The Washington herald., 1921-04-28
Sen. Walsh Flags Failure
Of U. s. War Relief
Bureaus.
.,--- H.
CHARGES OFFICIALS
WITH NEGLIGENCE
Declares Hospitals Are
Crowded, Insanitary
And Filthy.

Federal governments failure to
provide ADEQUATE disqualification for
former service men. Senator Walsh.
of Massachusetts,, Democrat, yes
terday charged invalid veterans of
the world war "are housed in So
called hospitals under conditions In
which a self-respecting community
would not tolerate its incapacitated
criminals to live"
His charges. based upon per-
sonal observation and investigation,
caused a sensation in the Senate.
Senator Pomerene, Of Ohio, de-
manded an immediate investigation
by Congress and called for the
court martial OF officers responsible
tbr the conditions described by the
Massachusetts Senator. The gal
leries, breaking the rules against
applause, burst into a demonstra-
ton of approval.
Critici.es System.
Senator Walsh strongly criticized
the systems of insurance. compensa-
tion and vocational training pro-
yided for the former service men.
But there is another condition
obtaining. which l think is even
more grevious," he said. TT is bad
enough to withhold insurance or
compensation or vocational training
from one who is deserving of ii.
but it is unthinkable, it is inhuman.
to think that we should withhold
the proper hospital accommodations
from wounded men and incapacitated
soldiers of the past war and compel
them either to remain at home with
out sufficient care and medical at
tention or 60 into hospitals so
crowded. so unclean. so insanitary.
so poorly conducted and managed
that they constitute a still greater
menace to the welfare OF soldiers
than their disability.
g Rejects on Bureaus. "
1T is q sad reflection. indeed, upon
the ingenuity OF the present war
bureaus that they have been unable
to ind some buildings in the country
that they can convert into hospitals
for these men. even IL they be in
army cantonments. where modern
hospitals were built a few years
ago at great expense and which are
now abandoned.
AS the hospitals are today. there
is in many instances a lack of sani.
tary accommodations. uncleanliness
disorder and Nth. There is an in
adequacy of medical aid and advice
a shortage of the most elementary
hospital equipment, and a startling
absence of discipline and morale"
Hospitals oyercrowded.
Senator Walsh described scenes oi
overcrowding and insanitary condi'
i tons he had witnessed. He read a
letter from "a prominent general In
the active service of the American
army" who declared that these con.
u ditions were making Bolsheviks oi
men in the hospitals.
Il declare, without fear of con
tradiction, that invalid former~ssrv
ice men have been. and are today
housed in so-called hospitals unde
conditions that self-respectin;
community would not tolerate it
paupers to live. Indeed, a compar ri
son with the facilities of liyin,
which the government prepares 70
its immigrants at the immigration
stations throughout the countr,
and those for our incapitated serv
ice men would be most favorable {,
the former"
As portraying the condition q
the former soldiers and the atti
tude of indifference on the part O
the government and the public
Senator Walsh also read this ex
cerpt from a letter written by ON
of the publishers liz America to hi
editors instructing them to get bus
on behalf of the disabled soldiers
Urges Relief.
Think the most important thin,
in America today is the relief o
these soldiers. They are allowed Z
rot, we might say. without any in
terest- on the part of the people o
government.
You can get contributions 70
Armenia or any kind of out of the
way place in the world, but yo,
cannot get anything for our Amer
. ican soldiers. IT is unbelfevabl
and incomprehensible. I cannot un
derstand what animates people t
give to the foreign nations and no
give to our own, especially to thes
boys who sacrificed everything 70
their country-and above all to tn
boys who are physically unable T.
take care of themselves