By U.S. Senator Charles W. Tobey
Summary: This excerpt from the 1952 Congressional Record shows just how far back alternative approaches to cancer have met opposition from the medical establishment, even when the evidence for the effectiveness of such approaches came from medical doctors themselves and was brought to public light by a U.S. senator. Senator Tobey’s remarks are a scathing indictment of the monopolistic, profit-driven motive of organized medicine. From the Congressional Record of the 82nd U.S. Congress, 1952. Lee Foundation for Nutritional Research reprint 18A.
Hope in Cancer Research
[spacer height=”20px”]Remarks of Honorable Charles W. Tobey of New Hampshire:[spacer height=”20px”]
Mr. Tobey: Mr. President, I say amen to everything that has been uttered here this morning about Ken Wherry. When the hearts of men are burdened with grief, they look to the Bible, the sacred Scriptures, for strength, and I have found in my own bereavement that it is well to look there for consolation. I quote at this point from the Beatitudes: “Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.” I have proven that is truth.
Ken Wherry was a real man. He believed in God and in his divine power. I now wish to quote from St. Paul something that Ken Wherry loved and treasured in his heart, and I pass it on to my colleagues. Paul said: “For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord.”
There is the note of triumph that we who are in sorrow today sound forth and believe. Therefore, let us comfort one another with these words. Now, Mr. President, if I may, as an interlude, I shall speak a word about the menace of cancer. Ken Wherry was a victim of cancer. Our dear friend the late Senator Vandenberg was also a victim of cancer. So we should be on the alert as we go along.
On June 13, 1951, I spoke on this floor and read a letter that I had received from my son and namesake, who had been stricken with the second most virulent form of cancer known to man. This letter set forth certain facts concerning the antibiotic treatment for cancer of Dr. Robert E. Lincoln, of Medford, Massachusetts, of whom my son was the first cancer patient, three-and-a-half years ago.
Since then, I have received many hundreds of letters from all sections of the country. As time went on, and cancer patients and their families wrote me concerning the encouraging results that they were receiving under the Lincoln treatment, I began to more fully realize the importance to the nation of this work.
In the past two years, as a member of the Kefauver Committee, I have participated in the relentless attack on the criminal elements in this country. I am now prepared to devote every energy that is in me in all-out warfare against the scourge of cancer, which invades the homes of American people in all walks of life and brings sadness, grief, and suffering to the victims and their families. I am advised that more than one out of every three war veterans who enter our veterans’ hospitals with cancer die. I now ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Appendix of the Record the following documents, which should be of interest to every citizen of our country and of equal interest to every member of this body:
- A letter from Mr. John W. Bartnik to me, dated November 9, 1951
- Resolution passed by the national executive committee of the AMVETS [American Veterans organization]
- A medical paper prepared by Dr. Lincoln and read to the Massachusetts Medical Society by A. Ernest Mills, MD, of Medford, on December 12, 1951
- A letter from Andrew J. Cherry, of Chicago, Illinois, to Dr. Richard Ohler, President of the Massachusetts Medical Society
- A press statement made by me on December 1, 1951
Mr. President, I should like to have unanimous consent to have these documents printed in the Record.
The Vice President: Is there objection? The Chair hears none, and it is so ordered.[spacer height=”20px”]
Extension of Remarks of Honorable Charles W. Tobey of New Hampshire in the Senate of the United States, Tuesday, January 8, 1952:[spacer height=”20px”]
Mr. President, pursuant to the permission granted me during the course of the Senate proceedings today, I submit for printing in the Appendix the several documents mentioned in my remarks. The several documents are as follows:
1. “Hope in Cancer Research” [Letter from John Bartnik to Senator Tobey.] Medford, Massachusetts, November 9, 1951
Hon. Charles W. Tobey
Senate Office Building
Washington, DC
Dear Senator Tobey:
Although I have never had the privilege of making your acquaintance, I wish to forward my sincerest gratitude to you for making known on the Senate floor the antibiotic treatments of Dr. Robert E. Lincoln, of West Medford, Massachusetts. Through the efforts of you and your son, Charles, I am one of many who can face life with an entirely new perspective.
Before proceeding, however, I would like to introduce myself as John W. Bartnik, born and brought up in Pompton Lakes, New Jersey, and residing for the past two years at 329 East Price Street, Linden, New Jersey. I am twenty-five years old, a disabled Navy veteran of World War II, and currently fighting a diagnosis of Hodgkin’s disease (granuloma) with Dr. Lincoln’s antibiotics. Verification of this diagnosis can be made with the Veterans Administration hospital, Bronx, New York, where a biopsy was performed in August 1951.
After experiencing a considerable number of half-truths from the Bronx Veterans Administration hospital doctors, I elected not to submit to a course of X-ray therapy or nitrogen mustard but instead investigated Dr. Lincoln’s treatment and chose to come to West Medford. At this clinic I have seen and experienced scientific marvels, both with my own progress and that of others.
In my personal case, visible, enlarged lymphatic nodes have been reduced approximately seventy percent. The yellowish tint has left my eyes, together with an almost complete disappearance of a hand rash that has been present since my Navy discharge in 1946. All clear-fluid drainage from this rash has been arrested. Much of the nervous tension associated with Hodgkins has been relieved, and I have experienced my first reserve of energy in five years. Instead of sleeping twelve hours a day, I am now able and presently engaged in ten hours work per day, six days per week. These have been a few of the results after approximately forty treatments. I confidently believe I am on the road back to a cure and many years of healthful life.
With others I have seen and spoken to patients who are almost cured or on the road to recovery from multiple sclerosis, Buerger’s disease, cancer of any one or all of the organs of the body, Hodgkin’s disease, tuberculosis, asthma, and various eye disorders resulting in blindness.
