amounting to $10,000. He was discharged from the service, I think, in December, and died either in February or March-I am inclined to think it was March-and was due $114.85 from the Government for arrears of pay, back pay as they termed it.

He left that with the Government for the purpose of paying his premiums, and so told his father and did not attempt to draw this money out, nor his bonus. He did not attempt to collect that. The insurance was allowed upon the bonus, but you all, of course, remember that that was declared illegal and stopped.

Afterward I asked the bureau to reinstate his insurance upon this indebtedness of the Government to him for back pay, and while they did not just exactly decline to do it, they never did do it.

That is the case in a nutshell. The boy left the money there for that purpose. Of that there is no doubt, and he thought that his premiums were being taken care of all the while, because during this time he received no notice of the monthly premiums being due, as he had before. However, he had changed his post-office address, and that might have been the cause of it.

However, three statements went to his father at Gainesville, Ga., about $19.50, which I told him to pay, because I thought that would be the end of the law, but this money was returned to him.

So that is the case in a nutshell.

Mr. BULWINKLE. That insurance ought to be reinstated. This bonus will take care of it, will it not, under this Briggs's amendment? Mr. BELL. I think so. I think, of course, that my case is a little stronger one than the bonus, and there might be other cases that the bonus would not take care of that that does. I am not insisting upon it, except it ought to be taken care of in some way.

The CHAIRMAN. You presented affidavits, as I recall it, last year that made practically a conclusive case.

Mr. BELL. I think that is true. Of course, the bonus will take care of it, because the boy has never been paid.

The CHAIRMAN. I am very glad that you presented the case again, and I have every reason to believe that both the committee and the Congress will take such action as will cover the Kreg case.

Mr. BELL. Yes; and I see no reason why the insurance should not be reinstated upon the bonus. Of course, the decision of the bureau was that it was a gratuity, you know, and not pay, and, of course, that makes my case a little stronger. But I think it would be well to let the bonus take care of these cases where the insurance was dropped.

Thank you very much.

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Bell, thank you for coming before the committee, and I hope that when any case comes up that ought to be brought to the attention of the committee you will meet with us again.

Mr. RANKIN. Mr. Chairman, Mr. Willeford, from Beaureguard, La., is present, and he is chairman, you might say, of the entire disabled body of veterans in the hospital, and he relates a very unfortunate situation down there that I do not think we can afford to fail to take cognizance of.

This is not an individual case. The truth of the matter is that he is not complaining on the part of himself, but there are possibly 150 to 200 men in that hospital that, according to his statement, and

according to the information that I get down there, are not receiving the care and treatment that these patients ought to receive. He is present this morning, and if it is agreeable to the committee I should like to have it hear him for a few minutes.

The CHAIRMAN. I think, because of the rule that was established, we should go into executive session for a minute or two to discuss the whole question. You would not object to that?

Mr. RANKIN. You do not mean to have him make his statement in executive session?

The CHAIRMAN. No; but in connection with the rule with respect to hearing this kind of a case. There are hundreds that want to come before the committee.

Mr. RANKIN. As I said, this is not an individual case, but involves about 150 men.

Mr. BULWINKLE. Let me ask you this: Who is on the subcommittee on hospitals?

Mr. RANKIN. Mr. Chairman, here is the situation. This boy came to my office on the 22d day of December, and he said that those boys down there were suffering, that they were tuberculosis patients, that the houses in which they were located were leaking, and that they were in the rain and improperly cared for, and every bit of the testimony bore him out. I took him to the director myself, and the director turned him over to the medical officers, and they promised to get a man down there and have promised to do that ever since.

If we are going to wait until the winter is gone; if we are going to wait until this subcommittee holds hearings and reports on them and action is finally taken, some of these boys will probably die.

Mr. BULWINKLE. If you will wait just a minute, I was trying to help you out of the situation by suggesting that the subcommittee sit right now.

