none in the country, such as Dr. Frederick J. Fernald, president of the Public Welfare Commission; Dr. Charles McDonald, who teaches post graduate work at Harvard University and Brown University; Dr. Arthur Riddles, superintendent of the Butts Private Hospital-they will make a diagnosis of neurosthenia, a severe condition, and they will have to go to Chelsea and then come back to get an N. P. diagnosis. The man is chronic in the opinion of the hospital; he shows a very chronic condition from a nervous standpoint, and we have him reexamined and the doctors again confirm the diagnosis. There is no place we can send him. It is not going to do for us that he should go to the court of our State and be committed to our State hospital, where they do not have a bed to sleep on, but only a mattress on the floor in the evening, owing to the overcrowded conditions.

So that if this hospital is given to the State of Rhode Island we have approximately 164 men in the two hospitals at Bedford and Northampton; we have 67 men interned in the 2 State institutions, 1 in Massachusetts, and 1 in Rhode Island, which would create vacancies by the transfer of those patients. Boston has approximately 385 men now interned in State hospitals, where they can be transferred and taken to where they rightfully belong, which will alleviate the conditions of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, and probably give them a few beds.

The center of this hospital program will be where the governor has stated, in Providence, and the hospital will be filled upon completion and, within five years after the hospital is built, the capacity would have to be extended 100 per cent; because, as stated before, we have such an active compensation list, alone, of neuropsychiatric cases, and no psychiatrist can tell when one of those cases is going to break. I spoke to the director about this two weeks ago and he is absolutely opposed to keeping our veterans in one building.

So that I heartily indorse what the veterans' organizations have been after, not for the past three or four years but, as the chairman of this committee knows, in 1922, she and I were on the same proposition and again at the time they took it to Northampton, and two years ago we got to Hartford. So that the same proposition holds true. But I wish this matter could be gone into, and I am sure, when you hear the congressional delegation, they will submit to you the facts and figures showing the absolute necessity for this hospital which, to my mind, should be a neuropsychiatric hospital.

Mrs. ROGERS. Have you talked to Director Hines about a hospital? Mr. ROWBOTTOM. I talked to Director Hines two weeks ago, and the only thing is he does not think the veterans should be hospitalized in one building.

Mrs. ROGERS. Do not you think Congress ought to decide upon a program for building hospitals?

Mr. ROWBOTTOM. I think so; yes, madam. Congress, in 1924, passed a law granting free hospitalization to veterans, and Congress should either rescind that law or go forward with what their first intentions were. Congress has been inconsistent; they have passed the law and they are not following it through.

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Mrs. ROGERS. Which makes it difficult for the bureau, does it not? Mr. ROWBOTTOM. It makes it difficult for the bureau, and the governor spoke of the economic situation created. It is also an economical situation on this question of hospitals.

Mrs. ROGERS. I want to ask Mr. Madigan, of the Veterans' Bureau, what he thinks the cost would be if we were to build for all veteran

cases.

Mr. MADIGAN. In answer to that, Madam Chairman, the only statement I am authorized to make is that we are making preliminary studies or having made preliminary studies at this time of the probable future load under 202-10.

Mrs. ROGERS. I was very anxious for that to be made, as you know. Mr. MADIGAN. The medical council of the Veterans' Bureau is making a study and certain independent studies are being made and the preliminary results of those studies indicate that if we are to hospitalize the nonservice cases without restriction the existing Government hospital facilities will have to be greatly increased.

Mrs. ROGERS. Is it not true, also, that if the Johnson bill passes it will give service connection for a great many more cases, and we will have to have more hospitals for service connected cases and not 202-10 cases only?

Mr. MADIGAN. Of course at the present time, as you know, we have more than ample facilities for the service-connected load; that is, in the aggregate.

Mrs. ROGERS. We only have 600 beds here, all told.

Mr. MADIGAN. The increase in the nonservice-connected load has been such that, if no restrictions are placed upon admissions, our hospitals will have to be greatly increased.

Mrs. ROGERS. It is mandatory now to hospitalize 202-10 cases, just as service-connected cases.

Mr. MADIGAN. It is only mandatory as far as the first provision of 202-10 is concerned.

Mrs. ROGERS. Tubercular and neuropsychiatric cases I meant to say.

Mr. MADIGAN. The tubercular are on a parity with service-connected cases.

Mr. FENN. It is mandatory to put them in, if they can get in. Mr. ROWBOTTOM. On our disallowed cases and terminated cases, take Providence: We have 1,975 disallowed cases and 2,000 terminated cases. Out of those 2,000 terminated cases we can not tell when any one of those terminated cases is going to reopen their claim by the submission of additional evidence.

Mrs. ROGERS. And probably receive hospitalization.

Mr. ROWBOTTOMм. And probably receive hospitalization, and if the Johnson bill goes through, 50 per cent of your cases, with the diagnosis already established, will need a period of hospitalization to determine the degree of disability. So that it is beyond my comprehension, really, to say just how much construction we have to do to accommodate the veterans at the behest of congressional legislation. Congress has passed the law, as it did the June 7th law, the ReedJohnson bill, but no facilities were given to the director to carry it out.

Mrs. ROGERS. Under that bill he was to hospitalize where there were vacant beds.

Mr. ROWBOTTOM. He was to hospitalize, but where?

Mrs. ROGERS. Thank you very much, Mr. Rowbottom; we are very glad to have heard from you.

Mr. MARTIN. That is all we have at this time.

Mrs. ROGERS. Thank you very much for your splendid presentation of your case at this time.

