Mr. BLANTON. Do you form opinions of men in that way-upon hearsay? Mr. WRIGHT. Not hearsay; no. Mr. BLANTON. If you formed such an opinion of him, and have never had any spoken word with him, it must have been hearsay, must it not? Mr. WRIGHT. No; through my dealings with him. I did not have to deal with him personally. Mr. BLANTON. How could you have dealings with him without speaking to him? Mr. WRIGHT. Through his assistants. Mr. BLANTON. Then your complaint would be more properly lodged against the persons with whom you did have dealings, and not against Mr. Clark individually? Mr. WRIGHT. No. He is personally responsible for the officenot his assistants. He is supposed to see that these men carry out their duty; that is what he is put there for. Mr. BLANTON. Then you have never had any direct contact with Mr. Clark that would warrant a loss of confidence in him-a direct contact, wherein he failed to do his duty personally and individually to you, if you knew it? Mr. WRIGHT. He would not handle a case personally. Mr. BLANTON. I am talking now about direct contact with him. Mr. WRIGHT. I do not know. You can hardly meet the gentleman. Mr. BLANTON. You have never had any direct contact with him? Mr. BLANTON. How much do you weigh now? Mr. WRIGHT. Five feet ten and one-half inches. Mr. BLANTON. What was your weight when you entered the Army? Mr. WRIGHT. About 180. Mr. BLANTON. You are about 20 pounds light now? Mr. WRIGHT. Yes, sir. Mr. BLANTON. You are above the average in educational qualifications, are you not? Mr. WRIGHT. Not that I could judge myself; no. Mr. BLANTON. What is the extent of your public schooling? The CHAIRMAN. He has answered that. Mr. BLANTON. To what extent have you had educational training. Mr. WRIGHT. I was in about the seventh grade at school, high school education in Texas. Mr. BLANTON. In Texas a high-school education? then put you up to where you would enter college. That would Mr. WRIGHT. No, sir; I had high school in New York City. Mr. BLANTON. In Texas it would put you up to where you would enter college if you had high-school training. Mr. WRIGHT. Yes, sir. Mr. BLANTON. You say you preferred to go into the automobile business? Mr. WRIGHT. Yes, sir. Mr. BLANTON. That is hard work and manual-labor business, is it not? Mr. WRIGHT. No, sir. Mr. BLANTON. It is not? Mr. WRIGHT. No, sir; not in the position that I was trying to qualify for. Mr. BLANTON, What were you, trying to qualify for in the automobile industry? Mr. WRIGHT. As an executive. Mr. BLANTON. Not as a mechanic? Mr. WRIGHT. No, sir. Mr. BLANTON. Then you did seek employment that would bring into force and effect executive qualifications? Mr. WRIGHT. (No response.) Mr. BLANTON. You state that you wanted a position in the line of an executive in the automobile industry? Mr. WRIGHT. Not in the line of it, but as an executive in that garage, that lady's garage. I would hire a bookkeeper to do the bookkeeping, and stenographer to do the typewriting. Mr. BLANTON. As a general manager? Mr. WRIGHT. Yes, sir. Mr. BLANTON. You were offered a position, I heard you say, in the line of a private secretaryship? Mr. WRIGHT. That is what the Federal Board offered me. Mr. BLANTON. That is what the Federal Board thought you were better fitted for? Mr. WRIGHT. In a way; yes, sir. Mr. BLANTON. And they offered you that training? That is a highly respectable position, is it not?" Mr. WRIGHT. I do not know. Mr. BLANTON. You do not know? Mr. BLANTON. You realize the fact that if you have a weak heart, that if your heart is affected- Mr. WRIGHT (interposing). It is. Mr. BLANTON. Laying aside the question of whether it is or is not, you do realize the fact that if your heart is affected, you would not be a proper person as a wireless operator. Do you not realize that? Mr. WRIGHT. No. Mr. BLANTON. Well, you have read of great emergencies when the entire ship and its crew and passengers were in danger of losing their lives instantaneously almost, where the wireless operator had to stay on his job and send his S. O. S. out to ships on the ocean. You have heard of such instances as that? Do you think that a man calculated to meet that emergency could do so at all times with a weak heart? Is it best to do so? Mr. WRIGHT. I do not know, I asked