ment-owned and operated plants. I could not be content until I had told you these things and say "Thank you." Sincerely, MARY B. JOHNSON (Copies to Hon. Spessard L. Holland; Hon. Chester McMullen; Dr. H. C. Manaugh, chief medical officer; Mr. Robert Fowler, assistant State service officer.) GEN. CARL R. GRAY, JR., VETERANS' ADMINISTRATION with thanks for such favorable consideration as the communication herewith submitted warrants, and for a report thereon, to accompany return of inclosure. By direction of: ALEXANDER WILEY, United States Senator. VA HOSPITAL, Downey, Ill., Hon. ALEXANDER WILEY, United States Senator of Wisconsin, Senate Chambers, Washington, D. C. DEAR MR. WILEY: This is not a letter of complaint but one of praise for this hospital that has put me back on my feet, ever so fit again. Less than 3 weeks ago I was transferred from Chicago State Hospital to Downey, being in Chicago State just about 10 months. I was only too glad to get a bed here. Due to arthritis I get a $63 pension from Uncle Sam. And due to working too hard, I came down with a cardiac condition, called chronic coronary sclerosis, which in Chicago State had me weak, gasping, and breaking out in sweats at the least exertion. The coming Monday I will be here 3 weeks. On Tuesday this week I am as near normal, as possible under conditions. I feel like a new man, taking the little ward work in stride. The sweats are gone and all chest pains have left me. Truly, Senator Wiley, this is a good hospital, catering to all our wishes. The eats, so cleanly and tastefully served, a fresh tablecloth every meal, cannot be beat. The management, doctors, nurses, and all personnel are the best. I should know, was I not in Chicago State. Years ago I complained to you about this hospital. I must apologize. Then I was nervous, overanxious, and too eager, plus being high (classed as manic-depressive, too true). Today I know that these doctors know best. My aim is to make my home in Soldiers Home, Woods, Wis., in the companies, not the hospital. Any help from you would be greatly appreciated. Also, if possible have you a snapshot of yourself for my wallet? The one I use today is rather frayed for I clipped it from Look magazine many months ago. Thanks for the past favors. Very truly yours, LOUIS A. HUEBNER. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Re McCall, Elmer Avon, C-059488. Coral Gables, Fla. GENTLEMEN: I have been corresponding with the above-named veteran and his wife with reference to his hospitalization. Mrs. McCall recently wrote me as follows: "Mr. McCall likes it so well here his room is comfortable, his food is excellent, and he likes his doctors." 1 This evidently was written Jan. 2, 1953. I would like to commend you for the excellent service you are rendering to patients as reported to me by Mrs. McCall. With kindest regards, I am Sincerely, CHARLES E. BENNETT, Member of Congress. (Copies to Pass-A-Grille Regional Office and Veterans' Administration, Washington, D. C.) Gen. CARL R. GRAY, Jr., HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Washington, D. C., July 30, 1952. Administrator, Veterans' Administration, Washington 25, D. C. DEAR GENERAL: I have just received a letter from a constituent of mine praising the Veterans' Administration hospital in Houston. It is a pleasure to receive letters such as this one, and I am pleased to pass it on to you. With best wishes, I am OLIN E. TEAGUE, Congressman. AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL COLLEGE OF TEXAS, Hon. OLIN E. TEAGUE, House of Representatives, 101 Old House Office Building, Washington, D. C. DEAR CONGRESSMAN TEAGUE: I have noticed in the past your sincerity over Veterans' Administration money being wisely spent. I thought perhaps you might be interested in a recent experience I have had. I was injured in an accident and spent 9 weeks in the VA hospital in Houston. Four weeks of this time I was completely unconscious and required a lot of attention which my wife states was carefully administered. During the weeks that followed, I experienced the same careful attention. It may be a little unusual for you to receive many letters praising the spending of VA funds, but it has been my experience from the patient's view that the VA is doing a wonderful job in their hospital at Houston. In the ward where I was patient, it seems the staff was very well organized and each one had specific duties to perform. These duties were performed efficiently and well. I required a lot of oxygen, glucose, etc., and was given the necessary treatments whenever needed. I might add that this letter is my own idea and no one has asked me to write it. Sincerely yours, L. BRYCE HARDEMAN, Assistant Professor. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, December 8, 1952. DEAR ADMIRAL: I thought you might be interested in the attached copy of a letter from my good friend, Carl Dudley. Regards. DEAR MR. THOMAS: As a rule, I am sure that most letters you have received from persons in your district are letters of complaint of some nature or another. Contrary to this, I am writing you to commend a branch of the Government that I have been in contact with. This branch is the out-patient clinic of the Houston regional offices of the Veterans' Administration. For the last few weeks I have been a recipient of dental treatment at this clinic, and I wish to report those events as they occurred: To commence with, my boss, Mr. R. E. Smith, made arrangements with Dr. Paul Ledbetter, a civilian clinic, to have all of his employees examined to keep all of us in physical fitness. This examination disclosed that it would be necessary for me to have all of my teeth extracted. Being a disabled veteran, I immediately made application for dental treatment. After furnishing proof of eligibility, I was told to wait until the VA could check my dental record with the Navy. In about 2 weeks I was asked to come in and was advised by Dr. Johnson of the dental clinic that I had been found eligible for treatment and that they were ready to start. First came X-ray, then each week five teeth were extracted. On December 1, 1952, the last six were extracted. In about 10 days I am due back for gum check and denture impression. I could not help noticing during visits to that office, the seemingly endless lines of veterans coming and going, and naturally you and I both know that under such circumstances the doctors cannot be expected to take any personal interest in each and every case other than that required by his profession. However, I am proud to report that Dr. Johnson and his nurse assistant were both very kind, considerate, and showed personal interest over and above the normal call of duty. I noticed this kindness and consideration on the part of the appointment clerk, the other doctors and nurses toward all patients, and I feel that this matter should be brought to the attention of the Administrator of the Veterans' Administration in Washington. I will consider it a personal favor if you would pass this matter on to the Administrator at your earliest convenience. Yours very truly, CARL DUDLEY, In care of R. E. Smith, 2316 Gulf Building, Houston 2, Tex. (Copies to Regional Manager, Houston District, VA: Dr. Johnson, Houston District, VA.) The CHAIRMAN. Here [indicating letters] is a group of them from university presidents and from medical schools addressed to General Gray expressing what this veterans medical-program relationship means between the VA and medical schools. They are beautiful tributes to an interrelationship between the Veterans' Administration and medical and ancillary forces working together. We have affirmed from these how dependent these medical schools are on this relationship. It is a two-way street of benefit. I am not requesting that these particular letters be introduced into the record. Of course, the proof of the value of the service rendered is that the veteran is so anxious to get into these hospitals rather than into civilian hospitals. I think their efficiency has a great deal to do with it. Mr. SELDEN. Admiral, I gathered from the testimony given yesterday and today that 2,300 beds were closed during the emergency? Admiral BOONE. 2,300 beds. Mr. SELDEN. Due to lack of funds? Admiral BOONE. That is right. Mr. SELDEN. Will this $5 million, or, in effect, $6 million, upon which we are to vote today restore those beds? Admiral BOONE. No, Mr. Congressman. The Bureau of the Budget is not willing for us to raise the ceilings on staff in the older hospitals over those existing before June 30, 1952, so this $5 million will in no way relieve that situation and will not provide any money for more staff, and it means the continued closure of these beds and the deprivation of that many veterans from hospitalization at the present time. Mr. MAILLIARD. May I ask a question, Madam Chairman? The CHAIRMAN. The gentleman from California, Mr. Mailliard. Mr. MAILLIARD. If I understand your whole testimony, Admiral, this question of whether these beds are to close or not to close comes down to a difference of opinion between the President and the Bureau of the Budget and your Department as to what it requires in staff to keep them open? Admiral BOONE. Yes; that is right. Mr. MAILLIARD. I thought with the President's policy being established you would be required to abide by it whether you agreed with it or