Through your efforts and the efforts of others, Senator Tobey, I have been given the opportunity of coming in contact with a foundation that has shown a deep concern in my health and future well-being. It has not been my good fortune to experience the same elsewhere, as I am sure is the case with many others.
I came here broken financially after being constantly plagued with sickness since my service discharge. To date I have donated $10 to the Lincoln Foundation. Here I have found a host of friends and a doctor eager to help me even though I couldn’t pay. Two earlier visits to a New York physician were billed at $74. This physician was a member of the American Medical Association too—this was a graduated fee.
At the Veterans Administration hospital, I could have been burned by X-ray therapy or sickened by nitrogen mustard from a hypo that must be handled by rubber gloves in order to keep from burning the hands. Such is the case with many of my friends who are suffering and dying there at present. And yet, despite the fact that certain Veterans Administration doctors are informed of my progress, this suffering continues, and these patients remain the victims of paradoxical answers when they besiege these doctors for the Lincoln treatment.
However, some who have heard of my wonderful progress scraped together their last assets and have journeyed to this clinic. Two such cases are living at my address at present. They cannot help but wonder, especially alter observing my progress and that of others, to what extent bureaus designed for their welfare are working.
In my opinion, this laxity shown by the Veterans Administration is also evident in other bureaus, national medical organizations, and foundations receiving federal grants and public contributions. These groups are supposedly designed toward serving public welfare by investigating, cultivating, and evaluating any possible leads concerning the cure of cancer and other malignant diseases.
However, not a single one of these groups has approached the Lincoln Foundation with the purpose of studying and initiating a cooperative research program. Yet private doctors from over fifteen states have visited the Lincoln Clinic and returned with these antibiotics to their home, where they are obtaining similar results. Certainly, their initiative should warrant the attention of any or all medical bureaus, organizations, or institutions—not indifference.
As a result of my experience with the Lincoln treatment, together with the influence this indifference has had on me, I have decided to announce my story publicly and attempt in this manner to aid sufferers of viral diseases. I am particularly interested in the obligation I have to my fellow American veterans lying hopelessly in some veterans hospital. To him my story will be as real and true as the one he is presently living.
To you, Senator Tobey, and to Dr. Robert E. Lincoln and his associates, I hope it will always be a symbol of my humble gratitude.
Sincerely yours,
John W. Bartnik
2. Action Taken by AMVETS National Executive Committee Regarding Study of Lincoln Cancer Treatments, Shoreham Hotel, Washington, DC, December 9, 1951
Excerpt from address by John Bartnik:
“I merely ask that you, as the national executive committee of the AMVETS, appoint a delegation of three [individuals] or more—as other veterans organizations are presently doing—composed of a medical doctor from your membership, an officer from your national executive committee, and an open-minded, well-experienced layman. Send this delegation to the Lincoln Foundation Clinic, and upon their return and at your next scheduled meeting, receive the contents of their report.
“I would ask then that you vote on a resolution supporting a study and evaluation of this doctor’s work by a nonprejudiced group consisting of qualified laymen and medical men and appointed by the federal government, and pending the outcome of such a study, that the Veterans Administration take definite steps toward making this therapy available for hospitalized veterans. I would also ask that copies of this resolution be forwarded to both houses of the Congress of the United States, the Surgeon General of the United States, the Veterans Administration here in Washington, DC, and the Lincoln Foundation in West Medford, Massachusetts.”
Resolution offered by Mr. Harold Bare, of Illinois: “Moved, that the suggestions of Mr. Bartnik be referred to the service director for investigation by him as to what, if anything, can be done in this matter and report to the next national executive committee meeting.”
Passed unanimously.
3. Medical Paper Prepared by Dr. Lincoln and Read to the Massachusetts, Medical Society by A. Ernest Mills, MD, of Medford, on December 12, 1951
“Sinus Research Uncovers Entire New System of Medicine”
The Lincoln Foundation, a nonprofit, charitable institution dedicated entirely to medical research, has announced the discovery of two distinct antibiotic substances that have proven over a period of the past five years to be derived from the basis or parent sources from which all human diseases arise. The only exceptions to this statement would include that small disease group for which the cause and cure is, in part, already known. This latter statement, however, must be further qualified in that the cause of tuberculosis is known, yet moderate to advanced tuberculosis infections have been apparently eliminated by these two antibiotics.
These discoveries may be further described as having broken through the previously impenetrable and mysterious wall that has separated research investigators from the ultramicroscopic virus world. No one has ever previously captured these basic viruses and been able to maintain their particular disease-producing identity and virility over long periods of time or produce the therapeutic agents derived from them in quantities adequate to make them available to unlimited numbers of people.
In trying to discover the reason for the tremendous yearly increase of sinus infections among my patients, I successfully isolated two pure strains of the most virulent and disease-producing germs in existence. They have been designated hemolytic Staphylococcus aureus (Lincolnii) alpha and beta. Paired with them—in a relationship in which the germ serves as host cell for purposes of perpetuation as well as that of multiplication—is a specific and virulent partner virus. Without the germ or specific host cell, the two distinct pairs of causative organisms were isolated on the following dates: alpha was discovered on June 5, 1946, beta on November 24, 1946.
Both host cells or germs are capable of destroying red blood cells, of damaging any particular tissue in the body by a process of toxic congestion, or of causing abscess formations, which may be single or so numerous so as to join together and cause partial or total destruction of both the working and structural tissue of any organ.
Bacteria from the identical family that the alpha strain is derived from are used by the government to measure the germ-killing power of one unit of penicillin. The penicillin cannot kill these germs, but in saturating quantities repeated at frequent intervals, it is capable of preventing these powerful microorganisms from multiplying in the body.
