Mr. Ebner's failure to complete his vocational training was due to the late date on which he made himself available and his failure to cooperate or devote full time to his college course.

The Administrator's report of April 22, 1959, opposed the enactment of this bill. No reason is apparent why Mr. Ebner's case should be sought out for special legislative treatment to the exclusion of other cases which must be denied where similar circumstances exist. We believe that to do so would be discriminatory and precedential.

The next bill, Mr. Chairman, is S. 2201, a bill to amend section 601 of title 38, United States Code, with respect to the definition of the term "Veterans' Administration facilities."

S. 2201 would permit the use of private contract hospitals for the care of war veterans with non-service-connected disabilities in the States of Alaska and Hawaii. The bill would accomplish this purpose indirectly by a general provision that private facilities may be used if there is no Veterans' Administration hospital within a State on the date of the enactment and none is located within 500 miles of the border of the State.

The statutory term "Veterans' Administration facilities" now includes private contract facilities to provide hospital care "for veterans of any war in a territory, Commonwealth, or possession of the United States." This is an exception to the general provision that hospital care for non-service-connected disorders can only be provided to the extent beds are available in VA or other Federal hospitals. With the admission of Alaska and Hawaii to statehood, we no longer have general authority to provide contract hospital care in those States for veterans suffering from non-service-connected disabilities.

It has long been Government policy to provide hospital care for our war veterans for conditions not related to their service only to the extent of available Government facilities. It has not been the policy to attempt to care for all such cases. To do so would require a great expansion of Veterans' Administration hospital bed capacity. The President, consistent with the traditional policy, has recently established an Executive limitation of 125,000 beds on the overall authorized bed capacity of VA hospitals.

It is true that there is no VA hospital in either Alaska or Hawaii. But arrangements have been made in both States to care for war veterans with non-service-connected disabilities in other Government hospitals. In Alaska we have beds allocated for VA beneficiaries in hospitals of the Department of Defense and the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. In Hawaii additional beds are allocated for our use by the Defense Department in Tripler General Hospital. We hope that in the long run the needs in both Alaska and Hawaii can be satisfied to a reasonable and proper extent by the use of these Government facilities.

Under these circumstances and for the additional reason that the use of private contract facilities in Alaska and Hawaii, now that they have become States, might well become a precedent for authorizing the use of such facilities in other States, we believe it would be unwise to enact this bill.

The third bill is S. 2235, a bill to provide benefits established by the Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act of 1952 to persons who graduated from Air Force Reserve Officers' Training Corps training in

1954 and served on active duty for training in the Air National Guard before February 1, 1955.

S. 2235 proposes to extend eligibility for additional veterans' benefits to certain Air Force ROTC graduates who performed a lengthy tour of training duty as Air National Guard officers. It would amend title 38, United States Code, to prescribe that if their period of active duty for training began before the end of the Korean conflict (January 31, 1955), it would be considered to have been a period of "active duty" for the purposes of the prinicipal readjustment benefits of the Korean GI bill: education and training; home, farm, and business loan assistance; and mustering-out payments.

As we understand it, the situation toward which this bill is directed arose from the inability of the Department of the Air Force to offer Reserve commissions and immediate active duty assignments to all of the 1954 graduates of the Air Force ROTC program. Instead, they were offered their choice among several alternate methods of discharging their military obligation. One of those alternatives was an immediate Air National Guard commission followed by a period of active duty for training not to exceed 36 months. According to information obtained from the Air Force, 1,513 individuals selected the Air National Guard option and were actually ordered to training duty by January 31, 1955. This is the group which would be affected by S. 2235.

The Administrator pointed out in his report of March 24, 1960, to your committee that the question presented by this bill is one of military status, and the Department of Defense is therefore the agency in the best position to speak on the merits of this proposal. He refrained, under these circumstances, from making a definite recommendation on the bill.

