Evening star., 1922-05-05
PERMANENT SITE
|. At WALTER REED
URGED ON FORBES
Medical Advisers Recon-.
mend Razing Of Temporary
Wartime Buildings.
REGARDED uNFAvoRABlE
BY DIRECTOR OF BUREAU
Present Structures Declared Inap.
propriate, and Fire Hazard Is
Stressed in Report.

Razing of all the temporary war
time structures at Walter Reed Gen
eral Hospital, and construction on
the site Of permanent buildings. to
make a great modern institution for
the treatment of soldiers and vet
Grams, has been recommended to Di-
rector Forbes Of the Veterans Bu-
reau by board Of medical advisers
as the best method of spending part
of the money authorized by Congress
for hospitals.
The report has been considered by
Director Forbes, and some others. as
"unfavorable' in certain particulars,
it was said by Col. Forbes today at
the bureau. The plan for spending
the seventeen million dollars Is being
worked over, and no definite contracts
will be made until the entire final
recommendation has been approved
by President Harding
Report for President.
Col. Forbes said he was preparing
the report for President Harding. and
had not yet decided definitely on
where the money to be allocated to
the fourth district. including the Dis
trict Of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia
and West Virginia would be spent. He
would not go ahead. the director en-
phasized, until President Harding had
fully approved the plan.
The temporary structures at Walter
Reed General Hospital, 1t was learn
ed. are considered by medical author
tiles as entirely inappropriate for
much longer occupancy; they were
built as wartime emergency, and
are rapidly falling into disrepair. de-
manding great attention to keep them
in usable condition.
The greatest objection to the tenn
porary structures is the fire hazard.
it was said today by prominent
medical authority interested In Wal
ter Reed The personnel and pa
tients live In constant dread of
fire breaking out in the fifmsy
expensive fire apparatus has I'd be
kept up to date and ready for emer-
&ency. $50, q III ~. g sS5 :, s,s55
Owned by Government.
The hospital is located on plot
of sixty acres of government-ownAA
land, pointed to by proponents Of tHs
Walter Reed plan as a great arsu-i
ment in its favor. The government
would be put to no expense to pur-
chase a site. Furthermore, the
neucleus Of a great hospital b
already provided, not only In the fine
permanent structure already in op-
Grafton, but in the huge heating
plant lighting a;,,.,s system. .ahs ilcineratSr g,
foundation of any great hospital. The
site is a network of plumbing
The site of Walter Reed. picked out
years ago, is ideal for hospital, with
accessibility from 18th street and
Georgia avenue and T1.h two ras!road ,a.1
Springs, Md, and Takoma Park. These,
it has been pointed out. would be Of
great value in time Of war to detrain
patients.
The medical personnel at Walter
Reed. which has gone through an-ex-
the war and since the war, Is equipped
to continue such an institution with the
highest efficiency, 1t is said.
Treating 1000 Patients. .'
More than a thousand patients now
are being treated at Walter Reed, but
in the permanent structure, which is fit
to stand, there are beds for not more
than $50, at the outside, it has been es-
timated There are not enough perma-
nent beds for Army patients, alone. At
present the veterans bureau has more
than 400 patients there.
The largest part of the hospital,
which extends over the wooded hills
and wales of the site. Is the temporary
structures, consisting of sections
long corridors. from which the wood
en- wards branch of. The temporary
structures are principally of fimsy
wooden or stucco construction, and
while serving their purpose admi-
rably for emergency service during
the war and immediate postwar period,
are now considered entirely made
quate and unfit.
II conditions at Walter Reed were
truly known, it was said today, they
would be condemned more severely
than were those at Fox Hills, which
was closed as being unit for vet
erans. ~ s
Surgeon General Ireland Of the Army,
Which has charge Of Walter Reed
Hospital, when interviewed this
morning said that the matter Of hos
pital construction under the new ap-
propriation by Congress rested en-
tirely with the Veterans Bureau.