Each host germ has one and only one particular strain of virus as a partner. These viruses use their respective germs as a refuge in which to live and grow when they are not in contact with and destroying the specific body tissue cells that they prefer—just as all disease-causing germs and viruses show a marked choice for certain specific tissues. Both of these viruses are capable of such rapid multiplication that either an alpha or a beta host cell may contain so many newborn viruses (up to 500 in one host cell or germ) that the host cell is seen actually to explode or quickly disintegrate. The escaping newborn viruses then rapidly spread out, and only one of them needs to come in contact with another specific host cell or partner germ in order to enter it and repeat the process.
By administering regularly spaced doses of these viral containing solutions, the toxic contents of these hemolytic Staphylococcus aureus (Lincolnii) alpha or beta host germs cause a stimulation of the patient’s antitoxin-making tissues, to the end that the host cells in the body are reduced or destroyed in successive installments. Without a continuous supply of these host cells to serve as breeding sanctuaries for their respective viruses, the succession of viral waves of bodily invasion soon dies out.
By standard aerosol spraying of these disease-searching antibiotics into each nasal passage at 48-hour intervals or less, a steady warfare is maintained between the host cells, in their endeavor to grow and survive, and their viral adversaries, who are in search of them for perpetuation and multiplication purposes. Thus, in a relentlessly effective manner and without resorting to destructive surgery, the sinus cavities are finally opened.
In order to devise a destructive solution so potent that it would kill its own immediate, or isogenic, strain—and possibly immediately similar strains of the same family—I found that the organism must be isolated at the very peak of a virulent infection. A germ selected at this point is easily capable of overpowering its weaker or less pathogenic relatives.
By imitating the steps of this natural body process in a series of carefully controlled laboratory procedures, these host germs are artificially grown in a specially prepared sterile solution. In about 4 hours of incubator heat, the medium becomes murky with the growth of these host-cell germs. At this point about 8 to 10 centimeters of a solution containing trillions of viruses from a previous lot of bacteriophage is mixed with this heavy growth of bacteria, and the new batch begins to clear.
This process of lysis, in which the virus destroys the host cells, is completed in a matter of several hours. This is what should steadily and effectively occur under natural and normal body conditions in the nasal passages, nature’s own bacteriophage chambers, if it were not for 1) anatomic obstructions offered by old, swollen mucous membrane surfaces and 2) old strains of weak host cells, which in turn completely control and thereby weaken the in-partner viruses.
But there is more to the story. It involves a phenomenon previously unknown to the medical world (November 1946), namely, that the hemolytic Staphylococcus aureus (Lincolnii) alpha host cell germs are capable of changing into a second basic type, now known as the beta group of host bacteria. When this change happens in the host cells, it automatically occurs in their specific viral partners, since, as previously stated, the bacterial characteristics of the host cells completely control their viral partners. This phenomenon is metamorphosis.
I discovered that the alpha viruses would not only enter and destroy, or lyse, their own host cells but would also, under certain circumstances, destroy the new beta host cells. The viruses specific to the beta, however, were incapable of entering and growing in the alpha host cells. In other words, a nonreciprocal relationship exists between these two different germs, so that, although they are closely allied where generic or family classification is concerned, they are two distinct and separate strains of disease-producing microorganisms.
I then noted that in all my patients suffering from acute or chronic frontal sinus infections and also in those with no evidence whatever of sinus headaches but who were suffering from chronic incurable diseases, over 90 percent had been ill at some time in the past with one or both of the two types of epidemic grippe [flu] that have been repeatedly recurring over the previous 35 years in a rapid and steadily increasing volume. Over eighty-five of every 100 patients who have at some previous time been infected with the causative germs of these two infectious and contagious aliments would never again be completely free.
As any one of these weather-induced epidemics gradually subsided, it was always noted, over a period of twenty years, that the sinus and nasal passages were the last anatomical structures to remain infected, and that in 63 percent of these chronically tired cases, an old upper-respiratory-tract infection continued indefinitely. Adverse weather changes always produced an increase in the virility of these recurrent epidemics and, therefore, a rapid increase in the concentration of toxins in the bloodstream.
This increase is directly responsible for the sudden and unpredictable changes that occur in a patient’s mental or physical state. Following exposure to a cold, damp, persisting weather pattern, we see the onset of a multitude of various responses to those influences. They occur in a relatively fixed order, starting with 1) domestic differences, increased or decreased sexual desire 2) suicide, strikes, or other industrial unrest 3) larceny, robbery, homicide, and arson 4) rape 5) mutilation murders.
Patients chronically ill with this germ-virus team and having little or no resistance will suffer moderate to severe flare-ups when the temperature variation and relative humidity are great enough, for example, with a rapidly and extensively rising relative humidity accompanied by a fall in temperature. Symptoms due to adverse weather episodes are always blamed on reinfection from [outside] sources. This is not so, at least for the first 60 to 70 percent that occur in these repeated, epidemic episodes. The remainder consist of primary infections.
I found that many of my patients, some of whom were retired and had a minimum of contact with other people, also became acutely sick with headaches, followed by an acute head cold, a variable amount of pain high in the abdominal cavity, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. The beta type of these two basic disease-causing infections occurs only 25 percent as frequently as the alpha type. It is recognized by its ability to cause severe aching of any or all joints and muscles. Temperatures [in individuals] with the beta type of infection are apt to be high, while [individuals with] the alpha type usually have no fever or may even be 1 degree below normal.
It then becomes evident, in studying the effects of an exceptionally severe drop in my weather quotient statistics, that the changeover, or metamorphosis, from the alpha to the beta host cells occurred at this time. This explains the hitherto unknown reason for isolated cases of jaundice due to epidemic infectious hepatitis occurring without [the individual] having contacted another case. Infection by the beta “team” can, however, infect a person and not induce jaundice, although a serious hepatitis, or viral infection of the liver, may be present. This is the type of patient who donates blood that later causes serious illness or death to the recipient.
