Hon. Senator CLAUDE PEPPER, EXHIBIT 18 UTAH STATE MEDICAL ASSOCIATION, Senate Office Building, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR PEPPER: At the meeting of the house of delegates of the Utah State Medical Association subsequent to the announcement of the Pepper bill 1318 last fall and in discussions of the bill by the members of the council of the Utah State Medical Association, they have voted to oppose this legislation. We have always been opposed to this type of legislation. We feel that it is a definite step by Government bureaus to interfere between the doctor and his patient. We can see no reason why this type of legislation should be enacted any more so than that of Senate bill 1606, to which we are also opposed. DEAR SENATOR PEPPER: This is to advise that I have carefully studied proposed bill 1318 and voted approval of it in conference at a recent meeting of the National Committee on Children and Youth. Further, as a practicing orthopedic surgeon in the State of North Carolina with 10 years' field experience in State-wide operation of the social-security program for crippled children I do personally approve the proposed measure. Benefits to be expected from this new general welfare act seem to me to be a wholesome enlargement and expansion of a program already proved to be of untold value to the people, as so constructively administered by the Children's Bureau through individual State agencies. My own feeling is that the unselfish people of the United States desire that the benefits of such legislation be made available to those who deserve and need the character of services proposed in the act. With kind personal regards, I am Sincerely yours, O. L. MILLER, M. D. EXHIBIT 20 Senator CLAUDE PEPPER, WASHINGTON SPASTIC CHILDREN'S SOCIETY, Senate Office Building, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR PEPPER: I have your telegram dated June 17, 1946, and I hope that this letter will reach you by June 26, as you asked. Mr. Boyack, our State president, asked me to write the statement, as I am chairman of the publicity committee for our State-wide program. The Washington Spastic Children's Society was organized in Seattle in April 1945, and we completed our organization on a State-wide basis on May 25, 1946. Our State officers are President.-Mr. M. W. Boyack, Seattle, in the insurance business, and the father of a spastic child. Vice president.-Mr. F. L. Graybill, Spokane, legal adviser of the farm credit bank, also the father of a spastic child. Secretary. Mrs. Phyllis M. Corrison, Seattle, secretary to the president of a labor union, and mother of a spastic. Treasurer.—Mr. Helmer Kastner, Seattle, purchasing department, Boeing Aircraft Co. Board of Trustees.-Three-year term: H. J. Wyckoff, M. D., outstanding orthopedic physician and surgeon, our chief medical advisor; Harold Faulkner, Wenatchee, physiotherapist; Atley O. Nelson, Jr., Seattle, inspection department, Boeing Aircraft Co., himself a spastic. Two-year term: Mr. W. A. Heath, Tacoma, superintendent of Tacoma General Hospital; Mr. William C. Quick, Yakima, United States Army buying officer, also the father of a spastic child; Mrs. Rachel A. Collings, Bremerton, head of physiotherapy department at Roosevelt Hospital, Bremerton. One-year term: Miss Evelyne Hayes, Wenatchee, businesswoman; Mrs. H. Whittenbecher, Spokane, housewife and the mother of a spastic; Mr. Clarence Rogers, Walla Walla, principal of a grade school, and the father of a spastic. The Washington Spastic Children's Society is incorporated as a nonprofit corporation in the State of Washington. The preceding paragraph indicates that we have tried to get well-rounded State-wide groups to represent the individuals in the State of Washington who are afflicted with cerebral palsy (a more correct term than spastic paralysis). The main project of the society in the coming year will be the drive for legislation to establish an educational program for spastics in the State of Washington. We hope to get this bill through the 1947 session of the legislature. There has not been a complete survey of the extent of the spastic problem in the State of Washington, but from what has been found in other States there should be from 2,000 to 2,500 spastics in Washington. We know that at least 70 percent of spastics are capable of being educated. The educational program of the spastic is costly, however, because he must have a coordinated program-physiotherapy, academic education, and speech training. After reading your bill, S. 1318, it would seem that Federal funds might be available to aid a State program if it were passed. The fact the Federal funds would be available might encourage the various States to enact legislation to promote child-welfare programs. In closing I should like to state that my personal experiences show how necessary it is that spastics receive an education. I have the advantages of a college education, and I have met several spastics who would be as well off as I am, if they had had the opportunities that I have had. When we consider the training program for spastics, we find that we receive best results when we start with the preschool-age child. I am enclosing a few newspaper editorials and articles from the Seattle papers. Thank you for your interest in our program. Sincerely, ATLEY O. NELSON, Jr. SPASTIC PARALYSIS VICTIMS (By Atley O. Nelson, Jr., Director, Washington Spastic Children's Society) A year ago this month the Washington Spastic Children's Society was started in Seattle. On May 25 it will hold its first State-wide convention at the New Washington Hotel. During its year of existence the society has organized local units in Spokane, Everett, Bremerton, Aberdeen, Yakima, and Vancouver. It has already done much to bring about the time when those afflicted with cerebral palsy (more commonly known as spastic paralysis) can receive the training and education that will enable them to take their places in the world. Perhaps I am more conscious of the absolute need of help for these people, because I am a spastic myself. It happens that I have been able to overcome my handicap to a large extent. As I consider my past experiences it becomes clear that it was the intelligent decisions of my mother as to what was best for me that