The Washington times., 1922-07-07
DR.. SAWYERH|T
BY LEGION FOR
VET TREATMENT.
Breakdown Of Hospital FaciIi-
ties FIayed by Soldier
Public alton.

Declaring ''inexcusable suffering.
insanity and death among ex.servcie
men follow while Government hos
pital building Is deliberately delayed"
the American Legion has again lev.
eled its guns on Brig. Gen. Charle IS
E. Sawyer, personal friend and physi.
clan OF President Harding
In its latest instalment Of it's ex.
pose of the neglect Of the wars dis.
abled by the Veterans Bureau. the
Legion Weekly insists that II Is not
the failure of the people to approEri
ate millions for the work, but the
utter breakdown in administration
that Is causing suffering to those
hearing the scars of military and
naval service.
ut is true, we may find Argonne
men soliciting aims on the highways
or selling pencils on the byways. hat
in all fairness. our great Governmt Mt
did not decree it," says the weekly.
1t has. however. authorized tho
slowing away of worn-out and broken
ex-soldiers In State, county and mu-
nicipal asylums which are main.
tained for those who are dependent
on the public bounty. Legion repre-
sentatives have rescued comrades
from conditions of unspeakable filth
and squalor in almshouses, poor
farms. jails and lockups for the Grim
inal insane, when the only crime COM
mitted In their connection was tie
crime of negligence committed bv the
Government for which they had
fought.
A Pertinent Question.
What is our attitude toward a
Federal system which has sent thou.
sands upon thousands of men to in
stitutions which received 81 a day 10
care for exservice patients and spent
only 10 cents: to institutions so ovoE.
crowded that men were bedded on the
floors; to institutions so underinanEt
that there was only one doctor to 320
seriously afflicted patients. to insti.
tutions preyed upon by vendors Of
liquor and drugs-and worse: to in
stitutions more likely to produce In
sanity than to cure II?
The foregoing relates to the car
Of ncuro-psychiatric patients. to thp
methods of administering to minds
diseased. 1t discloses some partic.
u'nrs which may he cited support.
ing a sweeping and expert indict.
ment by DIR. Thomas w. Salmon.
chief psychiatrist OF the A. r. F
and a international authority on
mental disorders. Testifying before
a Congressional committee he said:
II have studied the care Of ;he in
sane in many States hut do not
know today Of any group Of 5000
men suffering from insanity who
are so poorly cared for as the ex.
soldiers of the United States army.
] do not mean by that that they
are all equally badly cared for, but
/ know Of no group of that size
where men are allowed to remain
I'm unsuitable places week after
week and month after month be.
cause there is a divided authority on
the part Of those who are responsi.
BILE for them"
The eternal question Of divided
authority 1t always bobs up We
thought II was settled in August,
1921, by the creation OF the Veter.
ans Bureau for which the Legion
fought so hard and SO long. That
was an occasion for rejoicing. The
future Of our disregarded heroes
would be as bright as the past had
DeSn dark ana dlSRraceful. The ap-
palling scarcity and unfitness of
hospital accommodations would
come to a speedy end.
That jubilee is over. II had bet.
ter never been, for II only forged
another link in the long chain OF
disillu usionment. The bureau has
wrought some improvement in con.
ditions-and who could not?- but
the basic evils have not been over.
come. The bureau is not to blame.
n has had to stand by, fuming hut
helpless. and see an SIS, 900, ,00e hos.
pital program steered on the shoals
by politicians and visionaries. In.
stead Of the 500 new Government.
owned hospital beds. distributed
scientifically throughout the coun.
try. which that program was to.
produce. there are available to the