In treating sinus cases with the first bacteriophage, we found that we were apparently curing from 94 to 97 percent [of infected patients]. Patients soon appeared who had not only frontal sinus infections but also secondary conditions such as arthritis, angina, deafness, blindness, or one of the various degenerative diseases of the nervous system, which proceeded to decrease and disappear at the same rate as the sinus condition once the seat of infection in the sinuses was invaded and destroyed.
At first, however, there were cases in which it was noted that, following an [initial] improvement of about fifty percent, there was no further effect from the treatment. No amount of concentrated treatment would induce any further progress over and above this therapeutic plateau.
After prolonged overtreatment of one exceptionally severe sinus case accompanied by blinding headaches, I noted that the patient had suddenly developed a rapidly deepening jaundice, accompanied by a tremendous increase in his nervous tension and weakness. I then realized that a change in infection had occurred and that this case was being attacked with the wrong antibiotic weapon. As previously stated, the two beta causative organisms responsible for this new condition were isolated, and from them a new and entirely specific bacteriophage was elaborated, which then was found capable of carrying patients above the therapeutic plateau.
By this time the first concept of an entirely new system of medicine was taking place, in that patients were now being accepted who were merely ill with chronic, incurable disease and who did not apparently have any sinus trouble. In fact, over the last five years, 37 percent of all patients [treated] have failed to describe the slightest indication of infected sinuses having been present.
As treatment of patients with a variety of illnesses progressed, it became increasingly evident that an answer had been found for the hundreds of perplexing disease symptoms or groups of symptoms plaguing humankind today, such as a never-ending feeling of tiredness, chronic dizziness, leg-muscle cramps, mental depression, and sudden maniacal outbursts, as well as other abnormal forms of human conduct, together with the more frequently occurring sudden destruction of large numbers of red blood cells, forming emboli.
With the continued passing of time, the number of incurable diseases capable of being apparently cured has continued to increase, until they include practically the entire list of disease conditions for which no known cause or cure exists. This includes cancer. The research program on this particular subject was carried out with a great deal of reticence, until a sufficient number of patients with proven cases had gone many times over and beyond their maximum allotted span of survival.
A vitally important discovery has been made in that changing weather conditions for one particular place—as well as for widely separated areas—affect the number of treatments necessary to bring about an apparent cure in a correspondingly equal interval of time.
To summarize, this entire research work concerns discovery of two host cells and their partner viruses as causing two different types of recurrent and rapidly spreading epidemics of grippe. Symptoms of these ailments in any one person will be governed by the following conditioning factors:
- Congenital and or inherited characteristics. In over 80 percent of all patients’ questions, there was a familial precedent, either of a closely similar type or somewhat loosely related.
- Chronic nervous hypertension. This factor was determined as being present in all patients, and the determining of the extent of this tension gave a direct, primary answer to the rapidity and depth of invasion of the infection for any one person.
- The location and manner of living. Low temperatures and [certain] humidity conditions surrounding the wrong person will form a much more rapidly predisposing factor. The type of home heating is of paramount importance. In patients forty-five years and older, over 75 percent of the most severely invaded cases had lived for five to twenty-five years in a house with hot-air heating equipment.
- Nutrition. Semi-starvation, inadequate diet, or abnormal physiologic processes occurring in the body can condition the first three factors to such an extent that the quiet and hidden infection suddenly will become evident, and one more patient will be added to the ever-growing army of the ailing.
It is hoped by the Lincoln Foundation that arrangements may be made at the earliest possible date to manufacture and release these two invaluable therapeutic agents for worldwide consumption. At present there are no extensive clinical facilities for use of this new form of therapy, but because its administration is relatively simple, a minimum amount of cooperation by institutions equipped to handle large numbers of people would make it generally available.
4. [Letter from Andrew J. Cherry to Senator Tobey]
Chicago, Illinois
September 5, 1951
Dr. Ohler
Boston, Masschusetts
My Dear Sir:
Could you spare a moment of your valuable time to read this letter and allow me to find words to express the praise and high esteem I have for Dr. Robert E. Lincoln, of Medford, Massachusetts.
Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Andrew J. Cherry; I am 56 years of age and a Chicagoan.
On October 18, 1950, my whole right cancerous lung was removed by Dr. John Kirklin at the Mayo Brothers Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. I never knew I had any form of cancer until this time, and it was a great shock to me. At the time of my operation, I weighed 201 pounds, and I lost 36 pounds upon the removal of the lung.
I have laid in bed since—exactly eight long months—and have suffered much pain. Several Chicago doctors told me I would have to let nature take its course, and I was in a very weakened condition.
On June 20, 1951, I read in a Chicago paper the statement made by the son of Senator Tobey, who claimed a cure of his cancerous lung. I thought there could be hope for me, although I was gasping for breath. My wife and I went to Boston, and upon my arrival at Dr. Lincoln’s home in Medford, I crawled up the stairs to his home, where I begged him to help me.
He said he “promised me nothing,” but after a few treatments, I regained my natural breathing, and with continued treatments, a miracle was performed. I flew back to Chicago, after twenty-nine treatments, and have resumed my position and am working eight hours a day. After ten long months, I drive my car, and live and enjoy a very happy life.
In conclusion I wish to say that whatever Dr. Lincoln has the cancer world needs. My life has been given back to me through the Almighty God and the helping hand of Dr. Robert E. Lincoln. I submit myself for investigation in any way, means, or form and would be happy if every cancer victim could be helped in said manner.
I am most respectfully yours,
Andrew J. Cherry
5. Press Release of December 1, 1951
Senator Tobey, Republican of New Hampshire, said tonight he would order a full Senate investigation when Congress convenes in January into the failure of the Massachusetts Medical Society to undertake a study of the Lincoln treatment. This treatment, which consists of two antibiotics [from] germ-killing solutions, gained national prominence last June when Senator Tobey reported to the Senate the results his son, Charles Jr., and other cancer patients received after treatment by the Medford, Massachusetts, physician.
