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. 10065, Seventy-first Congress, second session] A BILL To authorize the erection of a Veterans' Bureau hospital in the northern part of the State of Pennsylvania, 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 United States Veterans' Bureau subject to the approval of the President, is authorized and directed to contract for the erection in the northern part of the State of Pennsylvania of a modern, sanitary, fireproof, five hundred bed patient capacity hospital plant for the diagnosis, care, and treatment of general medical and surgical disabilities, at a cost not to exceed $2,225,000; 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 $2,225,000, 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. 10527, Seventy-first Congress, second session] A BILL To authorize the erection of an addition to the existing Veterans' Bureau hospital plant numbered 111, Coatesville, Pennsylvania, 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 seven hundred and seventy bed patient capacity addition to the existing Veterans' Bureau hospital plant numbered 111, Coatesville, Pennsylvania, with diagnosis facilities, for the diagnosis, care, and treatment of general medical and surgical disabilities, and to provide Government care for the increasing load of mentally afflicted veterans, regardless of whether said disability developed prior to January 1, 1925, at a cost not to exceed $2,000,000; 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 $2,000,000 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. 11584, Seventy-first Congress, second session] A BILL To amend the World War veterans' Act of 1924 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 directed to contract for the erection of a two hundred bed patient capacity addition to the existing Veterans' Bureau Hospital plant numbered 103, Aspinwall, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, with diagnosis facilities, for the diagnosis, care, and treatment of general medical and surgical disabilities 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 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 diagnostic hospital, and out-patient dispensary facilities, there is hereby authorized to be appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, such sum as is necessary to supply the facilities provided for in section 1, to be immediately 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. Mrs. ROGERS. Mr. Welsh, the committee will be glad to hear from you now. STATEMENT OF HON. GEORGE A. WALSH, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA Mr. WELSH. Madam Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, the Pennsylvania delegation has availed itself of your courtesy in giving us this opportunity to be heard, and the entire delegation is here either actually and potentially or figuratively. Mrs. ROGERS. Will you give a list of them for the record? Mr. WELSH. Yes. Mrs. ROGERS. And if any of the members desire to file any further statement for the record, or appear before us later, the committee will be very glad to have them. Mr. WELSH. Thank you, Madam Chairman. Congressman Graham can not be here because he is having a hearing on certain bills of a very important nature that we are all aware of. Congressman Watres is appearing before the Rules Committee, and asked me if I would present this letter to you. It might be put in the record. Mrs. ROGERS. It will be filed in the record. (The letter referred to is as follows:) HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES UNITED STATES, The CHAIRMAN UNITED STATES VETERANS' COMMITTEE, House of Representatives, Washington, D. C. DEAR SIR: The necessity of appearing before the Rules Committee on a hearing on a bill which I introduced and reported from the Post Office Committee at the same hour at which this hearing is being held, makes it impossible for me to come personally before the Veterans' Committee. Having had considerable experience with the difficulties of the war veterans living in Pennsylvania who have been unable to be hospitalized because of lack of beds and who have had to be hospitalized outside of the State, I desire to take this opportunity of recording my firm belief that additional hospitalization within the State of Pennsylvania is an absolute necessity, to properly care for war veterans in need of special treatment. Very truly yours, LAURENCE H. WATRES. Mr. WELSH. Of the other members there are only two absentees that I know of. Others that are not here will be here before the hearing closes. But our delegation is unanimous in urging the necessity of increased hospitalization at Philadelphia. To-morrow the members of the American Legion will appear before you to give you the facts and figures showing the need for increased hospitalization in Pennsylvania, showing the number of men who are obliged to be hospitalized outside of Pennsylvania, some of them at very remote points; and I am not going to give you those facts and figures, although they have been furnished to me by the representatives of the Legion. I prefer to let the representatives of the Legion present those facts themselves. Mrs. ROGERS. You want a hospital of 400 beds? Mr. WELSH. Yes. We have 400 beds authorized there now, and we want to increase it to 1,250. Mrs. ROGERS. This is to be a general medical and surgical hospital? Mr. WELSH. Yes, Mrs. Rogers. We have laid the whole matter very exhaustively before General Hines within the last two weeks, and we have left with him those, figures and facts for him to check up on and prove or disprove. We have not yet heard from him as to the accuracy of our figures, although I did talk with Colonel Tripp this morning, and he assured me that in the future, a hospital already having been established at Coatesville, it would be enlarged to such an extent as might be necessary so that the boys would not have to be sent to parts far distant for treatment. That, of course, is a long step forward; but he could not assure us that we would get any relief this year. He said that, notwithstanding the statements