inactive list on account of flat feet. The man was placed on the inactive list in December, 1918. An examination made 11 months later at the office of the Federal board showed that the man was suffering from hebephrenic dementia precox. There was some doubt as to the feasibility of training, even if the disability were aggravated by service, and there is no evidence to show that this mental disability was related in any way to military service. Inasmuch as this case presented many difficulties, it was forwarded to the central office in Washington for a ruling, and section 2 training was disapproved by central office because it was considered that the man's disability was not due to service and that the man was therefore ineligible under the conditions of the law. This ruling was made by the central office in Washington and not by a member of the eligibility squad, as stated in the Evening Post.

The figures given to Mr. Littledale were furnished by the board. They are given below, together with an analysis showing the manner in which the cases were “thrown out."

Charge 19.-"We charge that the eligibility squad marked all mental cases as insane."

Mr. Littledale states: "All mental cases were labeled 'Tickle 90 days.' That meant nothing was to be done for three months. But often the man had incipient tuberculosis as well. Lack of immediate attention aggravates the disease. For proof we offer the files of the New York office."

It is apparent that Mr. Littledale has misinterpreted the action of the eligibility squad in marking cases "M-90" and "TB-90." This rating, according to his interpretation, means that the district office was instructed to tickle the case at 90-day intervals, or bring the case forward every 90 days without taking action. No such instructions were given.

The following quotation from a letter sent to the district vocational officer of district No. 1. Boston, Mass., on December 11, 1919, shows clearly the meaning of these classifications and the instructions which were given:

"The eligibility squad, while working in the Boston Office, found a great many cases apparently suffering from active tuberculosis and a great many mental cases where the evidence in the file indicated that training at the present time was not feasible. The method of handling these cases has been discussed in the office and the following is recommended.

"It is the opinion of this office that the case folder of each man discharged from the Army with tuberculosis should show an examination made by an expert on tuberculosis and that the policy in regard to each individual case should be based on the result of that examination. For instance, if the examination shows that the man is an advanced active case and there is no possibility of arrest in the period of six months, that case should be tickled for six months. If, on the other hand, a man has practically recovered, his case should be tickled for one month. In every case, while the man is in the hospital, an effort should be made to obtain a certified copy of his discharge and proof of the relation of his disability to the military service in order that his case may be complete and final action taken as soon as the disease is apparently arrested. Instructions No. 20 governs in dealing with all tuberculous cases. It is suggested that you immediately take steps to procure the necessary specialist's report on all cases in your files.

"In dealing with mental cases, a very similar policy should govern. It is, of course, impossible to reach any decision on a mental case unless a psychiatric examination is in the file. On the basis of this examination it should be possible to tell at the

present time whether or not the man is in need of training to overcome the handicap of his disability. If the man is not in need of training, the case should be stopped right then and there and no further action taken. If, however, a man is in need of training and training at the present time is not feasible, the case should be tickled ahead until such time as training probably will be feasible. The length of the tickle must be dictated again by the psychiatric examination.

"The cases in your files which the eligibility squad marked as 'Sick 90' should be tickled for the date of probable recovery as shown by the complete medical examination.

"A few cases in your files were labeled 'd 90' meaning 'not yet discharged.' A letter should be obtained from these men stating the probable date of their discharge and the case tickled ahead for that date. In the meantime, every effort should be used to complete this case prior to the man's discharge so that he may enter training the day he is discharged if he so desires."

From this letter it is apparent that the proper instructions as to the method of handling these cases were sent to the district vocational offices, and that Mr. Littledale's assumption as to the manner in which these cases were handled is intentionally misleading.

In proof of the extravagant statement quoted above, Mr. Littledale cites in the New York Evening Post of February 19 case 10520, which, according to his statement of that date, the eligibility squad classified as a mental case, although the man was suffering from tuberculosis. Case 10520 in the New York office is the case of a man whose disability is trench feet. Mr. Littledale further cites case 3047:

"Case 3047. The man's discharge paper says he is suffering from epilepsy. That no doubt is true. The eligibility squad marks him 'mental tickle 90 days.' That man was wounded and gassed. He has bronchitis. He needs treatment but the eligibility squad has hidden his case in the office files for three months."