“For five months the officers of the society have given repeated assurances that they would begin a hospital study program to determine the clinical value of these germ-killing solutions,” Senator Tobey said, “but to date they have failed utterly to fulfill these assurances. In the meantime an immeasurable amount of suffering from cancer and other death-dealing diseases has occurred. Having gone through an unforgettable experience in my own family, I am sick at heart and have no patience with such lethargy on the part of the officers of the Massachusetts Medical Society. The American people have a right to demand a full explanation for this delay.”
Senator Tobey said the study to date by the Massachusetts Medical Society has consisted solely of interviews on two afternoons of a few patients on the back porch of Dr. Lincoln’s home.
“No study whatsoever has been made of the X-rays, records, or other scientific data that Dr. Lincoln has offered to make available to the society,” Senator Tobey said. “Furthermore, the society has made no attempt to acquire Dr. Lincoln’s antibiotics for therapeutic study.”
“In the past several weeks, I have been in communication with a number of my colleagues in the Senate, and I have substantial support in my demands for this Senate investigation,” Senator Tobey added.[spacer height=”20px”]
Extension of Remarks of Honorable Charles W. Tobey of New Hampshire in the Senate of the United States, Wednesday, January 9, 1952:[spacer height=”20px”]
Mr. Tobey: Mr. President, supplementing my remarks of yesterday concerning the Lincoln treatments on cancer, I submit herewith additional documents that I ask to have printed in the Appendix of the Record.
There being no objection, the documents were ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows:
(i) Address Delivered by John W. Bartnik Before the National Executive Committee of AMVETS, December 9, 1951, Shoreham Hotel, Washington, DC
This afternoon, I have the honor of appearing before you and relating my experience with a disease that is a growing concern of every American family. This disease is known as cancer. Webster’s dictionary defines it as “a malignant evil that corrodes slowly and fatally.” Research has found that it appears in many forms and microscopic patterns. The type that I have been afflicted with is classified as Hodgkin’s disease, a malignancy commonly appearing in the lymphatic [system] or better known glandular system of the body. Little is known about its cause, and even less about its cure. So little is known about its cure that I had to travel from a Veterans Administration research hospital to a private doctor’s clinic in order to find a relief that would not destroy other body tissues at the same time. I have found such a relief at the clinic of Dr. Robert E. Lincoln of 309 High Street, West Medford, Massachusetts.
I know now the beginning of my disease came about shortly after a severe viral infection that appeared in the form of a deep ear infection and general body grippe. This illness came upon me while I was serving in the United States Navy in late 1943 and lasted through the early months of 1944, while I was undergoing specialized training at the Naval Training Center, Bainbridge, Maryland. It was at this time that I noticed certain glands in the area of the neck became swollen and quite noticeable. However, at the time I paid little attention to them since I felt they would disappear once I had shaken off the bad cold.
In early 1944 this condition gradually disappeared, but my tendency toward picking up colds continued, together with a general rundown feeling. Shortly after, I was assigned to a destroyer in the Atlantic Fleet, where I served for nearly two years. Around June 4, 1944, I was accidently knocked off the catwalk near the forward torpedo tubes, falling a distance of about 12 feet, to the main deck, and injuring my lower spine. Seventeen days later, during the invasion of northern France, my ship struck two acoustical mines, and as a result I suffered further injury to my lower back.
After my discharge from the Navy in 1946, I spent a comfortable summer working at a New Jersey shore resort. However, in the fall of that year my general health began to fade again. Since I experienced recurrences of similar back pains, I attributed this condition to my service-connected injury and just made the best of it until late 1948, when I was forced to withdraw from college due to continued ill health. In September 1949 I was forced to quit, and I reported to the Veterans Administration hospital, Bronx, New York, for a general workup. All checkups were found to be negative, with the exceptions of my service-connected injury and a sinus disorder. At that time skin specialists also tried to determine what might be causing a chronic rash on my hands. Later, I was discharged and told I would have to become accustomed to the discomforts of my back injury.
Three months after returning home, I woke up one morning with a paralyzing pain around the area of the heart. The next morning, a painful lump appeared in the same region, around the third rib. This pain lasted nearly one month, and I have had three recurrences since, the most recent appearing this past April. Fearing the return to a veterans hospital—since it was hinted I was trying to work up a further claim on the government and that much of my discomforts were psychosomatic, or just in my head—I relied on private doctors and occasional visits to the VA regional office at Newark, New Jersey.
Toward the latter part of this past May, while shaving one morning, I noticed that the whole left side of my neck was enlarged and that there were swellings on the right side as well. X-rays by a New York physician showed all the glands in my chest and under both arms were enlarged. At this physician’s request, I returned to the Bronx hospital in an effort to ascertain whether or not X-rays taken two years prior showed any enlargements. Instead of receiving this information, an admitting doctor advised my immediate entrance into the hospital for a biopsy, or removal [of a small portion], of certain glands for laboratory analysis. With reluctance and primarily because I was nearly broke, I turned in.
At this time my story takes a definite move toward a discussion of the Veterans Administration hospital policy. Had I not seen Hodgkin’s disease before this and been familiar with its symptoms, I may never have found out what my diagnosis was. After using pressure on my war physician, he finally admitted that the laboratory showed a report of Hodgkin’s disease—but it was only a very early case, and with a couple of weeks of X-ray therapy, I would be all right for a number of years.
With this information I took leave of absence from the hospital, whereupon I traveled to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, and through contacts I established while a student at Hopkins University, I was able to speak to a doctor who teaches [about] Hodgkin’s and other malignant diseases. I asked him about the antibiotic treatments of Dr. Lincoln, whom I had become familiar with shortly after the address of Senator Tobey, of New Hampshire, before Congress concerning the apparent cure of his son by this doctor of a cancerous condition in the lung and lymph glands. He informed me that, provided that a truthful diagnosis was given me at the Bronx hospital, I could well afford to await what research would turn up on Dr. Lincoln.