that we had made, General Hines did not feel able to authorize any additional funds for the Pennsylvania area at this time. I wanted to submit to you, Mrs. Rogers, the feeling of the Pennsylvania Members on this subject. It is something that is very acute. It is not based on sectionalism. I think you were a member of the Veterans' Committee some three or four years ago, when we thought it wise, to have two hospitals in this Pennsylvania area, one in New Jersey and the other somewhere in the southeastern part of Pennsylvania, not then determined; and, if you will recall, I was a member of this committee at the time. Mrs. ROGERS. Yes; I remember, Congressman. You were a very active member. Mr. WELSH. And I thought it was a wise thing to do. I still think it was a wise thing to do, and I was very hopeful that we would never have sectionalism entering into the question of the hospitalization of veterans. Since that time this 400-bed hospital that has been authorized has been shown to be inadequate. It is not actually in operation, but we know from existing conditions that it can be proven that that 400-bed hospital, when it is finished, will not be sufficient to meet the demands; and that is the reason that the members of the Legion, the active members, and the members of our Pennsylvania delegation in Congress are asking for additional recognition. Mrs. ROGERS. They are all asking for the same thing? Mr. WELSH. Yes. Mrs. ROGERS. In all of these bills, which are differently worded? Mr. WELSH. Yes; all these bills that you see here are to take care of an actual need. Congressman Wolfenden has introduced a bill for increasing the number of beds at Coatesville. That bill speaks for itself. Our delegation met-the dean of the delegation is here, and he can make a full statement to that effect; I happen to be chairman of the subcommittee of the veterans on the subject, and that is the reason I am speaking at this time rather than the dean of our delegaion—our delegation met and unanimously put ourselves on record in favor of that bill. Congressman Chase has introduced a bill, which he will talk to you about, to take care of certain tubercular cases in Pennsylvania, because we feel that with our vast mountain area we could have a hospital there without making an appeal to sectionlism. I have introduced a bill to provide for a diagnostic center in Philadelphia. I have done that for this reason: Philadelphia is, we consider with all due respect to our New England friends-the medical center of the Nation. We have the great medical colleges there; we have the University of Pennsylvania; the Medico-Chirurgical; Jefferson, Hahnemann, and Temple-all these great hospitals. We have the greatest experts that the country can furnish right in that area. The war brought out a great number of unknown diseases and maladies, and we would like to have a diagnostic center there so that our boys can have the finest that modern science can give them right at hand, because Philadelphia has two millions of people right there. Mr. FENN. Where is your nearest diagnostic center? Mr. WELSH. Washington. Mr. FENN. At Mount Alto? Mr. WELSH. Yes, sir. Now, we feel that with that great area and such a wealth of material right at hand, we are not making an appeal to sectionalism in asking for a diagnostic center. Mrs. ROGERS. I wish we had more of the diagnostic centers. Mr. WELSH. They should be scattered around whenever we can get the trained men to perform their professional duties. You see, they hold a separate clinic, and the doctors from the Veterans' Bureau attend. Mr. FENN. They come from Johns Hopkins here. Mr. WELSH. They come from all around. They hear the professor diagnose the case, so that it is an educational matter. Mr. FENN. The doctors from Baltimore give their services very pleasantly to Mount Alto. Mr. WELSH. I am not going to take up any more time than just to outline the purpose of this meeting. Mrs. ROGERS. Just one thing, Congressman Welsh. Who will give us these figures? Mr. WELSH. The representatives of the American Legion will give them to you to-morrow. I want them to do that. Mrs. ROGERS. Then we will not ask you any questions of that sort. Mr. WELSH. I have these figures here. They were furnished to me by the Legion; but I do not think that I should take the benefit of all their labors when they are going to appear to-morrow. I would like them to present those figures themselves. They dug those figures up. I did not do it; the Members of the Pennsylvania delegation in Congress did not do it. But we do, Mrs. Rogers, want to let you know that when the Legion men appear to-morrow before you, back of them are 36 Members of the Pennsylvania delegation who sincerely believe that they have a justifiable cause, and we are one with them. Now, the dean of our delegation is here, and he has to go over to the Supreme Court at 20 minutes to 12. (Mr. Welsh submitted the following communication:) Hon. GEORGE A. WELSH, UNITED STATES VETERANS' BUREAU, House of Representatives, Washington, D. C. MY DEAR MR. WELSH: Following visit to the bureau by you and other Members of the congressional delegation from Pennsylvania, and representatives of the Pennsylvania State department of the American Legion, very careful consideration has been given to the question of providing certain additional beds at Coatesville, Pa., from funds available under the sixth hospital construction act. While limited funds are available under this act which have not been allocated to any specific project, I believe it doubtful if an allocation for the provision of additional beds at Coatesville should be made at this time. While it is the opinion of the bureau that the old naval hospital at Philadelphia will be eventually abandoned by reason of its structural unsuitability, it would not be the policy of the bureau to undertake such abandonment prior to the provision of adequate facilities for caring for the patients now cared for therein. While the Navy Department has requested relinquishment of these buildings, it is not anticipated that such action will be insisted upon as long as |