On May 17 orders were received from the Adjutant-General's Office providing for his relief on or about July 30, and stating that Major E.C.Carter, of the United States Army Medical Corps, would be available for detail as commissioner of public health on that date, if his services were desired.

Arrangements were accordingly made to have Major Carter proceed to the Philippines.

Major Maus's resignation was accepted, effective July 31.

Dr.Frank S.Bourns was urged to take temporary charge of the situation, and consented to do so.
On the 8th of August Major Carter arrived and announced his readiness to assume his duties, but it was suggested to him that he ought first to have some time to familiarize himself with them, and Dr.Bourns was left free to carry out the special work for which he had been appointed.
This he did with promptness and despatch, the number of cases for August being but seven hundred twenty as against thirteen hundred sixty-eight for the previous month.

On the 8th of September, having brought the disease under control at Manila, he insisted on resigning in order to attend to his private affairs, which were suffering from neglect, and his resignation was reluctantly accepted.
Dr.Bourns's remarkable success in dealing with a very difficult situation was largely due to his ability to devise measures which, while thoroughly effective, were less irritating to the public than were those which had been previously employed.
The policy which he had inaugurated was followed by his successor with the result that the cases fell to two hundred seventy-five in September and eighty-eight in October.