The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1921-01-10
LEGION CHARGES
SOLDIERS NEGLECT.
Thousands in Misery Owing
to Failure of the
Government
LEGION PRESENTS
MEMORIAL TO-DAY
Asks That Three Bureaus be Merged -
Says Present Plan for Rehabitating
Disabled Veterans Is Shameful and
UnsuSt"-New Law Needed


Unjust New Law Needed.
WASHINGTON, Jan. l0.-The present
system of rehabilitating disabled veterans
Of the war is denounced by the American
Legion a failure" which should be
remedied by consolidating under single
head the three government agencies now
engaged in that work. This charge and
the remedial suggestion were presented by
the legion today to President Wilson,
President Elect Harding and to every
member of both houses of congress-. in
Il memorial directing attention to the
suffering, shameful neglect and injustice"
which the legion asserts marks the adj
ministration OF the affairs of the war
veterans.
Col. f. W. Galbraith ir., national com
mander OF the legion, personally delivered
a copy of the memorial to Senator Hard
| ing at Marion. where Col Galbraith has
an appointment to discuss with the
Prcsidcnt-elect the legions program for
the disabled men,
The legion asserts in the memorial that
Tie junction of the tinve azencses which
now deal with the soldiers who REQUIRE
their CountIy's CaTc-the Bureau of War
& 'NiTFN l'Lo'4le4 1AAts tAt ItdGhdi DOdfu OI o.
CatIonaI Education and the United States
Public Health Service-"must be coordi-
mated, their machinery decentraiized and
all three placed under the common CON
troll"
70 do this the memorial saws. There
must he new law which shall place the
united orga niZatiOn under a single adj
mJHlstrative mead For this new organ
lz2tIon the legion asks au appropriation
sufficient 20 bay. huld- equip and enlarge
. Isy... HH.E
tor ali the men nsw under hospital treat
mcnt. Bills providing for this have been
. introduced IN both houses Of congress Mt
the request Of the legion
II Is announced that the legion has sent
copies Of the memorial to 5000 legion
speakers IN all states who have volun-
teered To- endeavor to focus the attention
81 the nation on the situation Of the dis
abled men.
The memorial asserts that the United
states has been more liberal than any
other nation IN lis provisions Tor the dis
ableu soldiers, hul that III has failed N
1 large measure ta make these provisions
available lat~ 3. at.riNutgH to IAN AS
tnnIshiu- state al divided responsibility
and wasted esiort am.g- tHr. eovCgnmeH,
agencies with winch The problem PESTS"
In the rehabilitation uf a disabled nan
there are three reeds medical treatment,
vocational training and financial support.
the memorial proceeds. Tie government
has RECOGNIZED the three needs. but over
looks the fact that tiny are the stimuli
different men or Of one man at three dit
ferent times. 1t makes three problems
, ont OF what really is ono problem.
Continuing this faulty conception. It
has given the problem over to three
agencies. AL 10y force of circum-
stances, are exercising functions they were
not intended To exercise. This presents
an amazing spectacle of administrative
chaos duplication. wasted energy and
conflict, which Is the key to the present
condition.
The result is the suffering of the dis
abled veteran. Thousands are waiting and
have waited for months for compensation
for their injuries. Thousands have waited
for months for an opportunity to reestab-
lish themselves as selt-sustauing mem
hers OF society 10y vocational training,
Thousands are In need OF decentralization,
and the government has no hospital IA
cl'ties available for them.
Sixteen thousand beds are needed now.
Hundreds OF veterans are the objects @.
public and private charity, afflicted and
penniless veterans having been driven
to refuge in amshouses and iails. Many
have died, and If immediate rellct * not
Forthcoming more will die, destitute, with
out proper medical care. without COM
pensatiou with which to obtain it aban-
doned by the country they served.
All this Is attributed directly to the
manner in which the government has adj
ministered the affairs Of the disabled.
Immediate relief and ultimate remedy of
this condition rs possible and imperative
."On Nov 26 last $4,000 cases were pend
ing in the bureau awaiting adjustment OF
eompcnsatiou Thousands are suffering
and many have died rs a result OF this
neglect
In an appendix to the memorial the
legion has this comment on the Public
Health Service hospital at East Norfolk.
Mass:
Location not suitable for neuro-psy-
ehiartric patients. Patients and hospitals
personnel dissatisfied. New personnel