Evening star., 1923-03-26

Gen. Hines, director of the veterans
bureau, handles the criticisms of the
White committee, that there is dan
ger of overhospitalization of the vet
Grams. through building more hos
pitfalls than needed, or. rather. than
will be needed. after the peak of the
demand Is passed, a few years hence,
| by saying that the fact that there
| might be empty beds in New England
while there were patients in Arizona
does not indicate a surplus.
| The second langley appropriation
for hospitals was put by Congress
| reau managers, independent Of the
| mittee. controlling the first appro-
priation of $18,000,000, was appointed
by the Secretary Of the Treasury.
This committee, according to the vet
sion, has persisted from the very be-
ginning in paper capitalization"
| and ignored the actual needs of the
veterans. Director Forbes had that
| opposition to contend with. and now
| Gen. Hines meets the same retarding
influence.
| 1t is most encouraging to the
friends of the veterans to find that
Gen. Hines faces the issue squarely,
! and declares that the veterans bu-
| reau hospital building plan will be
pushed. regardless of the obstruction
methods of the White committee.
| X X X
| The result may be that the White
committee will delay or wholly stop
the further construction of such hos
pitals as it controls, unless President
Harding shows the same attitude of
sympathy with the needs of the SOL
| dlers as actuates Gen. Hines. In that
! attitude the American Legion stands
| hrmly committed. The legion is de-
termined to expose and oppose hypoc-
| rlSy and technical pretenSe of want
ing 10 save money to the governme ent
| which has already been appropriated
| ny congress with a mandate to use
II in the aid of disa bled and sick
veterans. The White committee seems
determined to find arguments for not
using the appropriation until the
peak Of the need" will have passed
! py the death of many needy veterans,
so that there Will not be so many
empty hospitals at last for the gov
ernment to dispose of. 1t is dollars.
not lives. that interest the learned
| committee.
| There are few communities which
4
which prove, twenty or forty years
! from now, no longer to be required
by the world war veterans. The gov
ernment cheerfully talks of scrap
/ ping unneeded batt1eships Why.
| then, must the veterans Of today
suffer neglect and inadequate care.
! lest in q quarter of a century a few
old hospital buildings may find no
demand for their beds?
| K X
f.! THE story of hospital construction
by the government, judged by actual
results, is a tragedy for the sick.
discredit to the government and an
affront to the American Legion" de-
clares Col. A A. Sprague. chairman
of the rehabilitation committee of the
legion.
| Col. Sprague challenges the figures
| given out by the Treasury as the to-
| tai spent by the government on hos
| pital construction. which Secretary
! of the Treasury Mellon alleges
\ amounts to more than $500. 900 600
1t is claimed - Col Sprague that
| that sum includes all that was spent
! during the war in France for hos
pitfalls both in France and America
| and for cantonments. Yet Secretary
| Mellon seeks to give the impression
says Col. Sprague, that that has been
| invested since the war in new hos
pitfalls for the veterans. Instead of
| $500, 0,0000 600, as claimed by Mr.. Mellon
and by his committee-the White