The facts in this case are as follows: The official discharge records received from The Adjutant General of the Army showed that the man's disability was epilepsy which existed prior to enlistment. The records of The Adjutant General fail to show that the man was wounded in action. The man was discharged in October, 1918, at Plattsburg Barracks.

The examination made at that time failed to show that he was wounded and gassed and had bronchitis. The examination made at Plattsburg Barracks showed that the man was suffering from epilepsy which existed prior to enlistment. The man was again examined on June 27 by a physician employed by the Federal board. At that time, the diagnosis of epilepsy was substantiated and no evidence was discovered of any further disability. The man was again examined by the United States Public Health Service on December 17, and at this time the examination showed that he was suffering from chronic bronchitis. This examination, however, was made over a year after discharge from the service, and it is not certain that the bronchitis was due to service. Three examinations, one by the Army, one by the Federal board, and one by the United States Public Health Service failed to show that the man was wounded and gassed, as stated in the Evening Post.

In acting on this case the eligibility squad ruled that an examination by an expert psychiatrist was to be obtained, and that no action could be taken on the case until this examination was in the folder. It would obviously be impossible to arrange any course of training until the man's mental condition was known, inasmuch as the condition of epilepsy renders a man liable to industrial hazards. The man wishes to be trained as an electrician, which would be very hazardous in the light of his disability. Charge 20.-"We charge that after 19 months nearly 80,000 disabled men (75 per cent of the total eligible for training) were waiting for the board to act.”

In proof of this statement Mr. Littledale offers, in the first place, the figures of the board and, in the second place, a letter from the Chief of Division of Rehabilitation. Mr. Littledale takes the statement of the board that there were 129,912 live cases left on completion of the eligibility audit. To this number he adds 20,000 men as the number still in hospitals. The sum of these two figures is 149,912. This addition is correct and is the only item which is correct in Mr. Littledale's entire argument. After arriving at these figures, Mr. Littledale assumes that 110,000 of this group will be eligible for training. The problem of estimating the number of men who will be eligible for training which has been thus readily solved by Mr. Littledale has given experts who are familiar with the problem a great deal of difficulty. Mr. Littledale assumes that over 70 per cent of the men now in hospitals will be eligible for training. The present hospital population includes cases of influenza and other cases of acute diseases from which the men will quickly recover. It is probable that less than onethird of the men in the Army hospitals on any given date will be discharged for disability. It is also probable that not more than one-fourth of the men so discharged for disability will be eligible for training.

The number of men now in hospitals who will be eligible for training on discharge is probably not 20,000 as Mr. Littledale assumes. None of these men can be given training until they are discharged from the service. Mr. Littledale disregards entirely certain figures given him by the board. The figures show 19,431 men who had been rated ineligible for section 2 training and rated as eligible for section 3 training ouly. This 19,431 he includes in the 80,000 men still waiting training. These figures were given to Mr. Littledale by the board and the fact that he ignored this large group is typical of his ingenuity in misinterpreting and misconstruing facts.

It is apparent to any person who has studied the problem that all of the men who are eligible for training will not take training. Many of the men are satisfactorily employed and others to whose advantage it would be to take training can not be persuaded to take advantage of the opportunities given. On the basis of its previous experience the board estimates that not more than 55,000 men will take advantage of section 2 training. In considering this figure (55,000) it should be remembered that over 30,000 men have already entered training and that 25,000 others have been notified that they are approved or eligible for training. The statement that 75 per cent of the total number of men eligible for training are waiting for the board to act is, therefore, entirely without foundation.

As proof of his assertion that 75 per cent of the men eligible for training are waiting for the board to act, Mr. Littledale quotes a paragraph from a letter sent to all district vocational officers on February 10. This paragraph contained the statement that between 40 per cent and 50 per cent of the active cases in the district office were still unsettled. The term "unsettled" is apparently used by Mr. Littledale as synonymous with eligible, for he assumes that all of this group, plus 20,000 others still in hospitals, are unconditionally eligible for section 2 training. The facts in the case are that the board, in order to meet the task imposed upon it by Congress, has concentrated its efforts on the cases of the severely disabled men, and has first provided for the men whose disabilities constitute obvious major vocational handicaps. The cases of minor disability were allowed to wait until the more seriously disabled men had been cared for. The pending group which the chief of division mentions is composed almost entirely of border lines cases and cases in which there is considerable doubt concerning their eligibility for section 2 training. If these men had been eligible for training, their training would have been approved by the eligibility squad which was sent out for the purpose of clearing these cases. Over 12,000 cases were thus approved, and Mr. Littledale's assumption that the balance of the cases are entitled to training is obviously absurd. The reverse of this is true. This group consists almost entirely of minor disabilities, but the board has not informed the men that they are not eligible for section 2 training, as it desires to give these cases of minor disability the benefit of the doubt. A great many of these men have been medically examined and have been found to be without an occupational handicap. However, the board is unwilling to declare any man ineligible until after consideration of all the evidence which it may obtain.

