as it were, in order that they might take their dates to some of the restaurants and some of the hotels here.

That has an effect upon the morale and probably is a problem that you have been considering in your department. What do you think

about it?

General OSBORN. We have considered it a lot and it is highly per sonal with me because my son, who is a private, came down to spend Sunday with me and I was staying at one of the reputable hotels in Washington at the time. He said, "I had better not come in to dinner in my uniform; they won't want me in there," which brought it home

to me.

Acting Chairman MEAD. The same experience occurred to me. My son, who is a private, brings several of his associates home and if they want to go to a so-called swanky club or hotel they bring their civvies with them and change their clothes out at my home and then go in to their hotels.

General OSBORN. It is shocking.

Acting Chairman MEAD. I don't think that is quite right.

General OSBORN. One very fine thing that we have had a little to do with, and the Army rather than the Morale Branch has had a great deal to do with in these maneuvers in the South, particularly the recent maneuvers in the Carolinas. There was a maneuvers headquarters set up 2 months in advance of the maneuvers and the maneuver headquarters, two very competent officers, got in touch with the staffs of regional recreational directors and the U. S. O.; sent Strawbridge down to represent them, and they went to every town in the two Carolinas and set up a community counsel, canvassed the town as to who would take soldiers in to spend the night with them, and practically every single town in the two States set up a quota of beds for soldiers and they literally all of them covered pretty nearly every extra bed in the town; extraordinarily small towns said they would take in two or three or five hundred soldiers. Arrangements were made with the unit commanders during the rest periods in the maneuvers, which, of course, were very frequent, for the appropriate number of men to be convoyed in to each one of these towns, and the men were taken in two, three, five hundred at a clip; turned into central headquarters, given their slips and addresses and sent to the homes of these people.

I have just come from there. I talked to literally hundreds of the boys and while not to many householders, to all of the representative southern people, representative of the householders in communities, and they said that it was an extraordinary performance; that the southern people were delighted with the soldiers, their behavior; that all of the soldiers had written letters of thanks, most appreciative. a great many touching stories, and the only place that the system broke down, and then it broke down very badly, was from a very unexpected source.

The men at each rest period were a new group of men because the maneuvers kept changing. The first week everything went wonderfully. The second week the men who had been in the community and then moved on in the process hitchhiked back so as to spend the week end with the same people, so when 200 soldiers were brought into a town a hundred soldiers had come back from some other community,

and there was a good deal of confusion, but the soldiers in the Yankee Division, many of whom I talked to, said, "If the rest of the country had the kind of hospitality and attitude toward the soldier the South has we would enjoy our stay in the North a lot more."

Senator HERRING. Mr. Chairman, I don't want to be left out of this proud fathers' club being formed here. I have a boy in the service, too. I stay at a hotel down here in Washington. I wonder if there is any definite experience where a boy has been refused admittance. It seems to me it is the price on the menu card that keeps them out of most of these hotels in Washington more than the fact they have a uniform on.

General OSBORN. I have had no personal experience myself. I have read about and been told about signs, "No soldiers allowed," "No dogs and soldiers allowed." That sounds to be humorous.

Senator HERRING. I have seen in the Mayflower they seem to be made as welcome as anyone who comes in. I wonder if there is any case where a boy has been excluded simply because he has a uniform.

Acting Chairman MEAD. Senator Green has a bill in. I think the basis of it is the signs you talked about and the positive instances of exclusions that have occurred. Now, my son told me definitely-to bring the son in again-that he only got in a hotel with his uniform on under the pretense that he was looking for me, and he definitely told me that the boys that came over with him were denied the right to enter this particular hotel, and he said that was rather commonplace, and I put an article in the Record yesterday by Major Newcombe, of Fort Rodman, in which he pointed out that the morale of the boys was all right but if the boys were treated, as, for instance, you said they were treated in the southern community, the morale would be much better, and so he said the difficulty isn't at the camp; the difficulty is in the community outside of the camp, and if the morale of the people will rise and if they will think more of the boy and of the uniform he wears, they won't have to worry about the morale in the camp.

I am sure there are definite instances where, as you have indicated and as I have indicated, the uniform is not welcome in the public places, some of them, here in Washington, that is particularly the uniform of a private. Now, my son and your son probably have private uniforms. Senator HERRING. Mine doesn't.

