The Washington times., 1922-06-11
'VET BUREAU IS
CALLED UNFIT IN
! LEGION ATTACK
Incompetence and Extraya-
ganoe Charged In Opening
Broadsids. Against Relief.

brodusiue.Hgainst heilet.
Complete reformation OF the
Veterans Bureau, which is charg-
ed with ''vainglorious press
lagenting to hide the truth Of
millions wasted. Is demanded by
the American Legion in an OPEN
ing broadside against the bureau
last night
"The day of reckoning by the
Veterans Bureau TO the American
Iclares the first OF n series Of
articles to appear in the kSleE:can
Legion Weekly.
Greed ana politics. the article
declares. have played havoc with :
the bureau.
Political Administration Charged.
.The sinister figure Of politics,
in its worst manifestation, that Of
the spokesman, turks In ante
rooms and dark corners" it
appointments are made within the
bureau. What a plum crop! Be
fore Il pipped its shell the new
bureau felt the hypnotic influence
of political pressure and political
Interference.
"The American Legion is the
godfather OF the Veterans Bu-
reau. Ten months ago It gave its
good win as Congress endowed
the bureau with full authority
and the means to give every
disabled ex-service man the bene-
fits he deserved, to install order
and justice where confusion and
injustice had prevailed.
For ten months the legion
has followed a hands-off policy.
1t has been standing by. offering
constructive suggestions quietly
served its policy OF noninter-.
ference on broader questions OF
bureau administration and pro-
Ecedure. Even In the face Of
Developments which aroused serious
distrust the legion kept silent.
Probe Is Demanded.
'.The time has come, however. for
an inventory. a taking Of accounts,
reckoning Of results. The bureau
is now full grown. Tt may fairly be
Judged upon its merits.
Most OF what the public and the
veterans have been permitted to
read, Of the bureau has emanated
from the bureaus publicity office In
Washington. 1t IL to be regretted
that these utterances have frequently
been misleading. We have read re-
peatedly Of the staggering sums the
Government Is spending on the disa-
bled. Just now II Is spending money
at the rate OF s52S, ,600,0 a year,
and the Presidents signature 10 the
new Langley bill increases this total
to $545, SOC, 900, or as much as II cost
to run the whole United States Gov
j ernment twenty-five years ago. We
hear that &c, 900 men are in hospi-
tails, that 0,000 are taking voca-
tional training. The Inference Is that
all is lovely. ~ =. -,.- s6s
4 This inference is false. It is not a
| question OF how much is spent, but
how wisely II Is spent. Thirty thou
sand men in hospitals means little
unless we know they are In tit hos
/ pitfalls and that there are no others
not in hospitals who should be there.
Il And we know the contrary of this to
be true. One hundred and nine thou
sand men I'm vocational training is
significant only IL these men are get
ting training which viii enable them
to come back to your town and mine
and earn a living. Such Is not the
case.
| = Money Waste Charged.
Though the Government Is spend
ing more than half a billion dollars
annually the disabled veterans are
not receiving benefits in any way
commensurate with that vast outlay.
It seems unthinkable that politics
/ and private greed could delay for q
1 year the location of hospitals while
men who have fought the country's
battles are dying and going insane
for the need OF those hospitals. But
this is the case. Site on site has been
chosen, agreed upon by eminent ex-
perts, only to be abandoned In the
face OF objections arising from poll
tics or selfishness or both.
These are only a few Of the fac
tors which brought about the failure
OF the hospital building program in.
spired by Commander Galbraith and
for which $1s.600,000 was appropri-
ated fifteen months ago.
! Incompetence Is Seen.
Vocational training is only 70 per
cent efficient by Mr.. Forbes own ad-
mission. The director speaks con.
servatively. The present vocational
training situation is doing a large
part OF those 100000 students no
4 good, but positive harm. In an ef-
fort to redeem the evil conditions
surrounding placement training"
where q man takes q Job and is sup
posed to get his training that way.
and to prevent dishonest schools
from milking the Government and
deluding the veterans, Mr.. Forbes
started school OF his own In de-
serted army camp at Chillicothe,
Ohio. This courageous experiment
may be the solution Of the vocational
training mess, And It may be cod.
spiouous failure. 1t probably de-
lpends on what happens at that school
within the next few weeks. Some
things are far wrong there now, but
drastic steps can save the ochool.
"Mr. Forbes has done much, but o
general atmosphere Of loossness and
Incompetence pervades some dlvt-
| SfA-, 80 kn hs,wAorx a. Ia alr