The CHAIRMAN. What I was trying to say was that I was ordered by this committee on the first day not to allow witnesses outside of those representing the organizations to appear before the committee, and I was simply carrying out the intention of the committee as expressed at the first executive session.

Now, I have no objection to the committee deciding what witnesses it wants to hear, but until the committee does make some other decision I would be bound by the first ruling of the committee; and without objection the committee will be in executive session for a few moments until we can decide this question of procedure.

All individuals not members of the committee will please leave the room.

(Whereupon, at 11.30 o'clock a. m., the committee went into executive session.)

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

COMMITTEE ON WORLD WAR VETERANS' LEGISLATION,
Friday, January 29, 1926.

The committee met at 10 o'clock a. m., Hon. Royal C. Johnson (chairman) presiding.

The CHAIRMAN. The committee will be in order.

I desire to call to the attention of the committee the provision in H. R. 4474 providing for the creation of a medical corps.

In that connection the chairman of the committee received a letter from Mr. John T. Doyle, secretary of the Civil Service Commission, dated January 13, 1926, to which the chairman replied on January 18, 1926.

I desire to insert both of those letters in the record, unless there is objection.

Hearing no objection, they will be inserted:
(The letters in question are as follows:)

UNITED STATES CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION,
Washington, D. C., January 13, 1926.

Hon. ROYAL C. JOHNSON, M. C..

House of Representatives.

MY DEAR MR. JOHNSON: The proper status under civil service rules of officers and positions out of which it is proposed in H. R. 4474 to establish a permanent medical service in the Veterans' Bureau to which appointments shall be made without regard to laws governing appointments in the civil service of the United States, has been a matter of consideration by the President, the Veterans' Bureau, and this commission. It is desired to present to your committee the views of the commission on that part of H. R. 4474 relative to the proposed method of appointment of the Veterans' Bureau medical personnel.

For more than three decades the commission has recruited physicians for the Government service, supplying them to the Indian Service, the Coast and Geodetic Survey, the Panama Canal, the Public Health Service, and the Veterans' Bureau. There has never been any charge to the commission of incompetency against the class of employees furnished, nor complaint that physicians selected from its registers are not as competent as those appointed outside the rules.

As at present constituted, approximately half the Veterans' Bureau medical personnel consists of physicians and other officers appointed through civilservice examinations, the rest being former public-health physicians on temporary commission detailed to duty in Veterans' Bureau hospitals. General Hines, in his letter of December 29, 1924, advised this office that the bureau thoroughly agrees that the personnel furnished by the commission for duty in the Veterans' Bureau is the best that can be secured who are willing to accept employment at the salary and under the conditions offered. It is suggested that if the salary and working conditions were made more attractive, a personnel with correspondingly higher qualifications doubtless would be secured through the same methods now used by this office.

At present the Civil Service Commission has a representative in each of more than 4,000 communities in the United States, and maintains contact with scientific, technical, and professional institutions and societies. Such an organization is capable of acquainting the largest possible number of representative potential employees of the Federal Government with the needs of the service in the shortest possible time. The commission's examinations for securing medical officers are devised after collaboration with public health and other physicians, and are conducted and the applicants rated by duly qualified physicians. The applicants who qualify are then certified from the top of the resulting register in order that those best qualified may be first appointed.

So thoroughly has the commission's system of securing appointees through merit proved itself that it has been made applicable to the personnel of the police and fire departments of the District of Columbia and to postmasters in

first, second, and third class offices in the United States, although none of these employees are classified employees of the Federal Government.

The commission understands that it is the purpose of the Veterans' Bureau to establish a medical personnel that shall be permanent in tenure and shall consist of the most competent officers to be obtained, who because of the attractive salaries and other conditions offered will enter the Veterans' Bureau service intending to make it their life work.

There does not appear to be any reason for exempting employees in such a medical corps from the civil service law, and the commission is firmly of the opinion that only through open competition under the civil-service rules can the highest grade of qualified employees be secured.

By direction of the commission.

Very respectfully,

Secretary.

JANUARY 18, 1926.

