Evening star., 1926-04-19
COMMITTEE VOTES
GIBSON PLAN down
viii Study Guardianship
Problem From Another
Angle, However.

Holding It could deal only with
those matters which had been re-
ferred to it by the House, the World
War veterans legislation committee
today voted against consideration of
the Gibson resolution providing for
a thorough investigation of guard
ianship conditions among veterans
here, but attacked the problem from
another angle, which, in the opinion
of the majority, will achieve the
same results.
Fifteen minutes before the hour Of
adjournment arrived, the committee
heard from it's first witness and
actually got under way after two
sessions and part of this, the third,
had been given over to wranglings
on how 1t should proceed. Although
the witness, Maj Davis Arnold, ma
tional guardianship officer OF the
Veterans Bureau, was able to make
no DELINQUENCY" among the guard
ianship cases here had been brought
to his attention.
The committees investiga ton is
being conducted by considering two
bills placed before 1t, according TO
the House rules. These bills, one by
Chairman johnson of South Dakota
and the other by Representative
Kindred, Republican, of New York,
place the control of guardianships
in the hands of the Veterans Bu-
reau and the wards money in the
United States Treasury. By holding
hearings on these two bills, the ma
jority of the committee declared they
would be in a position to learn of
the exact conditions in the District
as we'll as throughout the United
States.
johnson Plans Bill.
To guard against any technicality
preventing rapid progress which he
urged today, Chairman johnson an
nounced he would introduce a bill in
the House this afternoon dealing with
Government control of incompetent
veterans and their estates in the Dis
trict.
Representative Rankin, Democrat,
Mississippi, led the fight against the
action taken ultimately by the com
mittee. He intimated 1t was another
attempt to block the investigation
which that body itself last Thursday
had decided should be undertaken.
II may be wrong" he declared. but
it impresses me as another attempt
to prevent the investigation into con-
ditions in the District of Columbia
charges of mishandling and misap-
preparation of funds of the disabled
veterans in the District"
The course taken by the committee
today was steered by Representative
Luce, Republican, of Massachusetts,
who Friday prevented action on a
point of order against a quorum.
Fourteen members were present To-
day. and after considerable discussion
on the question of reading testimony
into the record from hearings two
years ago, Mr.. Luce asked:
What is the regular order of the
committee?"
Moves to Limit Bills.
'To act on the resolution of the
gentleman from Vermont, Mr.. Gibson,
to consider guardianship matters in
the District" replied the chairman,
May we have that read? asked
Mr.. Luce. The resolution could not
be found and then Mr.. Luce said:
What legislation has been referred
bv the House? 1 move that we con.
slider only the bills referred to us. ]
make a joint of order that the regular
order is out of order. Until the House
instructs us, we have no powers to in
vestigate."
This stand created a lengthy dis
cussion around the committee table
but Mr.. Luce's point won out in the
end.
Mr.. Rankin charged that Mr. Luce's
Continued on Page 2, Column II