which provides them with the very best learning experience and for the veterans who receive that added support and the assistance of those young, brilliant medical students, I think the quality of care has to improve as well.

I want you to know I will be hoping for all of these things, and again, we are very delighted to have you with us today, and I want especially to welcome my friends from Massachusetts.

Mr. SOAVE. Thank you.

Mr. TEAGUE of Texas. I would next like to recognize the gentleman from California, Mr. Don Edwards. Mr. Edwards has been a member of this committee since coming to Congress. He has done a great job. Mr. EDWARDS. I want to compliment you, Mr. Commander, for an impressive statement, and you know the committee has listened and will continue to listen quite carefully to you. I also want to thank all of the members for coming here to Washington. I think it is very important that you do so. We have so much going on, especially these past few months and year, although there is never an intention of forgetting about the problems of disabled veterans, let me tell you it brings it home to us very strongly when you come here, come to this room, come to our offices, and talk to us about your problem.

The Congresswoman from Massachusetts brought up one point I would like to ask the national commander, and that is the matter of the changing of the date of Veterans Day back to November 11. That has been assigned to another committee, that particular legislation, the Judiciary Committee. Indeed, it is assigned to my subcommittee. The other side of this question has also been presented to the committee, which is that if Veterans Day is not on Monday, then many people will be unable to visit their people who are in-patients, veteran patients in veterans' hospitals. Is that a valid reason for leaving Veterans Day as it is?

Mr. SOAVE. NO. We have found consistently that veterans want November 11, regardless of what day it falls on.

Mr. EDWARDS. Thank you very much for that observation and I will carry the message back to the other members of the subcommittee. Again, my thanks for your splendid statements and my greeting to those of the Far West who have made the long trip from California and elsewhere.

Mr. SOAVE. Thank you.

Mr. TEAGUE of Texas. Mr. Commander, the next gentleman I shall present has not been a Member of Congress for too many years. My information is he has decided to retire from Congress. I hope that is not true. He has been a diligent worker since becoming a member of this committee-Mr. Zwach of the State of Minnesota.

Mr. ZwACH. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Commander, ladies and gentlemen, and veterans. One of the real privileges of serving in Congress has been to serve on this committee under Tiger Teague, and Chairman Dorn, both tremendously concerned individuals for the welfare of veterans.

It was my privilege this morning to meet with the veterans delegation from Minnesota. We went over all of the points you make in your speech.

As I retire, after 40 years of legislative service, let me say to you folks again that your great input is not restricted to your work for veterans. I bear glad witness, as a lifetime of legislative work, to your tremendous input at every level of government, for our youth, for the State, and at the Federal level. America needs you very badly. I hope you stay strong and vibrant, and I hope you will always be concerned, not only for veterans but to improve on America itself and make it an even greater country in which to live.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. TEAGUE of Texas. Mr. Commander, many members of this committee visited Vietnam a number of times during our unfortunate time over there. Mrs. Heckler, for one. Another spent every Christmas he had there Mr. Sonny Montgomery of Mississippi.

Mr. MONTGOMERY. Thank you for that introduction, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Commander, thank you for this very comprehensive report, and I assure you this committee will certainly look into the matters you mention in your report. As the chairman mentioned, I am greatly interested in the Vietnam veterans and the VA program of recruiting and training; 180 Vietnam veterans is certainly impressive to me and you should be commended. As I understand, it assures the DAV, that disabled veterans will be properly trained for leadership in the future. That seems to me to be a wise move, of taking the original money and training these young men and putting them out in the field.

I would like to note, for the record, how many Vietnam veterans, percentagewise, are members of the national organization, and are these numbers increasing from year to year?

Mr. SOAVE. I believe the number would be approximately 20 percent and they are increasing.

Mr. MONTGOMERY. The Vietnam veteran is coming in.

Mr. SOAVE. Yes; he is coming into the mainstream of society and commenting on what you just said-we are practicing what we preach-we are hiring the young.