MY DEAR SIR: This will acknowledge receipt of your letter of January 13 with reference to your reaction on certain proposed amendments which have been incorporated into H. R. 4474, which would establish a permanent medical service in the Veterans' Bureau.

I should be very glad to have you appear before the committee at any time while the hearings are being conducted, and you shall be given an opportunity to present to the committee any information which you might have either in support or against this measure.

Thanking you for your letter, and assuring you of my interest, I am,

Very sincerely yours,

ROYAL C. JOHNSON.

As a result of that correspondence we have with us this morning the president of the Civil Service Commission, Mr. William C. Deming; Dr. A. R. Butler, the medical officer of the Civil Service Commission; and Mr. K. C. Vipond, the assistant chief examiner of the Civil Service Commission."

We will be very glad to hear what you have to say, Mr. Deming. STATEMENT OF HON. WILLIAM C. DEMING, PRESIDENT UNITED STATES CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION

Mr. DEMING. Mr. Chairman, I wish to thank the Veterans' Committee in behalf of my colleague on the Civil Service Commission for this opportunity to appear here this morning.

The Civil Service Commission wishes to assure your committee that it is not appearing in opposition to any legislation designed for the benefit of the disabled veteran. Because it is understood that a record is to be made of this testimony the commission desires to have placed in that record a partial statement of its action in behalf of the disabled veteran by the most liberal interpretation possible of its authority and powers.

The commission recommended to the President a provision which he approved as a part of the civil-service rules to permit it to accept the applications for examination of disabled veterans for positions for which they do not meet the physical standard set for other applicants. It has brought to the attention of the Veterans' Bureau and of the former Rehabilitation Division of the Federal Board for

Vocational Education the cases of several hundred disabled veterans for special training. It has cooperated with the Veterans' Bureau in the training of disabled veterans for Government positions to avoid their being trained for positions for which their physical disability would be a too severe handicap.

Then, to make certain that the trainee has every opportunity under the law to win a Government position, the commission of its own volition adopted the policy of reopening for such trainee examinations already closed, permitting him to apply for the reopened examination any time within 90 days before the completion of training or one year after completion of training. This same privilege is extended by the commission to disabled veterans who have been hospitalized but not trained. The commission also has assisted many disabled veterans in locating and being appointed to Government positions.

On the specific matter concerning which the commission is represented before your committee-the proposed establishment of a medical corps in the Veterans' Bureau-it believes it is within the discretion of Congress to decide as to the necessity for such action. The commission's presence here is to express the view that if the corps is established, the disabled veterans will receive the very best medical attention possible by the use of the commission's unequaled examining and publicity facilities for attracting the best qualified medical personnel through fair and open competition. This can be brought about by substituting either of the following provisions for the provision beginning in line 3, page 3, of H. R. 4474:

All appointments to such United States Veterans' Bureau medical service shall be made in the same manner as appointments are made in the classified civil service of the United States

or

All appointments to such United States Veterans' Bureau medical service shall be made in the same manner as appointments are made in the classified civil service of the United States under such regulations as to education, experience, age, knowledge, and ability for the various grades as may be prescribed upon agreement between the Director of the Veterans' Bureau and the United States Civil Service Commission.

Slight changes in language as to appointments would also need to be made in subdivision 2, paragraphs (b), (c), and (d) of section 10, as appearing on pages 3, 4, and 5 of H. R. 4474.

Mr. HAYDEN. May I inquire if any such provision as that now applies to the selection of medical officers in the Army, Navy, or Public Health Service?

Mr. DEMING. Doctor, are you familiar with that?

Doctor BUTLER. There is no such provision of law. They are entirely independent of the classified civil service. Mr. HAYDEN. All of those three services are?

Doctor BUTLER. Yes.

Mr. DEMING. Approving the first alternate would apply the usual general provisions of the civil service act and rules to all candidates. Approving the second alternate would apply the same general provisions unless the director of the bureau and the Civil Service Commission should mutually adopt regulations modifying them in any particular.