for it, but this board refused it to me and gave it to somebody else. Mr. BLANTON. If they did wrong in that instance, you do admit it would be best not to have a man in that position, who has a weak heart, do you not? Mr. WRIGHT. I do not know. I do not see where a weak heart would have anything to do with it. Mr. BLANTON. Do you think a man with a weak heart could fill that position as well as a man with a good, strong normal heart? Mr. WRIGHT. No. Any man with common sense would know that a man that is physically capable in every way of carrying on business in any shape is a better man than one disabled, in any line. Mr. BLANTON. Then you do admit, as far as the wireless service is concerned, that a man with a normal heart is a better qualified man than one with a weak heart? Mr. WRIGHT. Yes, sir. Mr. BLANTON. It is simply a question with you whether or not the doctors representing this service, have made a proper diagnosis of your case. They say you have a weak heart and you say you have not. It is merely a question of a difference of opinion, is it not? Mr. WRIGHT. My heart is not weakened in any extent. Mr. BLANTON. It is a difference of opinion? Mr. WRIGHT. Yes. Mr. BLANTON. The doctor who examined you said you had a weak heart? Mr. WRIGHT. It was not a doctor that had anything to do with it. It was the adviser. They are not doctors. Mr. BLANTON. The board advised you you are not good for that service because you have a weak heart? Mr. WRIGHT. Yes, sir. Mr. BLANTON. They are supposed to base the question of whether you had it or not, on expert testimony and proper diagnosis; is that not true? Mr. WRIGHT. Yes, sir. Mr. BLANTON. Who, in your judgment, is best equipped and qualified to know your condition with regard to heart action; you yourself or an expert? Mr. WRIGHT. An expert doctor? Mr. BLANTON. An expert doctor. Mr. WRIGHT. Yes, sir. Mr. BLANTON. I have nothing further. Mr. WRIGHT. I wish to state one thing, that I was never examined by the board, but that they have my disability; they went over the rating on the paper from my discharge and then they did not give me a diagnosis at all. The CHAIRMAN. You have had some experience with the Red Cross? Mr. WRIGHT. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. Would you give me the name? Mr. WRIGHT. Mrs. Biggs. The CHAIRMAN. Do you know the first name? The CHAIRMAN. What is the address? Mr. WRIGHT. 253 or 353 Fourth Avenue: it is Twenty-sixth Street, between Twenty-fifth and Twenty-sixth Streets on Fourth Avenue. It is the home service. The CHAIRMAN. What was the maximum salary that you drew before you went into the service? What did you make? Mr. WRIGHT. An average of about $35 a week. The CHAIRMAN. Your permanent disability gives you $100 from the War Risk Insurance? Mr. WRIGHT. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. You have $57 from the insurance now. Mr. WRIGHT. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. We are very much obliged indeed for your testi mony. Mr. BLANTON. Then, so far as earning capacity and compensation is concerned, you are now receiving, with that $100 from the War Risk Insurance and your $57, the sum of $157 as monthly revenue, which, as a matter of fact, is more than you ever received in your life? Mr. WRIGHT. No; I have made more than that. Mr. BLANTON. You are receiving $157 now? Mr. WRIGHT. I have made more than $157 a month. Mr. BLANTON. You said you averaged about $35 a week, which would make $140 a month. Mr. WRIGHT. That was four or five years ago. It is a little bit different than that to-day. The CHAIRMAN. If you will apply to the clerk for a voucher your expenses will be arranged for. Mr. VESTAL. Did I understand you to answer Mr. Blanton that you did not think there was anything wrong with your heart? Mr. WRIGHT. No: I never said there was anything wrong with my heart. As I told you, I had 100 per cent disability from heart dis ease. I consider myself disabled at the present time. I never mentioned the fact. I introduced that to the board and they said the way the compensation went that I was just as good as a man that was physically all right. Mr. VESTAL. I understood you to answer Mr. Blanton that the doctors said that you had a bad heart, but you thought your heart was all