contributed most to the improvement in my condition during childhood. During most of my younger years no one understood what was wrong with me, and most people believed I should be content to live a "rocking chair" existence. But not my mother. Until I was 15 years old we lived in Boulder, Colo. Boulder is located so you can be right in the mountains after a 15- or 20-minute walk. From early spring until late summer our family spent much time in the mountains. I was allowed to climb over the rocks and get around as best I could. A large part of my boyhood was spent on my uncle's farm and I was allowed to do anything I wanted to in the way of roughing it. I was expected to do as much for myself as I could. There were many tasks, such as gathering eggs, that I had as my chores. I feel it was this rugged life in the mountains and on the farm that did a lot to teach me to control my muscles. I was not allowed to go to school until I was 9 years old. Even then the public schools would not take me. However, by this time I had become so demanding in my desire to go to school that my mother had to do something. After some persuasion the sister superior of a private Catholic school consented to take me on a 2-month trial. The result was, I attended that school through the sixth grade (in 5 years). Then my family moved to Aberdeen, Wash. My mother decided I was ready to attend public school. She took me to see Mr. Everett Shimmin, principal of the Aberdeen Junior High School. He encouraged me to enter as a regular student, and I completed my high-school education in Aberdeen public schools. Then I attended the Grays Harbor Junior College for 2 years before entering the University of Colorado, where I received my bachelor-of-arts degree with a major in zoology in 1939. Since my graduation from college I have been quite successful in many ways. For 2 years I was employed by the State department of fisheries as a research biologist. I left my State job to take a position with the Boeing Aircraft Co. in the inspection department. I have been at Boeing's for almost 4 years. Whatever success I have had I feel I owe a great deal to the many people who have given me a chance to prove what I could do. The first job I had was in a furniture store while I was still in high school. The fact that there was a man who had enough faith that I could be a successful errand boy will always remain one of my pleasant memories. During my second year at the Grays Harbor Junior College I had charge of the college book store, and I made more money for the store than anyone in previous years. I shall always be grateful to Dr. Lewis Tidball, who was the dean of the junior college, for that opportunity. While it is true I have been able to overcome most of my handicaps, I am sure much of my improvement would have come sooner, and perhaps it would have been complete, if the present methods of treating cerebral palsy had been known when I was a child. I refer to the kind of treatment given in the class now being conducted in the Warren Avenue School. It is known cerebral palsy is caused by an injury to the area of the brain that controls motor-muscular activity. The condition may be very slight or it may affect all the muscle groups of the body. It has been found a coordinated program of physiotherapy, academic education, and speech training is the most efficient method of treating persons thus afflicted. It has also been found this method of treatment is most effective when started with preschool-age children. It has been my pleasure to be active in the program of the Washington Spastic Children's Society for 8 months. One of the society's main projects is to work for State legislation that will set up the necessary schools for the estimated 2,000 to 2,500 children afflicted with cerebral palsy in this State. Education of these children should be our first consideration because it is known at least 70 percent have normal to above-normal intelligence. In our program of public education on this subject it is most important to stress the intelligence of spastics. Because of the difficulty spastics have in expressing themselves, they are often mistaken for feeble-minded individuals. In recent months I have come to know a number of persons afflicted with cerebral palsy. Many are about my own age (32). If they had had the many advantages and opportunities that I have had, they would be as well off as I am. I intend to do all I can to help the spastic children now growing up to be given the same chance that I was. AID FOR SPASTICS AN URGENT NEED [From the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Saturday, May 25, 1946] Few causes are worthier of public support than that of the Washington Spastic Children's Society, which is holding its first annual convention in Seattle today. This is an organization made up largely of parents of children afflicted with cerebral palsy, more popularly known as spastic paralysis-a condition caused by damage to the motor nervous system, usually occurring at or about the time of birth. These parents have banded together in an effort to give all the spastic children in the State-and it is estimated that there are from 2,000 to 2,500 under the age of 16-an opportunity to become useful citizens. Statistics show that approximately 70 percent of all spastic children are possessed of mentalities which are normal or above normal. But most of them are doomed to a wheel-chair existence unless they are given a fair chance to overcome their handicap. As a matter of fact, many of these children have been committed to custodial schools, where they are confined with feeble-minded youngsters, simply because there is nothing else to do with them. Is such a situation to be tolerated in a civilized country dedicated to the doctrine of equal opportunity for everyone? Much progress has been made in the treatment of spastic children since Dr. H. J. Wyckoff invited Dr. Earl Carlson to this State 3 years ago. Dr. Carlson, himself a spastic and an outstanding authority on the malady, started a class for spastic children in Seattle at that time, and since then similar classes have been founded in Everett, Bellingham, Vancouver, and Bremerton. Other classes are planned in Spokane and Aberdeen. This work has been of incalculable benefit to