Mr. MONTGOMERY. My last comment, Mr. Commander, is, we have a lot of problems in this country now, especially revolutionary groups running around kidnapping people, and advocating the overthrow of this Government, and I know your organization and other veterans organizations have spoken out loud and clear on this form of revolutionary actions. I am just saying I know you will continue to speak up for America and nothing is wrong with patriotism.

Mr. SOAVE. You can be sure of that.

Mr. TEAGUE of Texas. Mr. Commander, another member of our committee, the gentleman from Ohio, Mr. Wylie.

Mr. WYLIE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you very much, Mr. Commander, for an excellent and forthright statement.

We do appreciate receiving your legislative recommendations. I am pleased and proud to be a member of the DAV. Does that mean I have a conflict of interest, Mr. Chairman? Anyhow, I am sympathetic to your cause.

I thought, Commander, if I may say so, that you came down a little hard on the VA and the administration. You say they are not working

with you on the question of cost-of-living increases in compensation payments. I rather agree with the statement you made at the outset regarding cost-of-living increases and your initial statement will make the news no doubt because of the apparent conflict between the DAV and the VA. When I was first elected to Congress, I introduced a costof-living increase bill for pension benefits, as you probably know. As the chairman pointed out, you probably would not fare as well under an automatic escalated cost-of-living provision. Statistics I have received indicate that since July of 1933, the rate of compensation payable for 100 percent service-connected disability has increased by 44610 percent, whereas the cost of living during that time has gone up 2635/10 percent. But, we are glad to have your suggested program, and will, of course, take a very close look at it.

I say I think you may have come down a little hard on the VA because I have found the VA to be very cooperative and sensitive to veterans needs. Just recently, they helped me in establishing one of the first veterans outpatient facilities of its kind in the United States in my congressional district. It is to take care of 50,000 veterans per year on an outpatient basis. It will be built in connection with the medical facility at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. I am grateful to the VA for their help on this and on many other veteranrelated problems.

I can well understand your position about November 11. The 11th hour, the 11th day, the 11th month has some meaning in our history. The last Monday in October is just another holiday. I voted against the change in the first instance, and I feel with you, 100 percent, about changing Veterans Day back to November 11.

Mr. TEAGUE of Texas. Another member of our committee, Mr. Commander, who took the trip to Vietnam, a very active gentleman from New York, Mr. Wolff.

Mr. WOLFF. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I want to congratulate you, Mr. Commander, on your very excellent statement. It is certainly a presentation that bears a great deal of study by this committee. One of the excuses for not meeting your request has been, where are we going to find the money? Well, I think we can find the money in our Nation for a lot of other things-it is about time we found the money for the veterans of this Nation. I can tell you a few ways I think we can find the money-no more support and subsidy programs to ship wheat to Russia and Communist countries. I don't know whether or not you are aware of it but just last week our Ambassador to India signed away $2 billion that nation owes to us. Where would that $21/2 billion go to our people here-how about for our own people. Wars that you fought in-nations of the world owe us $48 billion. How about collecting from some of these people who constantly raid our treasury? They owe us the money. I think that if we just try to take some steps to tighten our belts in other directions, we would find no difficulty in providing needed benefits for veterans generally in this country.

I would like just, at this point, to offer my thanks to your members in New York, especially Commander Shueman, and Sol Comin

sky, who helped us work to change the St. Albans Hospital over to a veterans' hospital. We also should give great thanks to Tiger Teague, Mr. Hammerfield, and also Mr. Satterfield for their help in getting the hospital turned over. We hope to hold the opening ceremonies very shortly, and would like to have you come up.

Mr. SOAVE. Thank you.

Mr. WOLFF. I would like to assure you my complete support for your programs and wish you all Godspeed in the future.

Mr. SOAVE. Mr. Chairman, in response to Congressman Wylie's remarks for the record, we are not asking for, or do we want, an esculator cost-of-living clause in our compensation bill.

Mr. WYLIE. Thank you. I am glad you cleared that up.

Mr. TEAGUE of Texas. I misunderstood you, too.

The gentleman from Indiana, Mr. Hillis.