General OSBORN. Mine is at the candidate school now.

Acting Chairman MEAD. General, not to neglect the problem or the subject, have you made any investigation of denying soldiers the right to enter hotels and restaurants?

General OSBORN. No. Colonel Montgomery says he investigated

one case.

Colonel MONTGOMERY. One case came to our attention; a soldier in a hotel in Washington had tried to enter a dining room and was denied admission. We sent a representative to that hotel merely to find out why, and they said that they had a rule that no man could enter, no gentleman could enter the hotel dining room without a coat, and we explained to them that under the uniform regulations the coat was not a part of the equipment, the way the man was then dressed, and he said he was very sorry indeed and would rescind his regulation and admit them.

That is the only case that has come to our attention. Many cases have come to our attention in which the hotels to some extent, but mostly motion-picture houses and other points of recreation, have been very hospitable and have given soldiers reduced rates, if in uniform.

Acting Chairman MEAD. If any further instances come to the attention of the committee or to my personal attention, will you be very glad to investigate them?

Colonel MONTGOMERY. Yes, sir.

Acting Chairman MEAD. General, it occurs to me when that son brought that matter to your attention there was something back of it; at least the boys were of the impression they were not welcome. General OSBORN. Yes.

Acting Chairman MEAD. Instead of having these boys going around looking for their fathers or in some surreptitious way getting into these places with their uniforms on, are there any rules about taking the uniform off if the hotel will not allow them to enter the dining room with it on and change their clothes into civilian clothes?

General OSBORN. I believe a soldier is not required to wear uniform when off duty at the present time.

Colonel MONTGOMERY. He can go in civilian clothes if he wants to. Acting Chairman MEAD. It is unfortunate he has to make the change, and it is regrettable that he is barred in some few instances, but it occurs to me that it is a problem for your agency to look into. In view of the progress being made in expanding our recreational facilities and our athletic activities, it occurs to me that there is only one thing necessary and that is something to make it instant and universal, rather than to wait until you have these recreational officers trained and designated to the various posts, and the only way that could be done would be for the Secretary to issue an order that would require a minimum of recreational and athletic activity and the immediate designating of someone in the post or camp or barracks to act in a temporary capacity until you are able to have one of your men appointed for that particular location.

General OSBORN. There are recreation or morale officers in every place responsible. Some of them aren't good enough but they are responsible and getting better all the time.

Acting Chairman MEAD. Some camp commanders are opposed to their program and others favor it and they still need the authority of the directive to reinforce their own position, so it occurs to me that before these 12-month boys are discharged and sent home that we really get this program into operation. By reason of the fact that we didn't have a plan we are just getting our U. S. O. buildings finished and by reason of the fact that we didn't have a plan we are just getting our guest and hostess houses finished, and our recreational halls and our gymnasiums, but some of them won't be ready until the year is up, and that is unfortunate.

Your agency is doing a good job, even with a late start, even with an inadequate amount of money, but I still believe that we have the talent, we have the facilities, although they are not as adequate as they might be, if only instructions were issued for them to be put in operation immediately. That is all I had. That will be all, General, and we appreciate your presence here this morning. If you have anything further to go in the record we will be glad to receive it.

General OSBORN. I have a historical count of Morale Branch's present operations and of the divisions and services, if you would like to have them in the record.

(The documents referred to were marked Exhibits Nos. 326 to 329" and are included in the appendix on pp. 4162-4197.)

Acting Chairman MEAD. We will appreciate it.

General OSBORN. I have some of the manuals on amateur theatricals which we have been active in developing, the song book, and shortly we will have the athletic manual.

(The manuals referred to were marked "Exhibits Nos. 330 and 331" and are on file with the committee.)

Acting Chairman MEAD. I have here a statement from Mr. Charles F. Palmer, the Coordinator of Defense Housing, which has been submitted by him to the committee with a request that it be inserted in the record, and at his request we will have it inserted in the record.1

Acting Chairman MEAD. The committee will now adjourn until Thursday of next week, when we will hold hearings on copper, lead, and zinc production. That will be all.

(Whereupon at 12:20 o'clock a recess was taken until Thursday, December 11, 1941.)

1 Appears in Hearings, Part 8, appendix, p. 2849.