PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS,

Thursday, January 6, 1927. The committee met at 10 o'clock a. m., Hon. Richard N. Elliott (chairman) presiding.

The CHAIRMAN. There were some buildings authorized in the act of March 4, 1913, that were not taken care of in the act of 1926, and the Secretary of the Treasury has written the following letter:

TREASURY DEPARTMENT, Washington, December 8, 1926.

The SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. SIR: I have the honor to inclose drafts of legislation to authorize the Secretary of the Treasury to accept title to land for sites for Federal buildings at Olyphant and Tamaqua, Pa., subject to the reservation of mineral rights, and to recommend that authority be given by proper legislation to accept title as set forth therein.

Respectfully,

A. W. MELLON, Secretary of the Treasury.

The CHAIRMAN. We have already reported the bill for Olyphant, and this bill which we have before us, H. R. 15016, takes care of the situation at Tamaqua, reading as follows:

[H. R. 15016, Sixty-ninth Congress, second session]

A BILL To authorize the purchase of a post-office site at Tamaqua, Pa., subject to mineral reservations

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States * of America in Congress assembled, That in carrying into effect existing legislation providing for the purchase of a site and the erection of a post-office building at Tamaqua, Pennsylvania, the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized to accept a title subject to the reservation of mineral rights.

Mr. BUSBY. Is not this a general condition that they have to take care of in Pennsylvania, in the mineral section, where you can hardly avoid making this kind of an exception to a title acquired? The CHAIRMAN. This is the trouble. The surface ownership and the mineral rights parted company many years ago, and one man owns one and another man owns the other. In many cases the minerals are taken out. There have been several cases where we have had to do this, and the fact is the people there have to take those titles or go without.

Mr. BUSBY. It has gotten to be a sort of custom to except mineral rights when they acquire title, and acquire title less the mineral rights.

The CHAIRMAN. Because the fellow who owns the surface does not own the mineral rights, usually.

(On motion, duly seconded, the bill was ordered favorably re ported without amendment.)

(Thereupon, the committee proceeded to the consideration of other business.)

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS, Thursday, January 6, 1927. The committee this day met, Hon. Richard N. Elliott (chairman) presiding.

The CHAIRMAN. We have met this morning for the purpose of having a hearing on H. R. 13499, a bill introduced by Mr. Roy Fitzgerand of Ohio, authorizing the erection of a sanitary, fireproof hospital at the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers at Dayton, Ohio.

(The bill reads as follows:)

[H. R. 13499, Sixty-ninth Congress, second session]

A BILL Authorizing the erection of a sanitary fireproof hospital at the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers at Dayton, Ohio

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Board of Managers of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers be, and it is hereby, authorized and directed to cause to be erected at the central branch of said home at Dayton, Ohio, on land now owned by the United States, a sanitary fireproof ́ ́hospital of a capacity for five hundred beds. Such hospital shall include all the necessary buildings with the appropriate mechanical equipment, including roads and trackage facilities leading thereto, for the accommodation of patients, and storage, laundry, and necessary furniture equipment, and accessories as may be approved by the Board of Managers of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers.

SEC. 2. That the persons who shall be entitled to the privileges of treatment in this hospital when constructed, and who may be admitted thereto upon the order of a member of the Board of Managers of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, shall be the following: Honorably discharged officers, soldiers, sailors, and marines who served in the Regular, Volunteer, or other forces of the United States in the war with Mexico, the Civil War, the war with Spain, and the World War, or in any war in which the country has been engaged in campaigns against hostile Indians, or who served in any of the extraterritorial possessions of the United States in foreign countries, including Mexican border service, or in the Organized Militia or National Guard when called into the Federal service, and nurses (female) who have served with the armed forces of the United States in any war and who are disabled by diseases or wounds and by reason of such disability are either temporarily or permanently incapacitated from earning a living.

SEC. 3. That in carrying the foregoing authorization into effect the Board of Managers of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers is hereby authorized to enter into contracts for the construction of the plant, or to purchase materials in the open market or otherwise, and to employ laborers and mechanics for the construction of the plant complete at a limit of cost not to exceed $1,500,000.

The CHAIRMAN. The representatives of the home are here and Mr. Fitzgerald is here. Mr. Fitzgerald, we will be very glad to hear you in connection with this matter, and also the gentlemen representing the home.

STATEMENT OF HON. ROY G. FITZGERALD, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF OHIO

Mr. ROY G. FITZGERALD. Mr. Chairman, I think possibly you should hear Colonel Wadsworth, the general treasurer of the home, among the first. He is the financial expert on matters connected with the soldiers' home with its 10 branches.

Before you hear Colonel Wadsworth, I would like to make a preliminary statement. Before any effect was made by the Board of Managers to secure a new building to replace the present hospitalthe present general hospital at the Central Branch at Dayton, Ohio, has been inspected and condemned by a congressional committee. This committee has, at the request of the home authorities, authorized a new hospital to be built at the Pacific Branch; at Sawtelle, Calif. While that was in course of erection I presume it was not considered advisable, under the Budget restrictions, to attempt to secure funds for another hospital.

The hospital which is provided for in the bill now before you is for the Central Branch at Dayton, Ohio, where as many as 700 major operations are performed in a year. This hospital was first investigated by a subcommittee of a committee of the House of Representatives, composed of Major Bulwinkle, of North Carolina, and myself. We made an investigation at this home in 1924. I would like to read a report made by that subcommittee in reference to this building, which is condemned, and which it is desired to replace. That report says:

[From report of January, 1925]

THE MAIN HOSPITAL AT THE SOLDIERS' HOME

This building was erected about 1867, and has been from time to time added to and improved by the installation of electric wiring and an elevator. We had this building, which houses helpless patients on the second and third floors in considerable numbers, inspected by inspectors of the fire department of the city of Dayton and by the fire inspection service of the State of Ohio. Owing to the fact that there is a great open stairway and an uninclosed elevator shaft, wooden construction of the interior, plaster broken away in the basement near the wiring, painting and small repairs carried on in the basement, the fire hazards are unusually great. Access to fire escapes were partially blocked by distribution of beds and furniture, some loose electric connections were found and patients discovered smoking cigarettes in bed. Some 700 major surgical operations are performed in this hospital yearly and many of the patients are confined to their beds and would be helpless in the event of a fire. Many of the fire hazards pointed out by the inspectors were promised correction by the general treasurer of the board and by the governors, but the building is old and of such construction that it is dangerous and a serious risk to the lives of the patients.

This building should be replaced with a modern fireproof hospital.

The CHAIRMAN. I would like to ask you a question right there. This hospital now has a population composed of Civil War veterans, Spanish War veterans, and World War veterans?

Mr. FITZGERALD. And also veterans of Indian wars, and some men from the Regular Army.

The CHAIRMAN. The fact is there are in that hospital representatives from all wars, among the veterans who are still living?

Mr. FITZGERALD. That is correct. Up to two years ago the Civil War veterans were in the majority, but during the last couple of years the proportion of Civil War veterans has decreased.

The CHAIRMAN. What proportion of the inmates are Civil War veterans?

Mr. FITZGERALD. I can not say what the proportion is at this particular home, nor could I say what the proportion is in all of the 10 branches, because I have not seen the figures for the last year, but two years ago the Civil War veterans were in the majority.