Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1923-04-19
NEEDED ORDER IS
ISSUED BY HINES
MENTALLY DERANeED VETERANS
OF GREAT WAR WILL HAVE
PROPER GUARDIANS.
SOME ABUSES ARE REVEALED
Director of the Veterans Bureau
Takes Action That Renews the AS
surance of Fair Treatment for the
Former Service Men.
Rv EDWARD 81 cLARK

BY EDWARD B. CLARK
Westinghouse Of the Great
war have heard from time to time that
comrades mentally deranged and who
have been under guardianship of one
kind or another have been made the
victims of designing persons, and that
some Of the allowances which have
been granted to them have been d1-
verted to uses other than those for
which they were intended.
The new director Of the veterans
bureau, Frank Z. Hines, ordered an in
vestigation made of these complaints
and it was found that some of them
seemingly have been well based. An
order has been issued directing the
general counsel of the bureau, William
Wolff Smith, a former service man, to
take action in the federal courts to
provide guardians for incompetent
benefciaries wherever necessary, and
for the removal of guardians who
have not done their duty in the spirit
in which it should have been per
formed
This departure, it is known, will in
terest not only the three or four mil
lions of former service men but the
public generally, for charges against
the conduct of some of the guardians
have not been confined to men who
served in the war
Under the new policy the bureau
takes unto itself virtually not only the
responsibility of paying the mental
incompetents the compensation which
they are allowed and advancing other
benefits that have been accorded them,
but also of undertaking an investiga-
ton of the conduct of some of the
guardians to make sure that the bene-
fits coming from the bureau actually
reach the men for whom they are in
tended.
Incompetents Number 1900.
The records show that there are
about $4,000 veterans of the Great war
whose mental condition is such that
they are not able to care for them
selves. Everything connected with the
treatment Of these veterans and of the
circumstances of their guardianship is
to be looked into. Whenever it is pos
sible the troubles will be settled out
of court, improper guardians will be
discharged from their duties and
proper guardians appointed. Wher-
ever it is necessary, however, the
bureaus legal department Will pro-
coed through the courts to correct
abuses and to inf1ict punishment when
ever any Illegal action is disclosed.
Organizations of veterans, and with
them the veterans bureau, have been
disturbed from time to time by the
fact that the public seems to take it
for granted that one case which has
brought complaint represents a gen
eral condition. Time after time repre-
sentatives of the veterans organiza-
lions in washington and the officials
of the veterans bureau have been dis
turbed by stories, spoken or written,
to the effect that the veteran bodies
and the bureau are not functioning
properly in relief work. These stories
frequently are coupled with the tale
of some specific complaint Of vet
eran that he cannot get what is due
him and that his pleas are met I'M
sympathetically and without any prom
iae of action.
The truth about this point ought to
be told to the general public. There
are a few men who have personal
grievances and who are willing to
make it appear that the authorities of
the bureau and of the veterans organ
izations refuse to give relief. Thus
the public gets the thought that all
the veterans are being neglected be
cause one man airs his personal case
and his personal grievances.
1t can be said, and it is veteran OF
the Great war who writes this, that
every mans complaint is given con-
sideration and his case is looked into
thoroughly. 1t has been proved since
the war ended that there are some
men who think the government is a
charitable institution intended to dole
out benefits not alone to the men who
served and suffered but to the men
who served and only think that they
suffered. There is a good deal OF
selfshness entering into the case.
School Children Throng Washington.
1t would be hard to make any Wash
ingtonian believe today that there is
any such thing as race suicide in these
good United States. The capital is
full of school children, packed with
them, in fact. A dozen states are rep
resented here by these future voters
Of both sexes.
High schools, grammar schools and
In two or three cases, primary schools
are represented by groups Of pupils
each group with one or more teachers
in charge. Every spring Washington
witnesses just such an influx of boys
and girls; but, judging from the crowd
ing and bustling appearance of the
streets, there are many more children
here today than have come in any sea
son of the past.
The hotels are filled and Washington
is getting a foretaste of what the con
ditions will be here in June, when the
city is expected to entertain 100000