not. I served in the Navy too, and that is the way we did it there. Admiral BOONE. We feel to the very best of our ability that we have complied with the President's budget. In fact, General Gray is a military man also and he knows about carrying out orders and subordinating himself to these orders. Mr. MAILLIARD. So it just comes down to a difference of opinion? Admiral BOONE. The interpretation and the application of the interpretation. Certainly with our years of experience as military people we would not do other than subordinate ourselves to his orders. For 11 years I served Presidents of the United States as their physician, and nobody has greater respect for the Office of President or probably knows more about the relationship between the President and his physician than maybe I do, and any relationship between physician and patient is a beautiful relationship. As Mr. Hoover well said the night before surrendering his office to Governor Roosevelt, in his paying a very lovely tribute to me, "The relationship between a President and his physician is a sacred relationship." Ì so regard it, and I do respect anybody who is Commander in Chief. The CHAIRMAN. The Army and the Navy do not have the difficulty with their budgets that the Veterans' Administration has. Mr. MCNAMARA. If you asked the Army and Navy I do not know whether they would agree with that. Admiral BOONE. As Mr. McNamara has brought out General Gray appealed to the President. The budget was passed July 5. We got a report a few days later, and we worked on this from then until September 27 with just about everything under the sun to save this situation and then the general thought at times he had a chance for some relief in his conversations with the Budget Bureau and the President, and on September 27 he told a group of us we are going to get it. That was in the morning, and in the early afternoon he put his head on his desk and said, "Joel, we are licked. There is no relief. There is no way we can have a deficiency." As Mr. McNamara has expressed here we cannot. There is no way unless we get a supplemental from the next Congress, and the President said we would have to live with and make the best of funds as reduced by the Congress. The CHAIRMAN. Admiral Boone, I will say this for the man in the White House that there were no cuts. It was rumored that there would be, but there were no cuts. Are there any further questions? Mr. SECREST. I think this has been a very wonderful series of hearings. I think Admiral Boone has done a great job and is continuing to do so. If Mr. McNamara had been in his place he would have given every employee another patient, and more beds would have been closed. The CHAIRMAN. I think it has been a fine hearing. Thank you very much, gentlemen. Admiral BOONE. Someday I would appreciate it, because you are going to hear so much about it in your own communities, if you could hear us on the hometown care program because those are all service connected veterans. Mr. SECREST. Madam Chairman, I hope we can have that hearing because I know the situation at home. As it is now if a veteran wants a tooth filled by the time he gets it done he needs a full set. Admiral BOONE. We can demonstrate all the details for the committee. The CHAIRMAN. We will set next Wednesday for the hearing. Before you go I would like very much to present to the committee and to the veterans, Commander J. Herbert White, commander of the American Legion, Department of Massachusetts, and the service officer of the Department of Massachusetts, Timothy J. Buckley. These are constituents of mine too, of whom I am very proud. They know the problem, and they are here to help the veterans. We are very proud of you too, Mr. McNamara. I realize your problems. Mr. MCNAMARA. I was here only to serve the committee, to try to make it objective and noncritical. It is not a pleasant assignment to have since the budget is always subjected to this kind of a situation, but as long as you work there I guess you just always are going to be subjected to that kind of thing. The CHAIRMAN. You speak much more frankly than the budget itself speaks. Mr. MCNAMARA. I do not know of any other way to deal with Congress. I find from experience that if you tell the Members of Congress the truth and they understand they will make an answer to an agency. The CHAIRMAN. We need your help. Mr. MCNAMARA. Thank you, Madam Chairman. The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much, Admiral Boone, Mr. McNamara, and you other gentlemen. The committee will stand adjourned until Wednesday at 10 o'clock. (Thereupon, at 11:30 a. m., the committee adjourned until Wednesday, February 25, at 10 a. m.) |