67-68 Compensation: Increase compensation and disability payments.. Dental program: Supplemental appropriation Resolutions of. Additional time to take out National Service Life Insurance.. Incontestable for fraud after 2 years. Ketchum, Omar B. (See Veterans of Foreign Wars.) 93, 105, 106 59-60, 68-69 71, 75, 76 46, 81, 112 1953 LEGISLATIVE PROGRAMS OF THE AMERICAN LEGION, VETERANS OF FOREIGN WARS, DISABLED AMERICAN VETERANS, AMERICAN VETERANS OF WORLD WAR II, AND UNITED SPANISH WAR VETERANS TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1953 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Washington, D. C. The committee met at 10 a. m. in the committee room of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, Hon. Edith Nourse Rogers (chairman) presiding. The CHAIRMAN. The committee will please come to order. I regret very much that there are some who are obliged to be away because they are making Lincoln Day addresses. They expressed very great regret, Mr. Commander, that they could not be here today, but it was considered advisable to hold the meeting because I know the country, as well as the veterans, wants to know what you recommend regarding the welfare of the veterans. It is a great pleasure to have you with us today, Commander. I wish the Members of Congress from California and elsewhere would sit in the vacant seats here on the rostrum. We have a number of distinguished Congressmen here. We are very glad to welcome back to the committee on which he served so diligently and well the very able Member from California, Mr. Scudder. While I regret that I cannot make the encomiums here for the Californians on the presentation of the national commander of the American Legion, I know Mr. Scudder will do a far better job. Mr. Scudder. Mr. SCUDDER. Mrs. Rogers, gentlemen of the committee, and friends, I have a distinct pleasure today to present a Californian who has risen high in the ranks of veterans and who has done a marvelous job during those comparatively few years of active service. He was elected department commander of California and served with distinction in that position. Then nationally he was recognized and was the national vice commander, and then last August he was given the high honor of being made the national commander of the American Legion. This man has given unselfishly of his time. Since taking office, he has traveled an average of about 25,000 miles a month in the interest of veterans. Last fall he made a trip that took almost a month, going to the Far East and there seeing first-hand conditions which exist among the men who are now defending our philosophy in Korea and in the Orient. We are always proud in California to welcome those who desire to come to our State, but we are doubly proud of our native sons whose parents saw the light many years ago and came to our far western State. You know, across the front of one of the large departmental buildings in California there is a slogan which has been embedded in stone which says: Give us men to match our mountains. We are proud of the majestic mountains of California. When you elected a man as national commander, you elected a man who matches our mountains. I know that he will continue to do big things in veterans' work, and as time goes on we will recognize one of the greatest commanders in the history of the American Legion. It gives me a great pleasure today to be privileged to present Lewis K. Gough, national commander of the American Legion. Commander Gough. STATEMENT OF LEWIS K. GOUGH, NATIONAL COMMANDER, THE AMERICAN LEGION, ACCOMPANIED BY T. 0. KRAABEL, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL REHABILITATION COMMISSION; CHARLES W. STEVENS, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, NATIONAL REHABILITATION COMMISSION; DR. H. D. SHAPIRO, SENIOR MEDICAL CONSULTANT, NATIONAL REHABILITATION COMMISSION; AND CLARENCE H. OLSON, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, NATIONAL LEGISLATIVE COMMISSION Mr. GOUGH. Madam Chairman, members of the committee, Hubert, thank you so much for that introduction. History seems to repeat itself. I recall in 1950, when you presented me to the members of your community in Eureka, when I was State commander of the American Legion. At that time you gave me a glowing obituary, the same as you have this morning. I am deeply appreciative, You have now qualified me as an expert, an expert in how to live out of a suitcase. The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Commander, my understanding is that you would prefer to make your statement without interruption; is that correct? Mr. GOUGH. If I may. The CHAIRMAN. In order that it may be all together. Mr. GOUGH. A written statement has been prepared. I will be very happy, of course, to elaborate and answer any questions I can. A written statement has been prepared and presented to you. With that is a summary of the American Legion resolutions from our last convention last August in New York City, which furnished the basis of the legislation which we have prepared and which has been presented to the 1st session of the 83d Congress. (The information is as follows:) STATEMENT OF LEWIS K. GOUGH, NATIONAL COMMANDER, THE AMERICAN LEGION Madam Chairman and members of the committee, when the House of Representatives established your committee, it was performing a positive action to give specialized and continuous attention to the manner in which the Federal Government handles veterans' benefits and services. Indeed, I am only following an accepted tradition when I, as national commander of the American Legion, begin my statement regarding our legislative program for this session of Congress by voicing my personal and official opinion that your committee has ever conducted its business for the general welfare of the Nation with special attention to veterans' affairs in a manner that fully justifies the action of Congress in creating your committee. Particularly do we renew our statements of respect and admiration for the new chairman, who has had a vast experience in studying and considering the problems which are common to you and to us; and we have only the highest regard for her associates of the committee, whose experience has proved so valuable in the work of the group. We are conscious that this meeting with you is our first major appearance before a new Congress in an administration which has changed its political complexion since last we were before you. If it is not improper, we should like to express a word of welcome to the new Members. We know the tenor of the legislative thinking in this new administration only in the broadest general outline. We are with you in the hope that ways may be found to increase efficiency and to reduce costs in the operation of the Federal Government. Beyond that point we have not had the opportunity to learn how your committee and the Congress will act upon specific programs that are placed before you for consideration, We would like to be permitted to suggest that this hearing is for the purpose of presenting the American Legion's general plan of legislation as it will come before your committee during the current session of Congress. We appreciate the fact that, were we here on any one specific bill, we would naturally expect to go into exhaustive detail and offer substantiating data. For that reason, and also appreciating the fact that the other major veterans' organizations are presenting their respective programs this morning, we have refrained from going into very much detail on any of our specific recommendations. WE THINK IT IS TIME FOR A POSITIVE COURSE OF ACTION In recent years there has been a steady deterioration in the confidence of the public, of some segments of the Congress, and to a greater or lesser degree of the executive branch of the Government, in matters pertaining to veterans' affairs. Committees of Congress and commissions created by authority of Congress, such supported in large part by private organizations and by the public press, have conducted one campaign following another against the manner in which veterans' affairs are conducted in the Federal Government. It seems to us that all interested parties have now had an opportunity to study the results and recommendations that have come from these official and quasi-official groups. In some instances Congress has written new legislation, particularly in the fields of veterans' insurance and veterans' education and training, as a result of such investigations. Above and beyond the legislation to which I have just referred, there have been found instances in which individuals and groups have loosely administered the duties and responsibilities assigned to them in the Veterans' Administration. In view of the great number of employees who have handled veterans' affairs and the great number of individuals and institutions which have sought benefits from the principal agency handling veterans' affairs, it is gratifying to note the small percentage of defections. Without in the slightest degree condoning the faults of those who have been found wanting, it should be a comfort to all concerned to know that no investigating group has found any major compromise with the laws that Congress has provided for the distribution of benefits and service to the veteran. We think, therefore, that the time has come for the adoption of a positive attitude in dealing with veterans' affairs. Our organization is committed to the simple, unadorned statement of principle which says that the cost of veterans' affairs is a direct, if delayed, cost of The fact that the costs of veterans' affairs is a direct, if delayed, cost of after the guns of war have been stilled should not confuse any thinking American as to the origin of such charges. war. It is a popular thing to say that the veteran population is becoming too large and that therefore there should be a reduction in the number and amounts of benefits and services to the veterans. Such a position overlooks the fact that our veteran population rises in direct proportion to the increase in our military commitments and actions. The costs |