We do suggest one additional factor which may bear on the need for this legislation at this time. Readjustment assistance is intended for use during a temporary period after leaving military service. This is evidenced by the requirement under the Koeran GI bill that an educational program must be commenced within 3 years after separation from service. We understand that in most instances the 3-year tour of training duty for this National Guard group was reduced to 2 years. Hence, with few exceptions, these officers would have been released from duty more than 2 years ago. This would suggest that the need for readjustment benefits, particularly education or training assistance, does not exist in any large number of cases at the present time.

It is estimated that the total additional cost of direct benefits for education and training under this bill would approximate $500,000. In a peak year, the cost probably would not exceed $180,000. It is estimated that the administrative cost for loan guarantee benefits would approximate $20,000 during the remaining years of the loan guarantee program. We make no attempt to estimate the costs of mustering-out pay under subsection (d) of the bill-that being a matter for the Department of Defense.

Mr. Chairman, this concludes our formal statement. We shall be glad to answer any questions which the subcommittee may have. Senator YARBOROUGH. Senator Goldwater, do you have any questions?

Senator GOLDWATER. No. I think the statement of the Veterans' Administration very thoroughly covered this and answered all the questions I would have on it. I find myself in complete agreement with their position on these three measures. I think it is a very concise statement and certainly tells the story of why we should not pass it out.

I have no questions.

Senator YARBOROUGH. Mr. Bland, I have a recollection, with respect to the Dalworth C. Ebner matter, of communications I received from disinterested citizens of Austin, Tex., who think he has been done a great injustice; that there are more extenuating facts and circumstances in this case than are set out in your brief statement.

I notice there that you say he was discharged from service in 1945, but did not make himself available for vocational training until the summer of 1953. Was there not a period of hospitalization in that 8-year period?

Mr. BLAND. Mr. Chairman, I am going to ask Mr. Gundlach to answer most of your questions in regard to this case. He has made a thorough review of the file, and I believe he will be able to give you the information you desire.

Senator YARBOROUGH. All right.

Can you answer that?

Mr. GUNDLACH. Mr. Chairman, there were several periods of hospitalization, principally for examination purposes. However, application was not made for vocational rehabilitation until the date referred to.

Senator YARBOROUGH. Well, was he not hospitalized for considerable periods of time?

Mr. GUNDLACH. I do not recollect the precise length of time. But he was employed as a mail carrier during the period prior to his entrance into training. I do recall the statements regarding his employment there, that the postmaster stated he had exhausted his allowable leave in that employment, because of hospitalization. Aside from that, I do not recall that there was any extended period, aside from the amount of leave used.

Senator YARBOROUGH. The last sentence on the first page of Mr. Bland's statement says:

On March 8, 1954, without the knowledge or consent of his training officer, Mr. Ebner discontinued a portion of the curriculum, although he had previously been counseled that deviation from the agreed schedule would jeopardize his training.

As a matter of fact, he conferred with Dean Click of the University of Texas about that, did he not, before he dropped a portion of the program,

Mr. GUNDLACH. Yes, sir; that is true.

Senator YARBOROUGH. And he understood that Dean Click was acting for the Veterans' Administration in counseling him on the program?

Mr. GUNDLACH. Well, he may have had that view. However, there is in the record a signed statement indicating that it was his understanding that any adjustments in the training program agreed to would have to be taken up with the training officer, who was a Veterans' Administration representative. He did sign such a statement.

Whether he subsequently had a misunderstanding with regard to that obligation, I cannot say.

Senator YARBOROUGH. We have just received a note that there is a call for a live quorum preceding a record vote on the Gruening amendment to the Mutual Security Act; so I will have to defer further questioning on this.

Senator GOLDWATER. Could I ask one question before you go?
Senator YARBOROUGH. Yes.

Senator GOLDWATER. What was the nature of his service-connected disability?

Mr. GUNDLACH. It was first determined to be a gland difficulty, a lymph gland disorder.

Senator GOLDWATER. What in his service caused that?

Mr. GUNDLACH. I cannot say. However, it was determined by the Veterans' Administration to be service-connected. He had a history of hospitalization during the service, at which time observations were made relative to his glandular difficulty, which was not evident prior to his enlistment or induction into the service.

Senator GOLDWATER. Was it a disability occasioned by combat?
Mr. GUNDLACH. It was not.