In appreciation for [the doctor’s] time and also his efforts to familiarize me with my disease, I secured a copy of Mr. Tobey’s address in Washington and returned to the Bronx hospital for the necessary X-ray therapy. At that time a courageous individual informed me that they had seen many cases of Hodgkin’s and that my case was much more serious than had been admitted. Later, I found out that my chart had a recommendation for the use of nitrogen mustard, which is a liquid mustard gas injected into the body through the veins. It is known to be a deadly poison in larger doses. This, I knew, was only used in advanced cases.
Then a most reliable source advised me that my life span was not worth more than one month to two years at the most. I was literally shocked and disgusted with the untruthfulness shown me in such a serious matter by the Bronx hospital doctors. I secured my discharge immediately, without receiving any treatments whatsoever, and came to Dr. Lincoln’s clinic.
Here I found a host of friends and a doctor eager to help me even though I could not pay. Here I have seen and experienced scientific marvels, both in my own progress and those that I have observed in others. These other cases admit freely their progress, especially where they have been considered hopeless by other doctors. They carry a look of great hope and confidence.
In my personal case, visible enlarged lymph glands have been reduced approximately seventy percent in a period of six weeks. They have become loose and spongy instead of taut and hard. The yellowish tint has left my eyes, together with an almost complete disappearance of a hand rash that has been present since my Navy discharge of 1946. All clear fluid drainage from this rash has been arrested. Most of the nervous tension associated with Hodgkin’s has been relieved, and instead of sleeping twelve hours a day, I am now able and presently engaged in ten hours work per day, six days per week. I have experienced my first feeling of reserve energy in many years. I confidently believe that I am on the road back to a cure and many years of healthful life.
At the Veterans Administration hospital, I could have been burned and nauseated with X-ray until my body could not take another X-ray course or sickened by nitro mustards from a hypo that a doctor must wear rubber gloves to handle in order to keep from burning his hands. Have you ever seen veins after liquid mustard gas has been injected into them? I hope you never do, for that is one reason why I am here tonight. This is what modern medicine has developed toward treatment of a disease in a 25-year-old young man. Yes, and it could have been used on me without my being informed of the full consequences or effects.
And yet nothing but total indifference has been shown toward a doctor, himself a veteran of two world wars, who can reduce the glands successfully and has been doing so for the past several years without discomfort to the patient. With the exception of the Massachusetts Medical Society, which just recently agreed to participate in a clinical study of the Lincoln treatment, this indifference has been shown by certain medical organizations who should be entirely interested. This includes cancer foundations receiving federal grants and public contributions and those designed to investigate any or all leads toward the development of possible cures or apparent reliefs. They have not even contacted Dr. Lincoln so that an evaluation, for the sake of humanity, can be made and the same information, in turn, be transmitted to the public.
One particular organization, however, informed this veteran, after he requested information concerning Dr. Lincoln’s therapy, that he must learn to adjust himself to the situation and accept the facts. Let this organization send their representatives to me now, and to other so-called hopeless cases, and see how much we have accepted the facts at Dr. Lincoln’s clinic.
Come with me, and meet a doctor who has touched 5,000 cases, as a local newspaper recently stated. Come with me, and speak to a man who has been using this antibiotic with success for five years in the handling of cancer and tuberculosis cases. Ask him about the utter futility of trying to secure the cooperation of even his own state medical society until it was forced by the pressure of public opinion. And yet he claims no cure all; he guarantees you nothing but asks you to visit his crowded waiting room and speak to similar cases such as your own. Speak to patients who are almost cured or on the road to recovery from multiple sclerosis, Buerger’s disease, cancer of any one or all of the organs of the body, Hodgkin’ss disease, tuberculosis, and various eye disorders resulting in blindness.
Yes, talk to a man who admits he has nothing but a means of bolstering the body’s natural defenses against destructive viral diseases. Then you will realize why I can stand before you tonight and tell you I have a type of cancer, something that has been difficult to tell my own mother and father. Then you will also realize why people from all over the United States have traveled here, and why private doctors in more than fifteen states have visited here and returned with this treatment to their home, where they are obtaining similar results.
This initiative is certainly not being shown by certain Veterans Administration doctors who have been made directly aware of my progress and that of others. Many patients at the Bronx veterans hospital have besieged doctors there for the Lincoln treatment, only to receive paradoxical answers to their pleas. However, some who have heard of my wonderful progress have scraped together their last few dollars and have traveled to this clinic. Two of these cases are living at my present address in Massachusetts. They cannot help but wonder, especially after observing my progress and that of others, to just what extent bureaus designed for their welfare are working.
Realizing the existence of many other hopeless cases, I recently asked Senator Tobey if he would arrange an appointment for me with General Devoe, chief medical officer of the Bronx hospital research center in New York City. On November 21, I conferred with General Devoe and four top medical advisers, at which time I informed them of my progress and that of others. As chairman of the Veterans Affairs Committee of the Lincoln Foundation, I formally invited them to sponsor hopeless cancer and Hodgkin’s disease patients at the Massachusetts Medical Society clinical study of the Lincoln treatment, which should get under way very shortly.
Their studied indifference toward me was so great that I could not even obtain their cooperation to contact Dr. Lincoln and arrange further conferences with him regarding this invitation. These doctors accused me of being unscientific, and yet they have not even approached the very prerequisite of scientific study, which is, namely, in this instance direct investigation.
It was after considering my own great progress, the progress of others I have observed, and the conditions that I have reviewed to you that I found myself forced to appeal to veterans organizations for their help in guaranteeing that this doctor and his nonprofit Lincoln Foundation receive an immediate nonprejudiced study and evaluation. It is a sacred obligation that you and I owe veterans in hospitals all over the United States. I have donated my time and efforts to this cause because I believe that my story can help them and others suffering from destructive viral diseases.
