New Mexico state record. (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1914-19??, 1919-02-28

branch of the Government, but b,
the same rule he ought to be held
responsible for those things that &c
wrong.
Mr.. Chamberlain. Now, Mr.. Presi-
dent. passing from the hospital situa-
tion. let me, If ! may, offer one or
two words OF advice along other lines
to the War Department do TIL S
because these things come to me
Just as the case of the young lieuten-
ants who r:turned from France came
to me, and ! can not take up indi-
vdual cases. | hope | am taking up
thousands of cases i'll these observa-
I tions. Take the pay of soldier.
That question has been discussed
here to some extent Mr.. Pres dent,
there is absolutely no excuse for not
paying these men. There may be
some difficulties in the way because
from the pay of a private soldier
who gets S3 month there has to
be deducted forfeitures, for instance
imposed by court-marshal there
has to be deducted premiums for his
insurance there has TO be deducted
the money that is set apart FOR his
depend -nts. All these things take
time, but they ought to be done and
it i takes 5 men where only man
is acting now, or if it takes 10 men
where only man is acting now to
hasten the pay Of these young men,
let the department get the 10 men or
the men to do the work promptly
and efficiently.
Delayed With Complaints
Why. Mr.. Pres dent. have innum.
cradle letters giving instances where
liberty bonds have been actually
paid for as long ago as last July and
have not yet been delivered There
are young men who have not been
paid for or 10 months. The de-
partment asks. Why do you not send
these complaints to us? Why, Mr..
President, ] would have to have a
clerical force almost as large as that
Of the War Department to taxi. up
these letters ind vidualIy. so that !
am just sending message through
the Congressional Record to cover
them all. have sent a good mary
letvers to the department. Let me
give you an instance of the case OF
a hospital record which | sent down
for investigation. 1t was the case
oi young constituent OF mine at
Fort Bayard. N. NJ, who had tubcr-
culosis. He was IN the Letterman
Hospital in California for a wh II,
and then was restored to duty; but
Bile and they send him down to Fort
Bayard; all OF which was perfectly
proper | have known the father
of that boy for 40 years, and tha boy
has known me ever since he was oh
enough to know anybody. He said
he did not believe he could get well
there and made the usual applcat on
through military channels for dis
charge. He had a wife and family
dependent upon him. He volunteer
ed, like many other young f:llows.
They turned down his application, and
then he wrote me, and he wound up
his letter by say:ng-l will quote the
exact language, because do not
want to misquote it.:
There is an outstanding order
against a soldier asking outside aid
for discharge. and letter being
written; but this letter would not
necessarily have to be submitted to
the Surgeon Generals Office. Have
no complaint against treatment here
at all. Best OF everything is done
for patients.
That was harmless statement
Now, | usually observe these requests
and do not send the letters to the
department when requested not to
do SO but through some inadver.en-
ce this letter slipped through my
hands and got down to the depart
ment. You would think that the
boy had a right to write to his Sena-
tor or his Representative but lust
exactly what that boy feared hap.
pened His letter was sent right
back to the officer who was res
ponsible. /
Punished for Writing a Complaint
Here is what happened: That poor
boy. suffering W tn tuberculosis, was
brought up before some sort of
board of inquiry, | am not going 70
take the. time to read the record but
his pay was forfeited for IS days,
and hewas punished for having had
the bemerity to write to his Sena-
tor! Now. that seemed such palp-
able outrage to me that It was one
of the individual cases that | went
to see the Secretary of War abprt
personally. | said IF we have
reached a point when a young man
in hospital or in the Army or any
where else can not talk or write to
his Senator the country wants to
know it." The Secretary of War very
kindly sad, Il will take that up
per rsonally if you will send it to me-
and he did take it up for me person.
ally; and in due course, after having
the matter. he report
ed to me that the punishment had
been inflicted and he could not re-
lieve that, but that he had ordered
the rule revoked under which the boy
was court t-martialed-the rule which
forbade these young men writing
to any outside person for aid. | inn
mediately wrote him, and told h m
that in view of the fact that ! had
inadvertently gotten him into trou-
bic, if he would let me know how
much of his pay he had forfeited, !
would send him the money at once.
That. however, did not cure tn.
situation. What they ought to have
done was not to partially correct
the wrong that had been done to
this boy. but to get rid of the men
who ware responsible for adopting
any such un-American rule as that. !
Mr.. Smoot Mr.. President, will the
Senator tell me the date OF that
letter. and, if possible, thu date on
which the rule was revoked?
Mr. Chamberlain. | sent the Sec
retary's letter to the young man. II
VII tell you in just moment
Mr. Smoot | will say to the Sen
ator that | ask the question because !.