1922.
7 Letter of Percy T. Magan to Arthur H. Kretchmar. Nov. 22, 1920.
8 Letter of Percy T. Magan to Mae Covington, Dec. 12, 1922.