I have been privileged to appear before you through the sponsorship of your past national commander, Mr. Harold Russell, and through the courtesy of your present national commander, John L. Smith. I feel that you, as veterans, realize that my problems in this issue, and also my personal experiences, are very close to your personal experiences sometime in the past. I have come to you because you are America, you and all your chapters throughout the country, together with many other veterans organizations that represent the freedom for which we fought.
I merely ask that you, as the national executive committee of the AMVETS, appoint a delegation of three [individuals] or more—as other veterans organizations are presently doing—composed of a medical doctor from your membership, an officer from your national executive committee, and an open-minded, well-experienced layman. Send this delegation to the Lincoln Foundation Clinic, and upon their return and at your next scheduled meeting, receive the contents of their report.
I would ask then that you vote on a resolution supporting a study and evaluation of this doctor’s work by a nonprejudiced group consisting of qualified laymen and medical men and appointed by the federal government, and pending the outcome of such a study, that the Veterans Administration take definite steps toward making this therapy available for hospitalized veterans. I would also ask that copies of this resolution be forwarded to both houses of the Congress of the United States, the Surgeon General of the United States, the Veterans Administration here in Washington, DC, and the Lincoln Foundation in West Medford, Massachusetts.
May I take this opportunity to thank you, your national commander, John L. Smith, your past national commander, Harold Russell, and many others who have been instrumental in giving me this opportunity to voice my opinion and relate my experiences. I repeat: I have come here today primarily for you and our fellow veterans, especially those lying hopelessly in veterans hospitals. Think over what I have said here today. For them tomorrow will be late, and the day after tomorrow too late.
(ii) [Letter from Lowell, Massachusetts, chapter of Disable American Veterans to the association’s state headquarters]
Disabled American Veterans
Edith Nourse Rogers Chapter 25
Lowell, Massachusetts
November 15, 1951
State Commander Timothy J. O’Neil
Disabled American Veterans
State House, Boston, Massachusetts
Dear Comrade Commander:
In our meeting on Wednesday, November 14, 1951, we had the honor of having Mr. John W. Bartnik, a disabled veteran from New Jersey who is suffering from cancer and has turned to Dr. Lincoln of Dr. Lincoln’s Memorial Hospital, 309 High Street, West Medford, Massachusetts, [speak], and his story is one that makes disabled veterans realize that we are being used as guinea pigs for the Veterans Administration and [its] hospitals.
The chapter last night approved a motion to send a committee of two clergymen, one doctor, and one officer from the chapter to see and talk to Dr. Lincoln and some of his patients and then hold a meeting with our chapter in the state and find out why the VA hospitals cannot care for the helpless cancer cases that they say there is no hope for. The veterans all over the country go to Dr. Lincoln for his help, and after seeing three of his patients at our meeting, I can see why they have chosen Dr. Lincoln to treat them.
John Bartnik has given his time to help all disabled veterans who are suffering from cancer and other illnesses, so we wish to ask you at this time to read Mr. Bartnik’s story and please send him a letter of recommendation to each chapter in the state.
In care of Dr. Lincoln, [we ask you] to send a committee to see and talk to Dr. Robert Lincoln. Please read his story before answering, and I know that you will.
So with hope that we hear from you soon, and thank you for your kind consideration.
Yours in comradeship,
Harry Clement Jr.,
Chapter adjutant
(iii) [Letter from Lowell, Massachusetts, chapter of Disable American Veterans to the association’s state department surgeon]
State Department Disabled American Veterans
State of Massachusetts
December 13, 1951
Dr. Francis P. Mauriello
Medford, Massachusetts
Dear Comrade:
Please be advised that as the state department surgeon, you are on the committee to look into the matter of Dr. Robert E. Lincoln’s treatment of cancer to ascertain whether it is advisable to submit a resolution to the American Medical Society for a research in his treatment of cancer.
Very truly yours,
Joseph R. Harold,
Department adjutant
(iv) “Declaration of Trust” of Lincoln Foundation Trust
Whereas Robert Edward Lincoln, of Medford, in the County of Middlesex and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, has discovered and developed therapeutic agents and methods of producing the same and has applied for patents covering said inventions, which are identified as follows:
- Bacteriophage and method of making the same; filed August 24, 1946, serial No. 692,926,
- Therapeutic agents for treatment of infectious hepatitis; filed June 2, 1947, serial No.751,999,
- Therapeutic means specific for treatment of infectious diarrhea, filed December 26, 1947, serial No. 794,126; and
Whereas the said Robert Edward Lincoln desires to have the said inventions developed, marketed, and used to aid and advance medical research and the care and treatment of those who suffer human ailments and injuries:
Now, therefore, in consideration of the sum of $1 paid to the said Robert Edward Lincoln by the trustees hereinafter named, the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged, the said Robert Edward Lincoln does hereby irrevocably give, grant, assign, convey, transfer, and set over unto Charles Ernest Lincoln, of Swarthmore, in the county of Delaware and Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; Charles W. Tobey Jr., of Concord, in the county of Merrimack and State of New Hampshire; and the said Robert E. Lincoln—as trustees (hereinafter referred to as “trustees”)—all of his right, title, and interest in and to the said inventions and said inventions to be held, developed, and used by the trustees, together with such additional property or money as may hereafter be transferred to the trustees, upon the trust hereinafter set forth and with and subject to the powers and privileges hereinafter set forth.
The said Robert Edward Lincoln hereby agrees with the trustees to execute all papers necessary to obtain patents on the said inventions and to vest all rights contained therein in the trust:
Article I. Name and principal place of business: The name of the trust hereby formed is the Lincoln Foundation Trust, and its location and principal place of business shall be in the city of Concord, county of Merrimack, and state of New Hampshire. The trustees may transact business and may hold their meetings at such other place or places as they may from time to time determine.