date. But only a very small percentage of the sufferers can be reached unless there is a full-scale State program which makes the facilities available to every spastic child in the State. As a matter of fact, the ideal solution of the problem would be a national program along the lines of the one provided for polio sufferers by the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis. The work should not stop, however, with the treatment of the spastics. There must also be a program of public education. Because of their inability to control their muscles and the distressing grimaces they make when they try to express themselves, spastics are frequently mistaken for people of subnormal mentality-although, in many cases, they are far more intelligent than those who presume to judge them. Atley O. Nelson, Jr., a director of the Washington Spastic Children's Society, tells a moving story in this connection. (Nelson is himself afflicted with cerebral palsy but, through his mother's efforts and his own, has been able to overcome the terrible handicap to a very large degree.) He was in a Seattle department store a few weeks ago when he saw a fellow sufferer hobble past. Two women were also watching the afflicted man. One of them, Nelson reports, turned to the other and remarked, in a clearly audible tone of voice: "Do you suppose he just escaped from Steilacoom?" Nelson observed that, fortunately, he had steeled himself against being sensitive about his condition. "But," he added, "most spastics are sensitive-and if this one had heard what the woman said it might have retarded his improvement by months." This demonstrates that there is need for public understanding as well as public support of the society's program. EXHIBIT 21 NEW YORK 19, N. Y., June 18, 1946. Senator CLAUDE PEPPER, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR: As a mother of a 3-year-old boy with cerebral palsy I earnestly beg you to support the proposed Maternal and Child Welfare Act. The physically handicapped people would not be so badly handicapped if they had had the proper treatment and education when younger. Children and adults with cerebral palsy need a great deal of training to help make them independent, but why should they be denied all this treatment and training when it is in the power of you Congressmen and Senators to help them. I am sure if you could see some of these youngsters, how intelligent and lovable they are, you would do all in your power to help them. Thank you very much for your time and consideration. Yours respectfully, Mrs. MICHAEL FOX. EXHIBIT 22 Mr. CHARLES KRAMER, Washington, D. C. OWENSBORO, KY., January 12, 1946. DEAR MR. KRAMER: I am writing to ask for your support of the Senate bill S. 1318. It was introduced in the Senate last July by Senator Claude Pepper from Florida. I am interested in this bill because it proposes help for the victims of cerebral palsy. There is very little help, and none in or near our State of Kentucky; while in this State alone there are 2,000 victims. I am the mother of a so-called spastic daughter. She had a cerebral hemorrhage at birth, which left her in a very weakened condition; and robbed her of the power to control her movements. She is 8 years old now and is growing rapidly. She is gradually gaining strength and coordination but still cannot walk alone, feed, or dress herself. Needless to say, she has had no schooling, although she is alert, understands, and reasons well. There is no place equipped to care for this type of child near us, and none in which we could place her because the private institutions are too expensive. The only one we have found that has educational advantages along with a program of exercise, is $180 per month, and our income is less than that. The same thing is true when looking for medical care. The only specialist for this type of palsy we have found is in Baltimore, Md., and he requires check-ups every 4 months. This also is too expensive for us, and the long trip would do almost as much harm to the child's health as would be gained from the doctor's advice in a 4-month period. We have tried to give our daughter every opportunity to become a useful citizen, because we have been told she should become 90-percent normal. However, there are pitifully few opportunities for these children. I am writing not only for my daughter, but for the thousands of these victims who have had little or no help or encouragement. The majority of these people could become healthy, happy, and both physically and financially independent if they were given a chance. Sincerely, Mrs. JAMES W. FOSTER, EXHIBIT 23 PONTIAC 15, MICH., June 20, 1946. SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR, Senate Building, Washington, D. C. (Attention: Senator Claude Pepper.) GENTLEMEN: I should like to submit my views upon S. 1318, which I understand is now being considered by the full Senate Committee on Education and Labor. It is not within my province or intent to discuss sections 101 through 205 thereof. I do have the following definite comment concerning title 3, sections 201 to 305, inclusive. (1) Conditions in the State of Michigan show a need, for this service in spite of the fact that Michigan has been one of the most progressive States on childwelfare matters. (2) The advisability of requiring States to match funds has been shown time and time again in that it has caused more attention and care to be paid to the manner of expenditure of Federal funds. (3) Section 303 (a) provides for a guidance and service program for "all children in need thereof" and subsection (3) which follows uses the words "provided that as services and care are furnished under the plan they shall be available to all children. * I agree most wholeheartedly that every child should be able to find these services but I believe that wording should be written into the law so that children whose parents are able to furnish the services shall obtain the services at parental expense and not at public expense. There is a distinct danger from a sociological standpoint in encouraging parents to expect a service from the State. The more fully that parents can be chargeable with entire responsibility for the care of their children, the better will be home and family relationships. I urge you |