Charge 21.-"We charge that there is no follow-up."

Mr. Littledale states: "The fact is that to follow up a man taking a commercial course, in Buffalo, for instance, an employee would have to be sent to Buffalo from the office in New York. As the district comprises three large States, follow-up is impracticable when that sort of thing has to be done.'

This statement is false. The board has a branch office in Buffalo. Men can be and are followed up from that point as well as by agents who are specialists from New York City.

The principal function of the Buffalo office is to follow up men in training. There are other branch offices in the State of New York at Syracuse, Rochester, Albany, Watertown, Troy, and Utica. Other branch offices in district No. 2 are located at Newark, N. J.; Camden, N. J.; New Haven, Conn.: and Hartford, Conn. In addition to the 14 district offices, the board has 72 branch offices throughout the country established for the purpose of inducting men unto training and supervising them during the period of training without the travel and delay that would be necessary if such work were attempted from the district offices.

The principal work of these offices is like the one in Buffalo-to induct men into training and follow them up during training and locating them in employment. It is therefore not necessary to send men out from the New York district cffice to follow up cases in training as is charged. Follow-up ranges in frequency from daily contacts, in some cases, to regular bimonthly contacts in other cases. In district offices and branch office cities where approximately 80 per cent of the men in placement training are located, daily contact by phone is possible, in addition to the regular personal contacts. In making the necessary arrangements for training men on the job and

inducting them into such training, it is necessary to make separate arrangements with the establishment in each case and this brings the officers of the board who handle this work into frequent contact with the men already in training.

That the board has a complete and adequate follow-up can not be maintained. The board has not the personnel, and is not likely to have a personnel large enough to give instant attention to every request made by men in training. The greatest task of the advisement and training sections of district offices, up to the present time, has been putting men into training, but this is by no means an admission that the follow-up and supervision has been neglected. Men in institutional training are followed up by the training assistants and training officers under the supervision of the supervisor of training in each district. These agents visit the institutions in which men are in training to ascertain whether or not they are succeeding in gaining knowledge and skill which will enable them to take positions as self-supporting citizens.

Every institution makes a monthly report to the district office of the progress of trainees in the institutions. These reports are kept on file in the district office and are carefully reviewed by a training assistant, whose duty it is to see that each institution is reporting properly regarding the men and that each man who shows negligence or who requires further advisement regarding his training receives proper

attention.

The district offices have been advised that the first duty this year was to get men into training, so that they would be securing benefits to which they are justly entitled under the act, but the next great task was to develop plans for continuous follow up of the men and the institutions where the men are in training.

Individually students are given every opportunity to confer with the Federal board representatives on their visits to the institutions and to get from them whatever information they require, as well as frequent consultations with coordinators and counselors. In addition, through a cooperative arrangement with the Public Health Service, an officer is stationed at many institutions for such assistance as they may require. This is for the purpose of avoiding undue delay in correspondence and of giving the men more direct and immediate attention.

In the main this description applies to all district offices. There are differences in detail, made necessary by the size of the district, the ease of travel, the types of training being given, but it is the policy of the board to have in institutions remote from the district offices a permanent agent, known as a coordinator, if the number of students exceeds 100, and in the institution serving a smaller number a member of the faculty is appointed “counselor" to render special service and give advice, counsel, and help to the men in training on any matters affecting their welfare. If the institutions are in or near the district-office cities, it has directed that they shall be visited, inspected, and the work of the men supervised at least once a month by a qualified training assistant stationed at the district office. Such a man performs the duties assigned to a coordinator in the more remote places.

Should any further information be desired by the committee, additional information obtained from the original sources as to reports obtained and used will be submitted.

Charge No. 22.-"We charge that these disabled, ailing men are begrudged sick leave."

