Mr. WOOD. What is the fair value of this land even in these deflated times?

Mr. MCCART. The land that the springs are on is hard to value. It has been estimated at several thousand dollars per acre. That is the real value. West Baden and French Lick are built on mineral water. That is what made them. Back in the very early days the Indians in that country came there, supposed to have come for salt in the early seventies, for water, and things of that kind, and the deer came there and drank the water. That is the history. The deer came there to drink the water and lick the stones, supposed to be salt, and that is the way it got the name French Lick. It originated that way. That is good farm land there. It is adjacent to the village of West Baden. The Monon Railroad skirts it on the east all the way. It is 1,100 feet from this station to the front door of the hotel and not a public highway in the entire reservation. We are surrounded by concrete highways all except on the west, and that is forest land. There is also farm land. At this time land is not selling but at $150 an acre, and that is cheap, just like giving it away. Two years ago it would have sold for very much more than that, 300 acres of that land. I do not know what timber is worth. It is like everything else now, but there is a lot of good timber and heavy forest there.

Mr. WOOD. Is there saw timber?

Mr. MCCART. Yes. We try to preserve the timber. It pays us, but it decays and gets away.

STATEMENT OF ED. BALLARD, WEST BADEN, IND.

Mr. BALLARD. You had one timber sale in 1901, when Mr. Rhodes sold one-third, I think to Mr. Sinclair, of his present ground, for $166,000.

Mr. MCCART. There was a new building on their land. The old buildings were burned down.

Mr. BALLARD. No; what buildings were destroyed?

Mr. MCCART. That is, in 1901.

Mr. BALLARD. That is the only one. We had set a value on the ground, the only transfer that has ever been made on the land alone, in 1901. It was valued at that time, the sale value, at $500,000.

Mr. MCCART. The property did not change ownership until Mr. Ballard bought it in September, 1923, from that time in 1901. I think that concludes all that I need to say, unless there are some questions.

Mr. WOOD. I stated before that I have gone down in that country for 30 years, and while I know nothing about the details that have been given here, I do know it is the most beautiful spot in Indiana. It looks to me like the picture by Sol Smith Russell, that they used to say was the Peaceful Valley. It has all that atmosphere, and it is an ideal place either for a soldiers' home or for a veterans' hospital. You could not find a better place the country over. As I have said before, Mr. Ballard is willing to sacrifice this property and wants to go out of the business. He has a number of reasons to go out of it. It was used for a hospital all during the period of the war, which, of course, destroyed its commercial value at that time to its owners, and since that time, immediately after the war, it ceased to

be used as a hospital. It had to be refurnished, the whole business, and all the furnishings are practically new.

Mrs. NORTON. It would make a wonderful soldiers' home.

Mr. GIBSON. Have you any other witnesses?

Mr. WOOD. I think that is all.

Mr. GIBSON. Do you want to leave those pictures?

Mr. JEFFERS. Yes; leave them. There will probably be some member of the committee want to see them.

Mr. MCCART. I will leave them here with the committee. (Thereupon, at 12 o'clock noon the subcommittee adjourned to meet again at 10.30 o'clock a. m., Monday, February 9, 1931.)

WORLD WAR VETERANS' LEGISLATION

MICHIGAN

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 16, 1930

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

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

Mrs. ROGERS. The committee will please come to order. We have under consideration H. R. 10068, a bill introduced by Congressman Hooper, to authorize the erection of an addition to the existing Veterans' Bureau hospital plant No. 100, Camp Custer, Mich., and to authorize the appropriation therefor.

The bill will be inserted in the record at this point.

H. R. 10068 was introduced by Mr. Hooper and reads as follows:

A BILL To authorize the erection of an addition to the existing Veterans' Bureau hospital plant No. 100, Camp Custer, Mich., 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 four hundred bed-patient capacity addition to the existing Veterans' Bureau hospital plant numbered 100, Camp Custer, Mich., with diagnosis facilities, for the diagnosis, care, and treatment of neuropsychiatric disabilities, and to provide Government care for mentally afflicted veterans, regardless of whether said disability developed prior to January 1, 1925, at a cost not to exceed $1,550,000; 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 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.

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 appropri ated, the sum of $1,550,000, 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. STATEMENT OF HON. JOSEPH L. HOOPER, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF MICHIGAN

Mrs. ROGERS. This is the only bill from Michigan?

Mr. HOOPER. This is the only bill for Michigan, as I understand it. Madam Chairman, I wish to express, in the first place, the gratitude of myself and of the gentlemen who are here from Michigan for this opportunity to appear before your subcommittee this morning and speak on this bill.

Mrs. ROGERS. We are delighted to have you.

Mr. HOOPER. This bill, Madam Chairman, is one which has been filed at the request of the American Legion, and which was prepared by the American Legion, but which meets, I need hardly say, with my full acquiescence and my very hearty support.

I am not going to speak on this matter this morning except for just a moment, but will say to the chairman and to the other members of the committee that I expect, after a consultation with my friends here from Michigan, to file with the committee a fairly elaborate memorandum on the matter at an early subsequent date; that is, a sort of brief on the matter.

Mrs. ROGERS. We want all the information we can get.

Mr. HOOPER. I am going to file that, and perhaps other members of the Michigan delegation will do the same thing. Others of them would have been present this morning except for the fact that they are holding a conference over the rivers and harbors bill in Mr. Cramton's office, and are not able to be present, except Mr. Clancy.

Mrs. ROGERS. Do they all wish to be recorded in favor of the bill? Mr. HOOPER. I think they all wish to be recorded in favor of the bill. I think I can say that definitely.

Mrs. ROGERS. Then they can appear later. Mr. HOOPER. There is just one thing, perhaps I ought to say about the place. needs.

Madam Chairman, that
Others will explain the

Battle Creek is the place where I live. That has nothing to do with the merits of the matter, but I have lived there almost all my life. It is a town of about 50,000 inhabitants. It was selected as the site of Camp Custer in 1917, at the breaking out of the World War. It is situated 121 miles west of Detroit, on the New York Central lines; Detroit, of course, having a population of 2,000,000 people, and it is 165 miles from Chicago, on the two main trunk lines, the New York Central lines and the Grand Trunk Western. The city has long been noted as a place of great healthfulness. It is the home of numerous hospitals of various characters, besides the American Legion Hospital No. 100. It is the home of Roosevelt Hospital, a hospital partially operated by the State for the benefit of the American Legion, and aside from that there are great sanitariums and other health institutions there.