I have a very strong feeling about our two-party system, Mr. Commander. We Democrats are for the Republican Party so long as there are not too many of them. We are for the Republicans on this committee. They are a fine bunch.

Mr. HILLIS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

In keeping with that same strain, I might say I consider it an honor and privilege to serve on this committee, and I find it manned by some of the best people in Congress. I think we are here because all of us here feel an obligation to all of our Nation's veterans, that we want to do something to help veterans, and if there is any group really deserving of our dedication and everything, it is your group because you have sacrificed so much for our nation physically, and I think I speak for all of us when I say that. I will be brief, Mr. Commander.

I think your statement was excellent. I find myself in agreement with the points you outlined and the legislation you propose there, and will be most happy to support it.

I am concerned, as are the other members, with the maintenance of the quality of the veterans hospital programs and the maintenance of beds, staff up and down the line, and I will do everything I can to see that we maintain a separate hospital first rate quality system for the nation's veterans.

Thank you again for coming today and appearing before us, and it is always nice to be able to be a part of this thing.

Mr. TEAGUE of Texas. Our next gentleman from Georgia, Jack Brinkley. Jack is an important member of the Armed Services Committee as well as the Veterans' Affairs Committee.

Mr. BRINKLEY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

May I add my welcome to you, Commander, and all of the DAV members, and their wives here today. We have a strong Middle Georgia Chapter, which is one of the strongest in the Nation. I see a surprising parallel in the Armed Services Committee work and the Survivors Benefit bill, H.R. 3017. While not entirely parallel, the views and objectives is the same to provide for those who are left behind.

I want you to know this is one of my priority efforts-the measures to provide for the benefit of Dependency and Indemnity compensation to widows and dependents left behind. It is priority with you, it is priority with us.

I want to tell you, as did Mrs. Heckler, I have visited the VA Hospital in my district, and the adjoining district of the State of Alabama, at Tuskegee, Ala. We have found those facilities to be run by dedicated and well-motivated people. I am not satisfied. The standard of care is less than that in comparable private institutes in Georgia and Alabama, and we want to see that upgraded, and want to see the veterans of this country receive number one treatment, disabled veterans or otherwise.

We wish to express our interest in the National Cemetery System. We have a cemetery in the Third District of Georgia, which is within that system, but it is not enough. There is much validity to what you have said in your statement about the convenience and quantity. We support you with that effort and hope to see, within the near future, a new National Cemetery at the old Fort Mitchell National Land Site. We take this opportunity to welcome all of you from the South as well as from the North, East and West.

Mr. TEAGUE of Texas. The next gentleman, Commander, and you can call him Governor now, because he was Lt. Governor of his great State before coming to Congress-Jim Abnor of the great State of South Dakota.

Mr. ABNOR. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I want to say one thing. Long before I was a Member of Congress, I was active in veteran groups. I had heard of Tiger Teague and what a great friend he was to the veterans, and it has been my great privilege to serve on this committee this year, and now I know why he obtained that fame-the great guy that he is.

About everything has been covered. I just wanted to commend the Commander for his very fine statement, realistic statement on the problems facing the DAV. I couldn't agree more with you.

I certainly want to welcome our group from South Dakota here. today because we may not be many, but we are very important people out there, and it is good to have them here to add their part of your presentation. I am looking forward, of course, to being with you gentlemen tonight. I want to say, I haven't heard any of the members comment on the new mobile units you are using. I think this is a wonderful thing, particularly in States like South Dakota where we have to go quite a way in between to reach points of contact, so your offering this service to the veterans is a wonderful thing, and your whole service program is one I think you should be very proud of.

I realize what inflation has done to the veterans, disabled veterans, and I stand ready to work toward the goals you seek. Thank you very much.

Mr. TEAGUE. of Texas. Mr. Commander, we have an excellent Veterans' Affairs Committee staff. I am not going to call all of their names, but I wish they would all stand and be recognized.

One final question. Does the DAV have a wedding planned for your next national convention? Mrs. Heckler says-a what? When I went to the national convention in Miami last year, the first thing that happened was that I walked in on a wedding.