In support of this charge Mr. Littledale refers to paragraph No. 4 of a letter dated January 23, 1920. Paragraph No. 4 is as follows:

"So many extensions of the sick leave beyond the 30-day period are being made by the district offices, and so many requests for extensions are coming forward to central office that it will be necessary to rescind the authority granted in Instructions Nos. 37 and 150, revised, unless the district offices greatly reduce the number of extensions recommended and granted."

He did not quote paragraph No. 5 or No. 6, which are as follows:

"If a man is discontinued from a training status because of illness, central office will notify the bureau promptly in order that the man may receive compensation from the bureau in lieu of training pay from the board during the period of such illness, providing the man is entitled to compensation.

"Since the passage of Public, No. 104, Sixty-sixth Congress (Sweet bill), there is no difference in amount between training pay by the board and compensation by the bureau in the cases of men without dependents."

No sick leave was or is begrudged to any man in training, but hospital treatment is furnished by the Bureau of War Risk Insurance or the Public Health Service. If a man is under the care of the Public Health Service or the bureau for a period longer than 30 days, he is transferred from the pay roll of the Federal board to the pay roll of the Bureau of War Risk Insurance. This is no neglect of the disabled men.

Charge No. 23.-"We charge that the board has failed to see the human problem involved in this work."

In support of the above charge, it is stated that the men have been approached with mimeographed letters having stamped signatures whereas personal contact is neces

sary.

The board has always emphasized the necessity of personal contact with the men, but where it has not been possible to reach the men by personal contact, follow-up letters have been sent. The board admits that individual letters, personally signed, are preferable, but again the saving of typing makes necessary the preparation of form letters. The form letters sent to Joseph Furphy has been submitted by Mr. Littledale. We ask that it be read again by the committee. In reading it should be remembered that Mr. Furphy was discharged from the Army with "no disability" on his discharge. Instruction No. 90, paragraph No. 7, is quoted. The entire paragraph, however, is not given. It reads as follows: "The idea back of the program outlined in these instructions is that of giving service to the disabled men. If a man calls at a district office he should go out with a definite decision in regard to his case. Central office case board representatives are directed, however, not to interview disabled men. They are to pass on the actual evidence which is in the man's folder." It must be remembered that central office case board representatives are charged with the duty of seeing that the legal evidence necessary for the expenditure of Government money is in the man's folder. There are in every district office several persons who interview disabled men and who secure all the evidence necessary. If the central office case board representatives interview men, they can not do the work they are sent out to do, namely, see that the legal evidence is in the man's folder. It is not a system of paper work. It is a check on the filing of absolutely necessary evidence before Government money can be expended.

The same instructions, paragraph No. 6 states that the central office representative may pass on the same case any number of times. He may change the eligibility rating, providing he never changes a rating from eligible to noneligible, except where the eligibility rating is clearly an error and where the man has not been notified that he was eligible for training.

Charge No. 24.-"We charge that these men have been reduced to penury because of the board's delays."

For proof, Mr. Littledale points to the Elks' fund and quotes a letter of February 2d as follows:

"The Elks' fund, as you have been advised heretofore, is to be used in making loans in the nature of advancements to cover the monthly allowances due to the men in training but not received. On account of the great demand on this fund it was deemed advisable to supplement it, and this accomplished by the Red Cross funds W-Z-36."

There is nothing in the laws of the United States that permits the Federal Board for Vocational Education to make advance payments to men. As stated before, it was not physically possible for every man to have been interviewed and his eligibility for compensation or training determined at the time of discharge from the service. No provision was made by Congress for the carrying of men on the pay rolls of either the Army or Navy until such eligibility for compensation or training was determined. In order to relieve the situation as far as possible, the Federal Board for Vocational Education determined to pay its beneficiaries twice a month. In other words, it is the only Government agency which has paid or is paying its beneficiaries more than once a month. The checks go out regularly to men in training, prior to the fifteenth and last of every month, and figures are submitted in a statement handed to the committee showing that the average length of time which elapses from the date a man enters training until his check leaves central office is 24 days, and in no case was the average length of time longer than 30 days.

To provide for the men during these 20 to 30 days, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Red Cross have each generously provided a loan fund which is not given to the board, but which passes from the organization direct to the man himself. So far, the Red Cross fund has not been used."

The motive in attacking the Elks' fund and the Red Cross fund is not understood.