Congress created the Veterans' Bureau, and the responsibility for the health care of veterans was transferred from the PHS to the new Bureau. Another event of Cumming's early tenure was the creation of a national leprosy hospital in Carville, Louisiana in 1921 when the PHS took control of what had been the Louisiana Leper Home. The facility at Carville became a major center for leprosy treatment and research. Soon after his appointment, Cumming inaugurated a plan for the medical inspection of immigrants abroad in the principal countries of origin. This plan reduced the number of immigrants who were turned back for medical reasons after making the trip to the United States. In the 1920s, the PHS also completed the development of a national maritime quarantine system by acquiring the last two quarantine stations operated by States. The Narcotic Farms Act of 1929 authorized the PHS to establish a Division of Narcotics (the name was later changed to Division of Mental Hygiene) and to construct two hospitals for the treatment of drug addicts. Cumming also expanded the research activities of the Hygienic Laboratory, which in 1930 became the National Institute of Health. Under Cumming, the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps was also authorized to admit dentists, pharmacists, and sanitary engineers, the first expansion of the Regular Corps beyond physicians. In 1930, the PHS was given the responsibility of providing medical and psychiatric care to Federal prisoners. Under the Social Security Act of 1935, the PHS was authorized to provide grants-in-aid to the States for the development of public health work. Cumming served as President of the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States in 1924 and as President of the American Public Health Association in 1931. In 1931 Cumming initiated "The Tuskegee study of untreated syphilis in the negro male"—begun in 1932, continued under Cumming's successors, ended in 1972. Cumming was also on the Advisory Board of the Eugenics Committee of the USA (ECUSA). In 1935 Cumming was awarded the Public Welfare Medal from the National Academy of Sciences. He also served for a period as Chairman of the Permanent Committee of the International Office of Public Health in Paris. A collection of his papers are held at the National Library of Medicine. Personal life Hugh Cumming retired as Surgeon General and from active duty in the Public Health Service on 31 January 1936 as a rear admiral. He continued