cided upon and it is assumed that the sites of Canadaigua and West Virginia will be determined upon in the near future. It appears probable that title to the sites at Indianapolis and Waco will be acquired at an early date. At this time the following priority of these new projects appears logical. The order in which the projects are listed is based upon what appears to be the probable order in which the sites will be acquired, the need for the facilities, and the most advantageous employment of the construction division organization in view of the desirability of placing the maximum of work on the market at the earliest practicable date. The dates mentioned represent the opinion of the construction division, as to what may be accomplished in this connection, and every effort will be made to adhere to them and to anticipate them if possible. You will be kept advised as to progress being maintained. The approval of the foregoing priority was recommended with the understanding that any change that may appear desirable or necessary would be brought to the attention of the administrator as soon as the probability of such a change develops. The dates indicated represent a material advance over those in which the construction division previously has been working, as indicated by the construction program chart of May 7, 1930. Mr. GEBERT. May I say in relation to the consolidation that this is applicable to show that we can not any longer run to our State and county institutions for assessments. They have a waiting list averaging 300 at the present time. I am a member of the veterans' commission of the State appointed by the governor, and on that commission was the adjutant general of our State. In discussing the hospitals of veterans with him, I stated to him how hard it was to hospital them at this time. He said, "If there are no T. B. cases, I think I can have that arranged for, for them to be taken over by Doctor Appel." He was at one time in the National Guard and took a great interest in matters related to the veterans. A week later I got a case of that kind and called up the adjutant general and told him about it, and he said, "I am going out with General Moseley. But I will call up Doctor Appel and tell him about it." He called up Doctor Appel and if he is secretary of the health department and it takes four weeks, as it did in that case, to get relief, I say to you that it is evident that that does not answer the difficulty. Colonel MILLER. In the N. P. hospitals there are practically no vacancies. They are overcrowded. Mr. RANKIN. They are reporting to me now that the increase at Gulfport will be entirely inadequate. Mrs. ROGERS. Will unemployment enter into that increase? Mr. RANKIN. I think this unemployment situation is augmenting insanity. It is having a considerable influence on that. Colonel MILLER. Gulfport is now above capacity, without a single bed. Mrs. ROGERS. Mr. Miller's last charts show that T. B. is slightly on the increase. Mr. RANKIN. The T. B. is not bad, with the possible exception of a few sections of the country. We are not having trouble with the T. B. cases. Mrs. ROGERS. But you do not have the necessary number of beds for the turnover. Colonel MILLER. There are such sections of the country that will apply to. The T. B. load is now in the six thousands whereas before it was in the thirteen thousands. Mrs. ROGERS. They are having a bad time in Massachusetts. Colonel MILLER. Yes; and California is another place where we have trouble on account of the migration. Mrs. ROGERS. We will now hear Mr. Thomas V. Dowd. STATEMENT OF THOMAS V. DOWD, FIELD SECRETARY OF THE NATIONAL REHABILITATION COMMISSION, UNITED STATES VETERANS' BUREAU, PHILADELPHIA, PA. Mr. Dowd. First, Mrs. Rogers, I will file with the committee this statement: THE AMERICAN LEGION, DEPARTMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA, Philadelphia, Pa., April 16, 1930. Recapitulation of survey of State, county, private and Government hospitals of Pennsylvania men: Report of Pennsylvania men hospitalized in State, county, and private institutions in Pennsylvania Farview State Hospital, Waymart post office, Wayne County, Pa-- Dixmont Hospital, Dixmont, Allegheny County, Pa-- Wernersville State Hospital, Wernersville, Pa----. Torrance State Hospital, Torrance post office, Westmoreland County, Pa_ 38 20 34 31 34 13 1 6 COUNTY INSTITUTIONS Allegheny County Hospital for Mental Diseases, Woodville, Pa- 15 Pittsburgh City Home and Hospital, Mayview, Pa--. 