(The subcommittee thereupon adjourned until to-morrow, Wednesday, April 2, 1930, at 10.30 o'clock a. m.)

WORLD WAR VETERANS' LEGISLATION

MASSACHUSETTS

THURSDAY, JANUARY 15, 1931

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON
WORLD WAR VETERANS' LEGISLATION,
Washington, D. C.

Mrs. ROGERS. The committee will now take up the bills relating to hospital facilities in Massachusetts. H. R. 10167, introduced by Mr. Granfield, authorizes the erection of an addition to the hospital at Northampton; H. R. 10419, introduced by the chairman of this subcommittee, provides for an addition to the hospital at Bedford; and H. R. 7633, by Mr. Martin, is for the erection of a hospital in southeastern Massachusetts or Rhode Island. These bills are incorporated in the bill I introduced at the opening of Congress. I am especially glad to have my Massachusetts colleagues attend this hearing. And it is a great pleasure to hear Mr. Richard Paul, the commander of the American Legion of Massachusetts, and Doctor Overholser. (The bills under consideration are as follows:)

[H. R. 10167, Seventy-first Congress, second session]

A BILL To authorize the erection of an addition to the existing Veterans' Bureau hospital plant No. 95 at Northampton, Mass., and to authorize the appropriation therefor

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the director of the Veterans' Bureau, subject to the approval of the President, is authorized and directed to contract for the erection of a one hundred bed patient capacity addition to the existing Veterans' Bureau hospital plant numbered 95, Northampton, Massachusetts, for the diagnosis, care, and treatment of tubercular disabilities, at a cost not to exceed $250,000; such construction to provide additional hospital and outpatient dispensary facilities for persons entitled to hospitalization under the World War veterans' act, 1924, as amended. Such hospital and out-patient dispensary facilities shall include the necessary buildings and auxiliary constructions, mechanical equipment, approach work, roads, and trackage facilities leading thereto; vehicles, livestock, furniture, equipment, and accessories; and shall also provide accommodations for officers, nurses, and attending personnel; and shall also provide proper and suitable recreational centers; and the Director of the United States Veterans' Bureau is authorized to accept gifts or donations for any of the purposes herein named.

SEC. 2. The construction shall be done in such manner as the President may determine; and he is authorized to require the architectural, engineering, constructing, or other forces of any of the departments of the Government to aid or assist in such work, and to employ individuals and agencies not now connected with the Government, if in his opinion desirable, at such compensation as he may consider reasonable.

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SEC. 3. For carrying into effect the foregoing provisions relating to additional hospital and out-patient dispensary facilities there is hereby authorized to be appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of $250,000, to be immediately available and to remain available until expended; and not to exceed three per centum of this sum shall be available for the employment, in the District of Columbia and in the field, of necessary technical and clerical assistants at the customary rates of compensation, exclusively to aid in the preparation of the plans and specifications for the projects authorized herein and for the supervision of the execution thereof, and for traveling expenses, field equipment, and supplies in connection therewith.

[H. R. 10419, Seventy-first Congress, second session]

A BILL To authorize the erection of an addition to the existing Veterans' Bureau hospital at Bedford, Mass., and to authorize the appropriation therefor

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That in order that the United States may in part fulfill its sacred obligations to its World War veterans, the Director of the United States Veterans' Bureau, subject to the approval of the President, is authorized and directed to contract for the erection of a fifty-bed patient capacity addition to the existing Veterans' Bureau hospital plant at Bedford, Massachusetts, with diagnosis facilities, for the diagnosis, care, and treatment of neuropsychiatric disabilities, and to provide Government care for the increasing load of mentally afflicted veterans, at a cost not to exceed $87,500; such construction to provide additional hospital and out-patient dispensary facilities for persons entitled to hospitalization under the World War Veterans' Act, 1924, as amended. Such hospital and out-patient dispensary facilities shall include the necessary buildings and auxiliary constructions, mechanical equipment, approach work, roads, and trackage facilities leading thereto; vehicles, livestock, furniture, equipment, and accessories; and shall also provide accommodation for officers, nurses, and attending personnel; and shall also provide proper and suitable recreational centers; and the Director of the United States Veterans' Bureau is authorized to accept gifts or donations for any of the purposes herein named.

SEC. 2. The construction shall be done in such manner as the President may determine; and he is authorized to require the architectural, engineering, constructing, or other forces of any of the departments of the Government to aid or assist in such work, and to employ individuals and agencies not now connected with the Government, if in his opinion desirable, at such compensation as he may consider reasonable.

SEC. 3. For carrying into effect the foregoing provisions relating to additional hospital and out-patient dispensary facilities, there is hereby authorized to be appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of $87,500, to be immediately available and to remain available until expended; and not to exceed 3 per centum of this sum shall be available for the employment, in the District of Columbia and in the field, of necessary technical and clerical assistants at the customary rates of compensation, exclusively to aid in the preparation of the plans and specifications for the projects authorized herein and for the supervision of the execution thereof, and for traveling expenses, field equipment, and supplies in connection therewith.

[H. R. 7633, Seventy-first Congress, second session]

A BILL To authorize the erection of a United States veterans' hospital in southeastern
Massachusetts or Rhode Island and to authorize an appropriation therefor

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Director of the United States Veterans' Bureau, subject to the approval of the President, is authorized and empowered to acquire, by purchase, condemnation, or otherwise, a suitable site in Rhode Island or southeastern Massachusetts, and to enter into contracts for the construction thereon of the necessary hospital facilities for the beneficiaries of the United States Veterans' Bureau who may be eligible for care and treatment in hospitals maintained by the United States Veterans' Bureau.