The Cordova daily times., 1921-03-14
OF WAR HEROES IS
 DISCRACEFUL
BY COL. WINFIELD JONES

eSpOndence) .-Pitiable conditions exist among veterans of the World war in the capital of the United States. These deplorable conditions .are caused primarily by lack of hos pital facilities, though many of the veterans who have been abel to get into hospitals are no better off than those who are walking the streets suffering from their wounds or from disease contracted in France.
 Men who have become mentally un. balanced because of battle injuries; men who have contracted incurable diseases in the trenches and who are steadily growing worse; men who arc absolutely destitute though they of fered their lives to the republic, are roaming the streets of the national medical and hospital facilities and they need enough money to maintain themselves until they can become cured and again earn their living. i There are others who are out of em- ployment and who cannot get work walking historic Pennsylvania right under the shadow of the capital I dome
 It is not Eloubted here if these con- 1 ditions concerning the disabled vet l erants prevail in the capital of the l United States, the greatest and wealthiset nation on the face of the globe, and the land that has always the nations defenders, that similar conditions exist in many other of the large cities.
 l Such a situation is a burning dis grace to the last administration and to congress. These conditions must be i speedily corrected or when they are | generally known the people, who in i the mass are never ungrateful or un- ! ~oH@r0Is, will take steps to hold to strict accountability the officials and the congressman who are responsible.
 The Washington situation is be- | lieved to be typical of similar condi- tiOns all over the country
 A slight investigation here, lasting only a few hours, shows that the 1 foregoing statements are not over drawn.
 q thank God that my son died on i ipI1 Nf DF ing to the conditions which he would find here," is the way one "gold star" mother speaks in recent let ter. This letter, from Mrs. R. E. Jacobs, received by Representative Clarence J. Mcleod, of Michigan, who himself served with American ex- peditionary forces, speaks with un- equaled force for more careful atten- tion to the needs of the former ser vice men.
 'I lost my only son, boy of IS years, in the Argonne," Mrs. Jacobs writes. "I thank God that he lies in a graveyard in France instead of being in one of the hospitals here or selling things on the streets, or, as I witnessed the other day, two of our boys, both with one leg gone, doing acrobatic stunts on the corn CTS, and taking a chance of being killed by automobiles.
 They were taking the coins that the passersby were tossing to them, and I thought, this is the way our boys are left to get livlihood by their government"
 By far the great majority of the men who demand the attention of the government are now tubercular or mental cases. These cases all re- quire expert and careful attention, and the tubercular patients also re- Quire a special location in regard to climatic and atmospheric condi- tions.
 Efforts are being made to care for tubercular cases at Mount Alto public service hospital here, and a number of cases have gone to the Providence hospital here on contract Hardly a day goes by but some of the patients of these hospitals make complains either to the hospital authOritis, the American Legion or members of congress that conditions are unsat- isfactory.
 Three men, tubercular patients at Providence hospital, recently went to a congressman's office asking for help in getting transferred to a hos pital farther west, where the air would give them a chance to more rapid recovery. They were told by the congressman to return in about a week and that efforts would be made to remedy tbcT coud;uons. il about q wnel two of them came