Los Angeles herald., 1909-06-26
SOLDIERS HOME
IS MISMANAGED
FORMER SERGEANT MAKES
AFFIDAVIT
SHOWS WHERE OFFICERS ARE
BENEFITED BY SUPPLIES
Retreat for Disabled Veterans Proves
Haven of Rest and Plenty for
Office Holding Men,
Not for Ranks

Mismanagement of the affairs of the
National Home for Disabled Volunteer
Soldiers, near Sawtelle, has been
charged by members of the home.
In substantiation of what already
has been laid bare The Herald has an
affidavit made by former commissary-
sergeant who held that position when
the present governor, I. j. Cochrane,
was treasurer of the home, and the
present treasurer, e. w. Moore, was
chief clerk to the then treasurer.
The sworn statement of this COM
miSsary- whose resignation
Colonel Cochrane demanded as soon
as he was appointed to succeed former
Governor LAGRANGE, contains facts
worth pondering over in connection
with the assertion that the home is
not we'll managed and that the old
soldiers whose laurels fiutter and wave
in the breezeS from tens of thousands
of flag poles, are not as well treated
In this and other national homes as is
contemplated in the act Of congress
establishing them.
1t Is not fact in controversy that
the federal government appropriates
money sufficient to make them COM
Portable, TO furnish them with an am
pie supply Of wholesome food and for
the best of care and attention in sick
ness. Not man in the control of the
homes, high or low, will say that the
federal government has not aimed at
the high ideal of protecting and caring
for the war veterans who have de-
Tended the flag throughout their
natural lives. AS viewed by the vet
Grams themselves it is simply a ques-
tion of administrative efficiency and
not of the purpose of the government
in establishing these homes.
Buffers Foresight
"a truer thing was never said than
homes" was the somewhat mournful
homes, was the somewhat mournful
remark of an old soldier yesterday.
Butler said these homes would prove
q haven of rest and plenty for the Of
flee holding officers, but hell for the
rank and file. A few of us have lived
to see the fulfillment of his prophecy"
1t is not alone of the food, though it
is the most important thing to be con-
sidered, that the old men utter COM
plant. They assert, and declare they
stand ready to make affidavits, that
brutalities and cruelties are inflicted
on inmates of the home which rival
those of the military prisons main
tained during the bloody strife between
the states. They assert and will swear
to the statements that the officers and
civilian employees appropriate the best
of the food furnished by the govern
ment What Is worse, they assert. as
is shown in the affidavit of the former
-commissary- that food stuffs
were accepted by the officers that never
should have been allowed to go into
the commissary at all, that potatoes,
eggs, meat, rice and other supplies
were passed by the officers that were
unfit for human consumption. They
assert, and an affidavit can be obtained
to this effect, that when one commits
sary sergeant took charge Of that de-
partment the cereals were wormy, the
commissary was in an insanitary con-
dition, the supplies which had been
furnished the tables were not up to
the standard.
They assert, and the records in Wash
ington and at the magnificent quarters
on Broadway, New York, where the
board of control has a suite of offices,
will show the complaints registered
never have been answered except by
perfunctory inspection which never
amounted to anything in the shape of
relief.
Charge crueIties
The grizzled old warriors bring their
complaints closer home, and besides
charging mismanagement they have a
long list of cruelties to helpless old SOL
diers charged UP against the present
governor, Col. Cochrane, and his Subor-
dinates in charge at the present time.
The affidavit which The Herald holds
suffices to show that during the period
mentioned, which was when LAGRANGE
was governor and the present governor
was treasurer, the home was misman-
aged with reference to the supplies fur-
nished and the character of the food,
which for years doubtless had been be-
low the grade specified in the contracts
let by the government.
AS to cruelties, indignities and even
brutalities, the members of the home
can tell many a narrowing story. and If
necessary many affidavits could be fur
nished. One veteran who declares he
will face Col. Cochrane, Treasurer
Moore, former Governor LAGRANGE, for
mer Ouartermaster Parsons and any
other officer, relates instances of ty-
ranny and cruelty covering period OF
more than three years that savors of
darkest Russia
II recall the case of Raycroft, who,
without cause, was thrown into the
guardhouse by the policeman, man
named Bruce, who is now a beer wagon
driver, because he criticised the police
mans action in arreSting a helpless
aged man who cruelty had been beaten
by the captain of one of the barracks,
said the Old soldier. RdycTOIL Hdu re-
marked: "A man who would arrest an
old man like that is and he got no
farther He was told to keep his mouth
closed, was brutally treated and rushed
off to the guardhouse.
Old Man Mlstreated
''The case was this; Old Andy, a
decrepit soldier, who for some reason
never gets any pension, was accus-
toned to pick up TASKS behind the bar
racks and sell them, thus earning a
few dimes. The captain of one of the
companies one day threw himself on
old Andy and crushed him with his
knees. There were many witnesses to
the brutal attack and much indigna-
ton. The policeman arrested old Andy
and Raycroft dared to criticise him.
The next day fifty witnesses were on
hand to swear in defense of Raycroft,
but the governor dismissed all but two.
He then severely reprimanded these
two witnesses and ordered them out of
his presence. At the same time he dis
missed the charge against Raycroft.
There are many such instances of his
tyranny over the men"
Another old soldier, who had incur
red the displeasure of the powers that
be. was deposed as room orderly in
his ward. The room orderly cleans
up for the men who are unable or un-
willing to attend to snese matters
x1-~.r-Ix,ao fov urbioh l,a Oafa XII