Art. II. Purpose: The sole purpose of this foundation shall be to aid and advance the study and investigation of human ailments and injuries and the causes, prevention, relief, control, and cure thereof; and the study and investigation of hygiene, health, and public welfare; and the promotion of medical, surgical, and scientific learning, skill, education and investigation; and to engage in and conduct and aid and assist in medical, surgical, and scientific research in the broadest sense; and its plan of operation shall be to receive by purchase, gift, grant, devise, bequest or any other lawful manner any real or personal property and to hold, use, mortgage, operate, manage, lease, convey, convert, dispose of by gift, sale, lease, or otherwise, and transfer any or all of such real or personal property, and to use the same in any lawful manner for the furtherance of its said purpose; and to do and perform all acts and things necessary to the accomplishment of the said purpose of the foundation.
Art. III. Powers of trustees: The trustees shall have full control over the management of the foundation.
Art. IV. Trustees and officers: The board of trustees shall consist of three members. Whenever there shall be a vacancy or vacancies in the board by reason of death, resignation, incapacity, or any other cause, the remaining member or members shall appoint a successor or successors to the board of trustees. In the event of the simultaneous death or incapacity of all of the trustees, their successors shall be appointed as follows: One shall be appointed by the governor of the state of Maine; one shall be appointed by the governor of the state of Vermont; and one shall be appointed by the governor of the state of New Hampshire. Each trustee shall serve for the period of his natural life unless his tenure or office is limited by resignation, incapacity to serve, or other reasonable cause.
For the more convenient transaction of business, the trustees may choose and designate such officers of the foundation as they may determine to be desirable for the proper functioning of the business of the foundation and prescribe their respective authorities and duties by such rules and votes as they may from time to time adopt, and with the right that more than one of such offices may be filled by the same individual. Such officers shall hold their respective offices at the pleasure of the trustees, and they as well as the trustees may receive such reasonable compensation for services as the trustees may from time to time determine.
All decisions of the board of trustees shall be determined by a majority vote thereof, and the trustees shall provide that full and proper minutes of their meetings shall be made and kept in the office of the foundation in Concord, New Hampshire.
It shall not be required that the officers be selected from the board of trustees.
Art. V. Advisory boards: The trustees shall appoint an advisory board consisting of not less than seven members. Each member shall be selected with a view to his achievement and leadership in his business or profession. At least one member shall be appointed by the governor of the state of Maine; at least one member shall be appointed by the governor of the state of Vermont; and at least one member shall he appointed by the governor of the state of New Hampshire. The trustees shall consult with the said board with respect to any major project, including hospital construction, hospital management, assistance to medical schools, research projects, and scholarships for medical school students. The trustee shall give serious consideration to the recommendations of the advisory board but shall have the final decision with respect to any proposed project.
Art. VI. Audit: The board of trustees shall at least once in each year cause to be made and preserved in their files a complete and careful audit and report of the foundation’s accounts and records by a competent and disinterested certified public accountant.
Art. VII. Limitation of trustees’ liability: No personal liability shall attach to or be incurred by the trustees on account of any contracts, agreements, or any business transactions or the conduct of any of the activities of the Foundation; and, in addition, the trustees shall have all of the immunities that are provided to directors of corporations in chapter 274 of the revised laws of the state of New Hampshire and by the common law of the state of New Hampshire.
Art. VIII. Trustees prohibitions: The trustees of the foundation are hereby prohibited from loaning any funds, securities, or other properties of the foundation to themselves or to any officer of the foundation or from conveying to themselves or to any officer of the foundation any of the properties of the foundation.
Art. IX. Funds for medical research: Notwithstanding any other provision of the within indenture, the trustees shall allocate not less than 20 percent of its net profits for the conduct of medical research.
Art. X. Duration of trust: The trust shall continue to exist for a period of 99 years and so long thereafter as it is permitted to exist under the laws of the state of New Hampshire unless sooner terminated by the trustees.
Art XI. Law governing the trust: The rights and liabilities under this trust shall be determined by the laws of the state of New Hampshire and the United States affecting persons and transactions in New Hampshire, and not otherwise.
Art. XII. Covenants with trustees: The trustees signing this instrument and all other trustees hereinafter becoming such in accordance with the terms of this instrument covenant with each other that they will faithfully carry out all of the terms of this trust.
In witness whereof, we—the said Charles Ernest Lincoln, Charles W. Tobey Jr., and Robert Edward Lincoln—have hereunto set out hands and seals at Concord, New Hampshire, this 1st day of February 1950, and hereby acknowledge, declare, and accept the trust herein before set forth.
Robert Edward Lincoln
Charles W. Tobey Jr.
Charles Ernest Lincoln
In the presence of:
Virginia A. Boggs
J. Harlan Jessup
February 1, 1950
State of New Hampshire
Merrimack, ss:
On this 1st day of February 1950, before the undersigned, a notary public in and for the state of New Hampshire, personally appeared Robert Edward Lincoln and Charles W. Tobey Jr., known to me to be the persons described in and who executed the foregoing instrument and who acknowledged to me that they executed the same freely, voluntarily, and for the uses and purposes therein mentioned.
In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and affixed my official seal on the day and year above written.
Virginia A. Boggs
Notary Public
March 10, 1950
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
Delaware, ss:
On this 10th day of March 1950 before the undersigned, a notary public in and for the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, personally appeared Charles Ernest Lincoln, known to me to be the person described in and who executed the foregoing instrument and who acknowledged to me that he executed the same freely, voluntarily, and for the uses and purposes therein mentioned.
In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and affixed my official seal on the day and year above written.
J. Harlan Jessup
Notary Public
My commission expires January 7, 1951.
By Charles W. Tobey. Reprinted from the Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the 82nd Congress, 1952, by the Lee Foundation for Nutritional Research.
Reprint No. 18-A
Lee Foundation for Nutritional Research
Milwaukee 3, Wisconsin