right? Mr. WRIGHT. No. Mr. VESTAL. When you were talking to the Vocational Board about your training, did they tell you at that time that a man in your condition with a weak heart had no business in a garage? Mr. WRIGHT. No, sir. They never gave me any excuse at all about the garage or anything else outside of wireless. Mr. VESTAL. Do you know of any institution that teaches the kind of work that you want? Mr. WRIGHT. I think the automobile firms do. The adviser said that I could go right into these big automobile shops. Mr. VESTAL. You think you are capable with the condition of your heart of going into an automobile shop so as to be manager of a garage as an executive? Mr. WRIGHT. Not to do manual labor, no. Mr. VESTAL. How would you expect to learn to be an executive unless you went through and learned the business and the different stages of the business? Mr. WRIGHT. By looking on I think I could, and being instructed, the same as they do in the big rubber shops. Mr. VESTAL. In other words, you were looking for a position and not a job? That is the truth about it? Mr. WRIGHT. Yes, sir. But the secretary position I did not want. The CHAIRMAN. You may be excused, Mr. Wright. We will hear the next witness. STATEMENT OF MR. DANIEL R. EDWARDS. (The witness was duly sworn by the chairman.) The CHAIRMAN. Give the stenographer your name and address, please. Mr. EDWARDS. Daniel R. Edwards, 408 West One hundred and fifteenth Street, New York City. The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Edwards, in your own way you may proceed to tell what you have to say about your experience with the Federal board. Mr. EDWARDS. January 10, 1919, I happened to be going to New York City on the Ellis Island ferry, before I got my discharge. There I was taken out of the gang that I happened to be with-I was on a pass-and asked to be introduced to a man by a Red Cross man. This man happened to be Mr. U. Grant Smith, of 280 Broadway, representing the Federal Board for Vocational Education. He asked me had I heard anything about the Federal board and I told him that I had, and that I wanted to hear more about it and was very glad to meet him. He asked me a few questions in regard to when I enlisted and what my occupation was, my disability, and when I thought I would be discharged. I told Mr. Smith that I had been a student up until I enlisted in the Regular Army, and that I went right to war April 6, the date of the war. The CHAIRMAN. Where were you in school? Mr. EDWARDS. At Waco, Tex.; Bayler's University. Mr. EDWARDS. I was merely taking up college work-the physical end. Mr. Smith asked me what did I think I would be able to do? I told him that I had a great interest in the Army in writing that was my end in life-that I had a great pleasure out of writing, and nothing else, such as fiction and special-article work. I told him that I would prefer some course a good English course-that I would be able to obtain a knowledge of narration and fiction and other parts of the English language, and Mr. Smith then asked me where did I live. I told him in Texas. Then he asked me where did I prefer to go to school. I told him Texas-that I would like to go back home-not that I had any relations down there closer than cousins and uncles, but that I wanted to go to Texas because I was known there and had been there all my life, practically, since I came from Oakland, when a small boy; and Mr. Smith asked me did I realize that the schools in Texas were not as efficient and did not have the way of teaching a man that they did in New York City. He said, "You can go in here and can really get good advantages in New York City." The CHAIRMAN. Who is this Mr. Smith? Mr. EDWARDS. Mr. U. Grant Smith was then the board's welfare agent up there, and is now here at Washington. Mr. Lamkin can tell you whether he is or not. He was then at 280 Broadway. I beg your pardon: he was on the ferry, but he represented 280 Broadway. Mr. Smith, by asking me this of course, I talked considerable with him, and he told me that, being with so many friends in Texas. I would naturally be taken off of my work more or less by visitors and by visiting others, being so close, and if I were up here I would get right in and get right out. I told him I wanted to get right |