WORLD WAR VETERANS' LEGISLATION INDIANA AND ILLINOIS MONDAY, APRIL 7, 1930 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON WORLD WAR VETERANS' LEGISLATION, The subcommittee met at 10.30 o'clock a. m., Hon. Edith Nourse Rogers (chairman) presiding. Mrs. ROGERS. We have before us for consideration three bills introduced by Members of Congress from Indiana-H. R. 10255, introduced by Congressman Hall; H. R. 10069, introduced by Congressman Ludlow; and H. R. 6580, introduced by Congressman Elliott. (The bills referred to are as follows:) [H. R. 10255, Seventy-first Congress, second session] A BILL To authorize the erection of a Veterans' Bureau hospital at Marion, Indiana, 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 three hundred bed patient capacity hospital plant, 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, regardless of whether said disability developed prior to January 1, 1925, at a cost not to exceed $1,000,000; 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 purpose 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 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 $1,000,000 to be immediately available and to remain available until ,་ 7 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. 10069, Seventy-first Congress, second session] A BILL To authorize the erection of a Veterans' Bureau hospital in the State of Indiana, 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 in the State of Indiana of a modern, sanitary, fireproof, one hundred and fifty bed patient capacity hospital plant, for the diagnosis, care, and treatment of general, medical, and surgical disabilities, regardless of whether said disability developed prior to January 1, 1925, at a cost not to exceed $500,000; 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 be an addition to the hospital provided for in the general hospitalization act approved December 23, 1929, and known as Public Law No. 29, and 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 $500,000, 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. 6580, Seventy-first Congress, second session] A BILL To authorize the erection of a Veterans' Bureau hospital in the State of Indiana 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 is hereby authorized and directed to contract for and cause to be erected in the State of Indiana, a modern, sanitary, fireproof hospital plant of not less than five hundred bed-patient capacity, for the diagnosis, care, and treatment of general, medical, surgical, and neuropsychiatric disabilities, such hospital to provide additional hospital and out-patient dispensary facilities for persons entitled to hospitalization under the World War veterans' act, 1924, as amended. SEC. 2. There is hereby authorized to be appropriated, out of any funds in the United States Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to carry out the provisions of this act, the sum of $2,000,000, to be immediately available and remain available until expended. Mrs. ROGERS. We are very glad to have you with us. proceed, Congressman Elliott? Will you STATEMENT OF HON. RICHARD N. ELLIOTT, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF INDIANA Mr. ELLIOTT. Madam Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, on the 5th day of December, 1929, I introduced H. R. 6580, a bill to authorize the erection of a Veterans' Bureau hospital in the State of Indiana. This bill provides for a plant of not less than 500 bedpatient capacity for the diagnosis, care, and treatment of general, medical, surgical, and neuropsychiatric disabilities, and authorizes an appropriation of not to exceed $2,000,000. I wish to say several years ago when we started in to build these hospitals I was a member of the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds, and we had charge of all of this legislation. We were told at that time that this hospital question was going to reach up into probably $100,000,000 before we got through with it. It was hard for me to believe that was true at that time; but, after passing through the years that have elapsed since the war, I have found, unfortunately, that the statements those men made at that time, who represented the United States marine hospitals, were true, and it would take probably more than $100,000,000 eventually to take care of the boys who suffered in the war. Back at that time we had in Indiana a very large hospital known as the Marion Soldiers' Home. To the east of us, at Dayton, was another large soldiers' home; just to the west of us, at Danville, Ill., was another large soldiers' home. Now, those homes at that time were full. Mr. FENN. Are those national soldiers' homes? Mr. FENN. I knew Dayton was a national soldiers' home. Mr. ELLIOTT. They were of the soldier-home type. As I say, at that time we had those places full of veterans of the Civil War, some of the Mexican War, and some of the Spanish-American War and, now and then, perhaps some of the Regular Army who were not classified in any war. But here is what has happened: The Marion Soldiers' Home has been taken entirely away from Indiana and taken over as a veterans' hospital and is filled up to its capacity with insane patients from all parts of the country. So that, as a hospital proposition for the benefit of the soldiers of Indiana, it is no longer available. Dayton, to a large extent, has been taken over as a veterans' hospital and it is running to capacity all of the time. I am not advised as to the conditions that prevail at Danville, Ill., but I do know that at the present we have no general hospital facilities within the State of Indiana for the benefit of the veterans of the World War. Mrs. ROGERS. You feel the $500,000 appropriation that was carried in the last bill for a general hospital, which was signed by the President just before Christmas, will not be adequate to take care of your needs? Mr. ELLIOTT. It is not adequate, and I want to show you why. We have a veteran population in Indiana at this time of 133,000 World War veterans (that is approximate); 7,500 veterans