Reasons: The present hospital at Twenty-fourth and Grays Ferry Road, Philadelphia, known as Hospital No. 49, is crowded to utmost capacity all of the time. At the time of the first inspection the hospital was adapted for 175 patients, but there were 242 patients actually there. There was great danger from fire and epidemic diseases due to the overcrowded conditions. Upon the recommendations of the committee new wards were opened up, but since then these wards also have been filled to beyond capacity and the place is still overcrowded.

The Philadelphia district draws from three actual combat fighting divisions, the Twenty-eighth, the Seventy-ninth, and the Seventy-eighth. All of these divisions saw the hardest kind of service in the war.

If a fully equipped and fully manned mental and nervous-disease hospital were established here it could have the prompt consulting service of the best specialists in the country and a large percentage of cases which might otherwise be a permanent charge on the Government might be entirely cured.

(b) The establishment of a 400-bed tuberculosis hospital in the eastern district of Pennsylvania.

Reasons: The new hospital at Aspinwall, in the western district, is the only hospital provided by the Government in Pennsylvania for tuberculosis cases. This requires patients from the eastern part of the State to be hospitalized so far from their loved ones that a great hardship is worked both on them and their families.

(c) The establishment by the Veterans' Bureau of a completely new system of hospitalization in local hospitals for a short period of time for thorough basic study of each case.

Reasons: It is obvious that many men will not take the amount of time from their work to travel a long distance to a Veterans' Bureau for examination.

It is also obvious that unless a thorough basic examination is made by competent men it is likely that some important features of the case will be missed.

It is obvious that a permanent hospital staff of the leading physicians and surgeons in a community is able to study an individual case far more exhaustively than the physician at a Veterans' Bureau who perhaps sees the case for an hour or so.

It is also obvious that the local men are very much more likely to eliminate malingerers who might easily fool strange examiners.

It is further admitted that with comprehensive records of a basic examination before them the Veterans' Bureau specialists will be much more equipped to give expert opinion.

The extreme fairness of such a system will do a tremendous amount to establish the confidence of the public in the Government institutions and will definitely silence a great deal of the growling which has been heard on all sides regarding the handling of some cases.

The economy of such a system is unquestioned. If worked out carefully along the lines set forth by the exhaustive report of the committee it is probable that millions of dollars could be saved annually.

In conclusion let it be said that this committee has been doing its best to work out the fairest possible scheme for both the taxpaying citizen and the disabled veteran. The plan has the unanimous support of the Department of Pennsylvania, American Legion, and has been formulated with the assistance of the best legal and medical advisors available.

HENRY PLEASANTS, Jr., M. D.,

Chairman.

NOVEMBER 18, 1925.

Hon. THOMAS S. BUTLER,

West Chester, Pa.

MY DEAR CONGRESSMAN BUTLER: I am inclosing the digest of the work of the disabled soldiers and medical aid committee of the department of Pennsylvania, American Legion, as you requested.

I think this digest covers all of the points which we touched upon in our recent talks, and I hope this is in the form that you desire. If not, I shall be very glad to revise it. I have avoided anything but the barest details, as the full report covers all of these.

I appreciate more than I can tell you the hearty interest that you have shown. This has been a vey interesting, but very difficult job, but I am glad. to do it, because I think that it may at least be a forerunner of a satisfactory solution of a very ticklish problem.

If at any time I can be of service to you in this or any other work I can assure you that I shall take it as a favor to have you call upon me.

Most cordially yours,

HENRY PLEASANTS, Jr.

We have with us this morning Representative Tom McKeown, of Oklahoma, who desires to discuss some features of the bill, and we also have with us Representative Bell, of Georgia.

We would like to hear from both of these gentlemen in the time that we have left and, Mr. McKeown, we would be happy to have you now present any matters that you have.

STATEMENT OF HON. TOM MCKEOWN, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA

Mr. MCKEOWN. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, I want at the outset to compliment the committee for its careful and painstaking consideration of all legislation touching the Veterans' Bureau and affecting veterans of the World War.

There has been no disposition on the part of the committee to refuse to give consideration to the various and many conditions that have arisen and to the wrongs that have occurred relative to legislation of this character, and it has evidently been the purpose of the committee to give a sympathetic ear to legislation for the veterans. I want to call your attention to what I think is an injustice in the matter of the bonus or soldiers' insurance that was passed.

The CHAIRMAN. Have you any other matter that you want to take up?

Mr. MCKEOWN. There was another matter, but I think your committee has already had its hearings on that. However, I would like to submit a letter. It is in reference to this hospitalization.

The CHAIRMAN. We would be very glad to receive anything you may wish to submit, and it will be included in the record.

Mr. MCKEOWN. I would like to reserve that privilege. I may not submit it, but I would like to have that opportunity.

The CHAIRMAN. We would be glad to have it.

We also have with us this morning Representative Thomas M. Bell, who appeared before the committee in the 1925 hearings. As I recall it, some matters that he discussed were included in the bill of that year that passed the House.

STATEMENT OF HON. THOMAS M. BELL, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF GEORGIA

Mr. BELL. Not exactly, Mr. Chairman, but nearly so. I had an amendment and I would like to state the case, if I may be permitted, because I see you have some new members on your committee since the last Congress.

The CHAIRMAN. We would be glad to have you do so.

Mr. BELL. A boy from my home city named Kreg was an aviator and an enlisted man, too. He had, while in the service, insurance

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