WORLD WAR VETERANS' LEGISLATION THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 1939 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON WORLD WAR VETERANS' LEGISLATION, Washington, D. C. The committee met at 10:30 a. m., Hon. John E. Rankin (chairman) presiding. The CHAIRMAN. The committee will come to order. General, we will permit you to proceed with your statement. General HINES. Mr. Chairman, when we closed the other day you asked me a question for certain information that I did not have available at that time. I would like to give it to you now. The question, as I recall it, was if I knew the number of cases of syphilis and diseases of syphilitic origin in our hospitals, and I take it you mean in our hospitals and homes at this time. At the end of the fiscal year 1938 we had a total of 5,885 receiving hospital treatment and 1,281 receiving domiciliary care. I know that the committee is familiar with the fact that there is no restriction to men with disabilities of that character being hospitalized and treated. They can be taken in and they are treated. The CHAIRMAN. By domiciliary care you mean living in those homes and hospitals? General HINES. That is right. The CHAIRMAN. General, about what number of those men have been denied compensation on the ground of misconduct? General HINES. I should say in round numbers about 1,100. The CHAIRMAN. One thousand and one hundred? General HINES. If we follow the definition that we had at one time under section 200 where, when those men became helpless and becridden, and so on, their compensation was no longer denied. The CHAIRMAN. What would it cost to put them on the roll? General HINES. A little over a million dollars. The CHAIRMAN. A little over a million dollars? General HINES. I will come to that, Mr. Chairman, when I reach one of the sections of the bill. The CHAIRMAN. I just wanted to get these figures stuck in my mind, if I could. Mrs. ROGERS. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield? General Hines, does that include all types of venereal diseases or just syphilitic cases? General HINES. That estimate is based on the types we took in under the old section 200, when they became helpless and bedridden, which would include syphilitics and those who became badly disabled through arthritis or the residual-misconduct disabilities. Mrs. ROGERS. That went in in 1925? In 1933 it went out. General HINES. It went in earlier than that. Mrs. ROGERS. It went in in 1925, I recall. General HINES. In order that the record may be in such form that it will be helpful to the committee, I gave you yesterday, or the last time I testified, the day before yesterday, the total number of veterans, by groups, hospitalized. With your permission I would like to introduce for the record a small table which brakes the totals down. I think it would be helpful to the committee, if you have no objection. The CHAIRMAN. Without objection it is so ordered, to be inserted at this time. Beneficiaries receiving hospital treatment or domiciliary care, classified by wars, Jan. 31, 1939 Includes 321-non Veterans' Administration cases not classified by wars. Mrs. ROGERS. I think the members, the new members especially, would be very much interested in the personnel of the Board, if they do not know what department is represented. General HINES. Do you mean the Hospitalization Board? I gave that the other day. It is in my testimony already, but I will not hesitate to repeat it. Mrs. ROGERS. You have two members in the Veterans' Administration? General HINES. Two members, Mrs. ROGERS. But no doctor? General HINES. No doctor. We have doctors from all of the other departments. Of course, Colonel Ijams has charge of the medical and domiciliary facilities of the Veterans' Administration. Those two services function under him, so he is familiar with the problems that arise. Mrs. ROGERS. But he is not a doctor? General HINES. He is not a doctor. The CHAIRMAN. But the head of the Public Health is a doctor? General HINES. Yes; he is a doctor. And so are the Surgeons General of the Army and the Navy. The CHAIRMAN. And the head of St. Elizabeths is a doctor? The CHAIRMAN. The medical profession is pretty well represented? Mrs. ROGERS. Yes; except those in charge of the Veterans' Administration. General HINES. Whenever a medical question arises, the Board, of course, calls on the medical director, from any of the departments. We have frequently called for reports from the Public Health, the Veterans' Administration, and the Army and Navy, so the Board has all the professional advice that is necessary. The problems, generally, that come before the Board are of a more general character. The data is prepared in the Veterans' Administration, and the other departments, and is submitted to the Board. The CHAIRMAN. Right at this point, General, you did not appoint the Board personally? General HINES. The President appointed the Board. Mrs. ROGERS. I thought the members would be interested because they all have hospital matters, Mr. Chairman. The CHAIRMAN. From what I understand, I regard the head of the Veterans' Administration, and the Vice Chairman-is that what you call General Ijams-as representing the Veterans' Administration and representing the medical staff of the Veterans' Administration. Mrs. ROGERS. General Ijams could almost practice medicine; he has represented so many cases. General HINES. I am sure the doctors would not agree. Mr. Chairman, I would like to hurry along because I know the committee would like to get some data on these things which are outlined. The CHAIRMAN. Would you prefer to go ahead without interruption and wait for questions when you are through with your statement? General HINES. Well, I would like to have questions if the members feel at that point it is necessary. It does not bother me, Mr. Chair man. I would like to call your attention to the chart which I placed over the map this morning. That represents the total patient load from the beginning of 1919 right up to the present time. The CHAIRMAN. Let us insert this chart in the record at this time. General HINES. Very well, Mr. Chairman. On that chart, the top curve, indicates the total patient load. Then the total load is broken down into three main divisions: Neuropsychiatric, which is the next curve. The next one, which is the general and surgical cases, and the lower one, the tubercular cases. If the committee will notice, the curve, which represents the neuropsychiatric cases, has tended upward from the beginning. There have been no dips in it. It has always tended upward. There have |