Senator GOLDWATER. Had he had combat service?

Mr. GUNDLACH. He did not have combat service. All the servicewas in the area of the United States.

Senator GOLDWATER. He was not overseas?

Mr. GUNDLACH. Not overseas.

Senator GOLDWATER. I think I recall something about psychoneurosis or paranoia. Was that a service-connected disability?

Mr. GUNDLACH. I might relate a series of ratings given.

In January of 1948, he was allowed a 10-percent disability because of this lymph gland difficulty. In November of 1951, that rating was increased to a 30-percent disability rating, which was extended to include a condition observed as psychoneurosis. It was subsequently increased, in 1957, to a 50-percent disability because of the observed progressive nature of his emotional difficulty.

Senator GOLDWATER. What was his total service?

Mr. GUNDLACH. The total service was from April 1942 until October of 1945.

Senator GOLDWATER. That is all I have, Mr. Chairman.

Senator YARBOROUGH. Did not the officials of the University of Texas issue a statement somewhere in connection with this, in which. they say this man was a student of exceptional brilliance, far above the average student, who ought to have further training? Did that not appear in some of the records last year in the hearing before the subcommittee, when Senator Thurmond was chairman? Is that not in the record somewhere, although it may not have been offered before the subcommittee today?

Mr. GUNDLACH. Mr. Chairman, I do not recall the precise statement you refer to. However, it is acknowledged through our tests and through the examination of this man, when he applied for training, that he was a man of some ability, considerable ability, commensurate with that which we would require of a man who would aspire to the objective for which he was training-mechanical engineering.. He was mentally able to carry such work, without any question.

Senator YARBOROUGH. He was far above the average; was he not! Mr. GUNDLACH. I would say he was above average.

Senator YARBOROUGH. In this period of his dropping these courses, were there not conferences between Dalworth Ebner and the Veterans' Administration officials that have not been detailed here this morning? Were there not some additional conferences in that period of time in 1954?

Mr. GUNDLACH. These matters, if I understand you, Mr. Chairman, were handled entirely at the regional office level. We are speaking from the record created by those people. They are not present.

Senator YARBOROUGH. I might desire to file an additional statement on the matter, Senator Goldwater, as I am speaking from memory now, remembering the file of a year ago. When I review the file and determine other matters that might be of help to the committee, I may wish to file them, too.

Senator GOLDWATER. Yes.

Senator YARBOROUGH. I do remember some statements filed by some University of Texas officials that this was a man of exceptional brilliance, or words to that effect, and some other narrations of conversations between Dalworth Ebner and the representatives of the Veterans' Administration that caused him to think he had been unfairly treated. I know I have some such communications.

Now, we have other witnesses here.

Are there any further questions of the representatives of the Veterans' Administration on any of the legislation?

Senator GOLDWATER. I have one point.

In the Alaskan situation, if I recall Senator Gruening's testimony, there were only eight cases, in 1958, that would have been affected by this; is that right?

Mr. BLAND. Mr. Bowers, will you answer that question, please. Mr. BOWERS. Since 1958, was that?

Sentaor GOLDWATER. No, before 1958.

Mr. BOWERS. In fiscal year 1958, we hospitalized an average daily patient load of 38 in Alaska. In fiscal year 1959, this load dropped to 34. In fiscal year 1960-that is, from July 1 to March 1-our load is down to 25. Actually, the difference in the total number of patients hospitalized per day amounts to about nine.

Senator GOLDWATER. Do you have an arrangement with the Air Force at the Navy and Army bases up there to take care of these people?

Mr. BOWERS. Yes, sir; we do.

Senator GOLDWATER. Is it adequate?

Mr. BOWERS. We believe so. We are using the Air Force primarily, and the Public Health Service, the Indian service hospital; we felt that these hospitals could provide adequate coverage. We were somewhat disappointed in the utilization of the Indian service hospitals. It is below our expectations. We had established an allocation of 10 beds, and to date we have averaged only about 2 patients per day in those 10 beds.

Senator GOLDWATER. Has there been any undue delay in a veteran getting hospitalization in Alaska or Hawaii?