43 Blair County Hospital, Hollidaysburg, Pa__ Chester County Hospital, Embreeville, Pa--- Blakely Home, Olyphant, Lackawanna County, Pa... Ransom Hospital, Ransom, Pa__-. Lancaster County Hospital, Lancaster, Pa----. Mercer County Hospital, Mercer, Pa___ Philadelphia County Hospital for Mental Diseases, Byberry, Philadelphia, Pa_. Schuylkill County Hospital, Schuylkill Haven, Pa.... Somerset County Hospital, Somerset, Pa---. Retreat Hospital, Retreat, Luzerne County, Pa--- Hillside Home, Clarks Summit, Lackawanna County, Pa-- PRIVATE INSTITUTIONS Friends Hospital, Frankford, Philadelphia, Pa.. 5 53 25 13 Kenwood Sanatorium, Chestnut Hill, Pa__ 4 1 Devitt's Camp for Treatment of Tuberculosis, Allenwood, Pa Tuberculosis department of Philadelphia General Hospital, Philadelphia, 34 Berks County Tuberculosis Sanatorium, box 943, Reading, Pa West Mountain Sanatorium, Scranton, Pa__. Total State, county, and private institutions___ 5 3 150 Report of Pennsylvania men hospitalized in United States Veterans' Bureau hospitals in Pennsylvania NEUROPSYCHIATRIC CASES U. S. Veterans' Hospital No. 49, Philadelphia, Pa--- 368 Report of Pennsylvania men hospitalized in United States Veterans' Bureau hospitals outside of Pennsylvania U. S. Veterans' Hospital No. 62, Augusta, Ga. U. S. Veterans' Hospital No. 81, Bronx, N. Y_-_. U. S. Veterans' Hospital No. 100, Camp Custer, Mich. U. S. Veterans' Hospital No. 57, Knoxville, Iowa___ U. S. Veterans' Hospital No. 95, Northampton, Mass U. S. Veterans' Hospital No. 105, North Chicago, Ill U. S. Veterans' Hospital No. 108, Northport, Long Island, N. Y_ U. S. Veterans' Hospital No. 42, Perry Point, Md... Total______ 2 8 72 1 1 2 3 537 2 648 Report of Pennsylvania men hospitalized in United States Veterans' Bureau hospitals in Pennsylvania TUBERCULOSIS CASES U. S. Veterans' Hospital No. 103, Aspinwall, Pa____ 160 Report of Pennsylvania men hospitalized in United States Veterans' Bureau hospitals outside of Pennsylvania U. S. Veterans' Hospital No. 98, Castle Point, N. Y__ WORLD WAR VETERANS' LEGISLATION U. S. Veterans' Hospital No. 104, San Fernando, Calif_ Total__ I merely want to subscribe to the testimony already given. In answer to the hospital proposition for T. B. cases in Pennsylvania, I will say there are no beds available for them, and there has been an increase comparable to N. P. cases in the State and county institutions. You may not be getting a great deal of trouble in regard to veterans' hospitals in Pennsylvania, but the State hospitals are being overloaded. Johnson City has not been used by the State of Pennsylvania for over a year, and the hospitals at Tupper Lake and Castle Point are being filled. Emergency cases are being taken care of. There is nobody can state offhand the number of N. P. cases that haven't hospitals at all, or the number of T. B. cases in the State which we have not hospitalized at all. We have many requests for hospitalization that are turned down because the Veterans' Bureau have not the facilities. They do not show up in State institutions. We get reports of these men through welfare and other channels that they are being maintained at their homes. Mr. RANKIN. Don't you think the Government should take care of the veterans and let the State use their insane and other hospitals for nonveteran cases? This was a national war, and as far as I am concerned, it is my policy to let the Federal Government take care of its own patients, the States taking over their own cases. Mr. Down. That's my personal opinion, too. Mr. GEBERT. I would say so, particularly as they are taking away the $40 paid by the Government; they are taking it away from the Government people and they pay it to the State. Mr. RANKIN. You can not take away from the jurisdiction of the State courts supervision over these men. Mr. Dowd. The State has made arrangements to build those, and there is now a controversy between the State and the Attorney General to fight this out in court as to whether or not they have the authority to do it. Nobody will tell us that the State has not authority to build them for the present charges. Colonel MILLER. Do you think the number of men who have applied for hospitalization, because they know the crowded condition in your hospitals, means that throughout Pennsylvania there are a number of cases in Pennsylvania that should have hospitalization? Mr. Down. There is no doubt about it; for many of our units have been instructed that there were no available beds. That was proved on the opening day of the Coatesville hospital on November 11, and since then we have been flooded with applications from men who need hospitalization. Mr. RANKIN. The veterans who get this $40-if they are in the veterans' hospitals-that $40 is given us to take care of the families; but if they are in the State hospitals the money is taken away from them to take care of them, and the families do not have that contribution to their support. That is a great discrimination against them. I think if we hospital men in one State we should make it uniform. Let those States use their own institutions for their own cases, and let the Federal Government take care of its cases. |