of the Spanish 48695-31-18 War. Up to January 10, 1930, 18,867 veterans of the World War had applied for compensation. Of this number 8,083 had been disallowed, not because they were not disabled but because they were not able to show a service connection of their disability, although presumably a lot of them would be entitled to service connection if they could prove it. Three thousand four hundred and seventy-one of these cases have been terminated, some by death and some by reason of the fact they have been taken off of the records by the Veterans' Bureau. At that date, January 10, 1930, there were 7,199 Indiana veterans drawing compensation and we had 594 Indiana patients in various hospitals scattered throughout the country. Now, from January 1 to November 30, 1929, there were hospitalized from Indiana 1,430 patients. That gives you a bird's-eye view of the situation in Indiana on January 10, 1930. Of course, you have given us a $500,000 hospital in Indiana, which will take care of approximately 150 beds. That will be all right as far as it goes, but by the time you get that hospital completed you are going to find that hospital is not big enough to take care of the load and you are going to be called upon to enlarge that hospital. There is no question about it; there is no question that within five years from this date you will be making preparations to make this hospital take care of at least 500 beds in Indiana. When this is going to be the result, where is there any business ability displayed in building this small hospital now? Why not add this other money to it, so that you can get a hospital that is able to take care of this load. Mr. FENN. Is this hospital under construction now? Mr. ELLIOTT. They have located it; the appropriation has been made, as I understand it, of $500,000. Is not that correct? Mr. MADIGAN. $8,000,000 has been appropriated out of the $15,950,000. The site has not been selected. Mr. ELLIOTT. But they have the $500,000 available. Mr. FENN. Has the actual construction been begun? Mr. MADIGAN. No, sir; the site has not been selected yet. Mr. ELLIOTT. My point is they should add more money to it. Mr. FENN. The construction has not been begun, so that if Congress should grant more money the general plan could be carried through, without being a patchwork on to this hospital that has already been authorized? Mr. ELLIOTT. That is the idea I have, and that you can get more for that additional money by spending it now and letting it go through with the general contract than you can to come back later and build an addition to the hospital. And if you build that kind of a hospital, then you have a patchwork hospital. Mr. FENN. Of course, if it is not under construction that is true; but if this $500,000 building were under construction and the additional appropriation should be made that would be in the nature of patchwork, as you have described it. Mr. ELLIOTT. Yes. Mrs. ROGERS. Just how far has the bureau gone in considering this hospital? Mr. MADIGAN. The Federal Board of Hospitalization held a regular public meeting, and after that they determined upon a general location, which was a 50-mile radius from Indianapolis. After that they sent out an engineer from the Veterans' Bureau, and he has surveyed the various sites within that radius and has made his report to the director, but the Federal board itself has not met to consider which of those sites will be selected. Mrs. ROGERS. The idea is to have it within 50 miles from the center of population? Mr. MADIGAN. Of Indianapolis. That was the general location determined upon at that meeting. Mr. ELLIOTT. I wish to say this: It does not make any difference whether you are located in Indianapolis or outside, a 150-bed hospital is not big enough to carry this load, and it is not going to be good business to build the hospital and just come along in a year or two and add more to it. It should be done now. That is about all I have to say about it. Mr. FENN. These locations are determined by the director of the bureau with the advice of the hospitalization board? Mr. ELLIOTT. Yes. Mr. FENN. Congress does not determine the site? Mr. ELLIOTT. No. Mr. LEWIS. Mr. Elliott, do you not believe the Government should build these hospitals, regardless of the question of service connection, for these mental cases? Mr. ELLIOTT. I do. I think we are going to come to it, anyhow. Now, to get down to that proposition, the history of all wars is more or less alike after it is over. The time is coming when we are going to have to take care of all of these boys who have no place in their homes to be taken care of, and these hospitals will be called upon 10 years from now or 20 years from now to carry a much larger load than now. The only humanitarian principle that we can invoke in this is to take care of the boys, in their days of suffering, who went in and bore the brunt of the battle, and it does not make any difference how much it costs in taxes to do it. Mrs. ROGERS. How would you feel about having the States pay for the actual care on a 50-50 basis-not for the buildings, of course, but for the care of the nonservice-connected cases? Personally I do not care how they are paid for so long as the veterans are given proper care. Mr. ELLIOTT. In reply to that I wish to say this: These boys all went into the United States Army to fight for the United States in a common cause. Now, some of the States are not as able as other States to take care of these fellows, and the fellow who went out and carried a gun in defense of his country is entitled in time of need to have the power of that Nation back of him to give him the comforts and attention he requires in his time of need. Mrs. ROGERS. Now, Mr. Hall, will you proceed, please. STATEMENT OF HON. ALBERT R. HALL, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF INDIANA Mr. HALL. Madam Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, on February 25 I introduced H. R. 10255 specifically at the request of the American Legion. Mr. FENN. The American Legion of Indiana? |