by her late son or any record of an allotment covering insurance premiums, it is impossible for the bureau to presume that such an application and allotment were actually made. There must, of course, be some record or sufficient evidence of an application upon which to base such presumption. In view of the fact that the claimant did not apply for war-risk insurance while in the service, there are no insurance benefits now payable. A copy of this letter is inclosed for your use. For the director.

CHARLES E. MULHEARN,

Assistant Director.

First indorstment.

NAVY DEPARTMENT,

BUREAU OF NAVIGATION,

Washington, D. C., January 26, 1926.

From: The Chief of the Bureau of Navigation.

To: The Insurance Division, United States Veterans' Bureau. Subject: Dolbeer, Kenneth Vernon, No. 131-48-60, Seaman 2d class, U. S. N. (deceased) Re: Government insurance in the case of.

1. The attached communication received from the Hon. Charles Brand,' relative to Government insurance in the case of the above-named deceased enlisted man is forwarded for your attention and reply.

2. The records of this bureau fail to disclose any information pertaining to Dolbeer having made applicaion for Government insurance.

W. R. SHOEMAKER,

Chief of Bureau. C. B. HATCH,

By Direction.

Adjustment service section. Received, March 3, 1925. Claims division.

Mr. RANKIN. I would suggest to you that you mention this to Mr. Mills, who introduced the bill. If they have not finished making up the bill, you might encourage him to put that in.

Mr. JEFFERS. That would be a good idea.

Mr. RANKIN. I think the adjusted compensation belongs to the soldier, and we have not any right to withhold it from his people under legislative restrictions.

The CHAIRMAN. Members of the committee, we have with us this morning Representative B. Carroll Reece, of Tennessee, who, you will recall, appeared before the committee at other times when measures were under consideration.

Mr. Reece commanded a battalion in the Twenty-sixth Division during the war and received the distinguished-service cross, distinguished-service medal, and croix de guerre with palm, and he perhaps has as distinguished a service record as any man in the United States.

We are very glad to have you come before this committee at any time, Mr. Reece, and we would be very much pleased to have you present anything you care to take up with the committee.

STATEMENT OF HON. B. CARROLL REECE, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF TENNESSEE

Mr. REECE. Thank you very kindly, Mr. Chairman.

I had intended to come before the committee to make a statement on the permanent rate of pay for the tubercular ex-service men, but I have decided that you know my views on that from what I have already said, and I think I shall not go into the question at all except to say that my experience and observation since I was last

before you have fully justified, in my own mind, all that I said at that time, and I am thoroughly convinced that there ought to be some kind of a permanent rating given the tubercular patients.

What I have particularly in mind now relates to a provision which iş in the bill transferring the soldiers' homes to the jurisdiction of the Veterans' Bureau. I am inclined to think that ought not to be done.

One of the soldiers' homes is located in my district. Of course, at this time it is used as a sanitarium for the World War patients in particular. The Spanish-American veterans and the Regular Army veterans and the people who are patients or guests of the soldiers' homes all have generally preferred that they remain under the board of governors, which is a body selected by the Congress, and I should very much dislike to see the soldiers' homes transferred to the Veterans' Bureau, not because the Veterans' Bureau is not able to manage them efficiently, but soldiers' homes were created for a different purpose from what the hospitals of the Veterans' Bureau were created for. The soldiers' homes have patients who are well. The ex-service men who go there go there purely for the purpose of making the soldiers' homes their homes. There may be nothing wrong with them except infirmities due to age. They are familiar with the management of the board of governors. They have confidence in the board of governors, and I should very much like to see the soldiers' homes remain under the board of governors, which, as I have previously stated and as you know, is a board selected by the Congress.

The CHAIRMAN. Do you recognize the fact, Major, that eventually the soldiers' homes as well as the Veterans' Bureau hospitals must necessarily be used for veterans of the late war, and at some time they must be taken over?

Mr. REECE. Eventually, of course.

The CHAIRMAN. The committee has had under consideration the taking over of the hospital facilities of some of these homes, some of them being so built that it may be very easily done.

In that connection the soldiers' home in your district is at Johnson City, is it not?

Mr. REECE. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. Well, that happens to be one that is well run, but there are some others which members of this committee have visited and they feel that much better work could be done under the Veterans' Bureau. In other words, you have been referring particularly to one of the homes and not the entire 10?

Mr. REECE. NO; I had in mind the entire 10; but at the same time there are a great many Spanish-American veterans, and they do feel that they are not being given quite as much attention in comparison with the World War veterans as they are entitled to, and they are distinctly proud of the soldiers' homes as an institution.

The CHAIRMAN. In that connection, I am satisfied that this committee will be very glad to take the Spanish-American War veterans in on an absolute equality with the veterans of this last war, but because of the fact that the Spanish-American War veterans have a pension based on disability not necessarily connected with the service they do not want to come in on an equality.

Mr. BROWNING. No; but they want to keep these homes where they get domiciliary care.

Mr. REECE. I will not undertake to get into a discussion of the merits of the two bases for awarding disability pay. There is a difference in there.

The CHAIRMAN. In that connection there is another observation to be made in connection with this situation. As I recall it, there were 240,000 men in the Spanish-American War, not over 300,000, while there were more than 5,000,000 men in this war, and the hospitals and the domiciliary care must eventually revolve around the 5,000,000 and not around the 240,000, or rather the small proportion that survive. Then, as I recall it, of 240,000, there were approximately 75,000 of these Spanish-American War veterans who went in the late war and are entitled to the benefits of either act, so that there is comparatively a negligible number of Spanish-American War veterans who are to be considered.

That is purely an observation, not a question.

Do you have anything more you desire to take up with us.
Mr. REECE. That is all.

You say that Johnson City is one of the homes well run. It is run by the board of governors.

The CHAIRMAN. Yes; that is true. We had many complaints about it at one time. I remember that the committee went down there, and there was a little argument back and forth, but it seems to be the general impression now that it is well governed, with a good personnel, and I am mighty glad of it.

Mr. REECE. Of course, where persons come in contact with these institutions, I suppose that they can see objections to the management of all of them. I can see defects in the management of the national sanitarium, but I do not think any of you have heard me make a complaint about it, because no institution can be run perfectly. It is well run on the whole, and I think that those patients there have confidence in the management of the board of governors; and from what I have learned in the other homes, where the guests are made up chiefly of Spanish-American War and Regular Army veterans, they prefer to remain under the board of governors. Johnson City has one of the institutions that houses the World War patients, and I think that those patients also would probably prefer to remain under the board of governors, as well as the patients in the other homes. I am not, however, representing the patients of the national sanitarium, but that is the conclusion which I have come to by reason of my contact there.

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Reece, we are very glad to have had you with us, and hope you will come again.

The committee will now go into executive session.

(Whereupon, at 11.40 o'clock a. m., the committee went into executive session.)

The hearings are hereby declared formally closed on H. R. 4474. ROYAL C. JOHNSON, Chairman.