Evening star., 1949-11-20
Soldiers Home
Grounds May Be
VA Hospital Site
Plan to Take Over
Entire Reservation
Is Being Studied
By William J. WheotIey

Construction of $9,00O,O0O vet
erans' hospital, originally sched-
uled for the so-called Nevius tract
in Arlington County, is expected
to be started soon on a site within
the present Soldiers Home reser-
vation here.
Tentative plans to turn over the
entire reservation and it's activi-
ties to the Veterans Administra-
ton are being studied. They are
understood to include the posi-
bility of an executive order for a
transfer. Some officials believe.
however. that the changeover
could be accomplished without
need for such a formal order.
The newly enacted Property Act
of 1949. it was said, contains pro-
visions whereby property declared
surplus by one Government
agency could be turned over to
another agency under certain cir
cumstances. The agency acquir-
ing 1t would have to pay for 1t at
an appraised value.
No Final Decision Made.
No final decisions have been
made and no formal advice has
yet been asked of the Justice De-
partment on several legal prob
lens that might have to be
worked out. officials said.
Under the plan, VA will run
the home as well as the present
hospital. now operated and stated
by the Army Medical Corps.
The present government of the
home will cease. It is now oper-
ated by a board of governors, con-
sisting of retired officers of the
Regular Army. This will involve
increasing the size of the pro-
posed hospital above the 500 beds
projected.
Ultimately, it is planned to To-
cate all central Office activities Of
the VA, now scattered over the
Capital, in buildings to be cree led
on the reservation. But that
would be a matter for subsequent
appropriations for construction by
Congress. However. the hospital
construction funds now are avail
able and work on this structure
will be started just as soon IS
the legal matters are cleared.
No Legal Impasse.
The program, it was said, 10
being worked out in a deal in
volving the White House, the
Budget Bureau, the Secretary Of
| the Army. the General Services
Administration and the Veterans
Administration. A spokesman for
the Budget Bureau said no
insurmountable legal difficult
ties appeared in the fact that the
home is a trust vested in the per-
sonnel of the United States Army.
under which the Army Secretary
is the trustee.
Under the plan now being
worked out, the Army Secretary
will declare the property surplus.
which puts it under the General
Some special plans were being
drawn for a structure on the 25-
acre Nevius tract at the time Pres
ident Truman ordered the cut
back in veterans hospital con-
struction last January 10. At that
Services Administration. The VA
then will put in a claim that the
property is needed for govern
mental use. The property, then
might be turned over to the VA
when that agency is ready to let
contracts for the construction.
There will not be any long de-
lays in the preparation for plans.
time a 750-bed hospital was pro-
jected; but in the cutback order
this was reduced to 500 beds for
the proposed local hospital.
One of Last Projects.
The proposed building will be one
OF a standard type that Veterans
Administrator Carl r. Gray, jr.,
and the medical officers of VA say
Is ideal for such institutions. Inc
plans. and even the specifications
now are available from similar
projects now being carried on in
various parts of the country.
Many Of the other hospitals de-
layed by the cutback order have
been underway for some time, and
the local hospital is one of the
last in the hospital construction
program. It's delay was caused by
the many objections to the Ar
lington County site. which devel-
oped soon after it was selected.
during the time that Gen. Omar
Bradley, now chairman of the