The Chronicle-star combined with the Moss Point advertiser., 1945-05-25
action, Not Whitewash, Is Needed

Action, Not WhifeW0Shs IS Needed
In recent months the Veterans Administration has drawn
criticism from. IA number of the nations leading magazines
and newspapers, SUCH as Readers Digest, Cosmopolitan and
Time. There is a general interest throughout the country
to see that this agency is brought upto date and put IN shape
to handle the affairs Of the millions OF returning veterans who
have service claims. This is an understandable attitude, Tor
we want to give our men not only the best guns and ships
and planes to do the fighting, but also the best and most
efficient veterans administration that a grateful nation can
achieve. Our debt to the men who did the lighting does not
end with V-Day celebrations.
We do not favor pension raids on the treasury by veteran
groups or any other special groups. But when medical ser,
vice is needed by these men as a result of debilities suffered
from the war, or when their dependents have a Just clam,
we expect these thpgs to be handled by expert medical men
and expert administrators. The country pays generously Tor
just this provision; and the veterans and their families have
a right to expect results.
The Veterans Administration under Brigadier Cen
eral Frank T. Hines has always been what Time maya.
zine calls the darling" of the Congressional Appropria-
ton committed.
Yet the record of the Administration is not a good
one. II the evidence of these leading magazines is to be
accepted. Headers Digest in a recent article charged
that the practices in many Of the mental hospitals are not
only shamefully inefficient. but also in some cases brutal.
The magazine cited instances. naming names of the va.
rious attendants and doctors involved. and then reported
at a later date that none of the responsible personnel had
been discharged. but only a few shifted to other posts.
The American Medical Association stated in its Journal
that while Hines had authority and money to get the
services Of leading physicians. both on consulting and
part-tims basis. the utilization has been minimal the
deteriorated service seems especially poor when con-
strasted with the high quality of medical care rendered
to those in the armed forces"
General Hines, a retired army man, denies all charges OF
inefficiency in the Veterans Administration, which he has
headed for many years, and points out that his staff is over
worked and IS already paying 403525 disability pensions to
veterans of this war, as compared with 349724 for the past
war.
The only way to settle this thing and to clean out the
deadwood of this administration, If a cleaning is needed, is
for Congress to push forward a vigorous and uncompromising
politics. The one place above all where ponticing and bur
reaucratic bungling have no place is in the administration
that handles the affairs of our fighting men, yet it begins to
appear that these things do exist. 1t is Disappointing, there
fore, to see the House Committee for Veterans affairs
headed by Mississipps John Rankin, apparently more con-
cerned with Furnishing a neWpaperman who criticised the
Veterans Administration and in retaliation against his in
formants within the administration than IN taking immediate
and clear-calt measures to stralghtenfout the mess which the
newspaper exposed Ranllnis committee has subpoenaed
Albert Deutsch of the New York newspaper, PM to expose
the names of the doctors withfnthe Veterans Administration
who gave him information about the conditions. Deutsch, as
reporters have almost invariably done, stuck to the newspaper
code of protecting the source and refused to give the names
Under Rankins urging the committee then voted to cite the
reporter Tor eentempta an, action which normally carries with
it some legal penalty. There are indications at this writing
that the committee may reverse its action and free the re-
porter from penalty for refusing to divulge the names of the
men who gave him information.
1T is to be hoped that the committee does so. But
nevertheless. freedom OF the press is A side issue here.
The main business Is strengthening out the Veterans Ad-
ministration. If that is what is needed. and the preponder-
ance Of evidence of responsible journalists indicate that
Mkbadly nesded. Whist we would like to see Mr.. Rank
ms committee do is honestly and relentlesslY follow up
the charges and examine the evidence of inefficiencY
rather than trying to embarrass the journalists and the
sectors who did the country and the soldiers a service
by EXPOSING these conditions. This is of vital interest to
every family with a boy in service. and to every tax
F1JS. - Is Duhqhnq unoer Generdl Hines there
mist be a efeanup. and 4 better man found to head the
agency.
We have thousands Of men coming back from overseas
every MONTH and shortly we will have millions. MANY of
them IN some degree are casualties of the war. Already one
can see the grim and saddening sight of young veterans of
this war lying on the benches and lawns of the veterans ia
cllities OF our neighboring Gulf Coast communities. There
seems to be no question that in the army we have been able
to give these men the best medical corps in the world. Our
record Of lives saved BY battlefront surgery is thrilling. But
our Job does not end with the fighting. These men will have
long lives to live after the battles. Many of those broken
IN mind or body can be cured and returned to useful lives
II they are given the best and most advanced methods of
treatment. But they can't get it in obsolete and bunglinp
hospitals, within the framework of a politicalized Veterans
Administration.
We have got to do better job than that for the service