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Mrs. ROGERS. I am anxious to get the names of the men who have applied for hospitalization in some hospital and have been refused because of lack of beds.

Mr. BENSTON. Yes; I will get that for you.

Mrs. ROGERS. It will be very helpful. Thank you very much. Mr. BENSTON. I will send those figures to you before the week is

out.

(The following table was filed for the record by Mr. Benston :)

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Investigation further shows that we have 225 general medical cases now awaiting hospitalization in this State, with 738 scheduled examinations ahead.

We have 1,780 compensable N. P. cases in the State of Illinois; 1,017 in hospitals; 622 at No. 105 and 53 at No. 76, or a total of 675 actually in Veterans' Bureau hospitals. This means 1,105 N. P. cases in the State of Illinois that are either in State or private sanitariums, or at large.

(The subcommittee thereupon adjourned until to-morrow, Tuesday, April 8, 1930, at 10.30 o'clock a. m.)

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The subcommittee met at 10.30 o'clock a. m., Hon. Edith N. Rogers presiding.

Mrs. ROGERS. The subcommittee will be in order. We have under consideration the bill of Congressman Ludlow, of Indiana, H. R. 13568, which is as follows:

[H. R. 13568, Seventy-first Congress, third session]

A BILL To authorize the erection of an addition to the Veterans' Bureau hospital in the city of Indianapolis, 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 Administrator for Veterans' Affairs, subject to the approval of the President, is authorized and directed to contract for the erection in the city of Indianapolis, in the State of Indiana, of a modern, sanitary, fireproof 350-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 $1,500,000; 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 Indiana veterans' hospital provided for in the general hospitalization act approved December 23, 1929, and known as Public Law Numbered 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 Administrator for Veterans' Affairs 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 $1,500,000, 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.

Mr. LUDLOW. Madam Chairman and members of the committee, the World War hospitalization act, passed in December, 1929, carried an item of $500,000 for the construction of a general hospital in Indiana. The Federal Board of Hospitalization, after carefully canvassing the claims ably presented in behalf of various Indiana cities, decided to locate the hospital in Indianapolis. The board considered the matter solely on its merits and decided that there is where the Indiana hospital ought to be. Geographically and in a transportation sense, as well as in population, Indianapolis is the hub of the State. There are focused the arteries of transportation, steam railroads, electric lines, and busses, radiating into all parts of the State like spokes of a wheel. These facilities make Indianapolis the point of greatest accessibility to all of the disabled veterans of Indiana and their families. There are the consultant staffs of numerous great hospitals, and the best surgical and medical skill is available to the veterans for consultation at all times. Indianapolis is the ideal place for the location and development of an Indiana World War general hospital.

The city of Indianapolis, its city government, and its civic interests, represented by the chamber of commerce, have shown_their appreciation of this hospital in the most magnanimous way. Every move toward its establishment has been facilitated by a display of public spirit that has left nothing to be desired. Cooperation between the city and the Federal Government has been complete. As a site for the hospital the Government has been presented, without one cent of cost, the fee simple title to a tract of 30 acres in the city's most beautiful park. The location was chosen not by the city but by Veterans' Bureau officials, who pronounced it ideal for the purpose. The legal machinery required an appraisal and sale, as city property can not be given away. The entire purchase price was donated by a public-spirited citizen of Indianapolis, Mr. William Fortune, and through his beneficence the Government gets permanent title to a wonderful site absolutely free of cost. It is centrally located about a mile and a half from the soldiers' monument, which is the central axis of the city. It is on high land, with a wooded background. The environment, extraordinarily alluring and restful, seems to embrace all of nature's factors that make for convalescence. Bids for construction of this hospital will be opened at the Veterans' Bureau in this city one week from to-day. The bureau allows 10 months for construction and expects to have this first unit staffed and ready to receive patients in January, 1932.

This hospital was designed, and it was so written into the report which accompanied the general hospitalization act of 1929, as a World War hospital for the State of Indiana. It is the only general World War hospital in Indiana and it was intended that it should be open to all veterans living within the State-in that sense a distinctively State institution.

The establishment of this hospital of 150 beds, centrally located and at the point of easiest accessibility to the veterans of Indiana, as a whole, is a splendid start toward the solution of the Indiana World

War hospitalization problem, but it is only a start. A hospital of that size is wholly insufficient to take care of the present Indiana hospital load, to say nothing of the demands of the future. We are not creating the hospital load. It already exists and our problem is how to deal with it in the most intelligent manner. The hospital load in Indiana is increasing. It was 333 per cent larger in 1930 than it was in 1928 and the indications are that it will be years before the peak is reached.

We, who are here for this Indiana hospital, submit that the only logical course to pursue is to expand the Indiana veterans' hospital until it will take care of all veterans' hospital cases in the State and permit the Indiana veterans now hospitalized outside of the State, some far away, to return to Indiana for hospitalization, at home where they will be near their loved ones. The site at Indianapolis which has been donated to the Government is ample for a hospital of any size, so there will be no cost for real estate for these extra units. If enlargement is authorized now, construction may go forward without interruption with the same orderliness as if the larger hospital had been provided for in the original authorization.

We believe there would be a large saving to the Government to proceed to build the larger hospital while building costs are low. The economical and sensible thing to do, as we see it, is to increase now the authorization for the Indiana veterans' hospital from 150 beds to 500 beds which would require an additional appropriation of $1,500,000. This program, I am assured, would be agreeable to the American Legion and all other organizations that are carefully looking after the veterans' interests.

Present at this hearing are Dr. George W. Bowman, chairman of the hospitalization committee of the Indiana department of the American Legion, and Mr. William H. Book, representing the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce. These gentlemen can furnish to the subcommittee complete detailed information in regard to the Indiana hospital situation. Out in Indiana Doctor Bowman is called "the father of the Indiana veterans' hospital," because it was a dream of his long before it became a reality. Not only the veterans of Indiana and their loved ones, but all of the citizens of our State acknowledge a great debt of gratitude to Doctor Bowman for his part in originating and developing the idea of an up-to-date hospital for Indiana World War veterans.

STATEMENT OF HON. ARTHUR H. GREENWOOD, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF INDIANA

Mr. GREENWOOD. I want to add my word of recommendation to what my colleague, Mr. Ludlow, has said, and so I think we have great need for this increased appropriation in order to make this a 500-bed hospital. Indianapolis has almost half a million inhabitants and the State of Indiana about three and a half million, and I know that the initial appropriation will not be sufficient. We feel at this time it ought to be raised to include 500 beds. I have a letter from Mr. Floyd Young, who is a resident of my district and commander of the American Legion of the State of Indiana, and he wants to go on record as indorsing this with all of his enthusiasm and, on behalf of the Legion, to add his word of recommendation to the committee.

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