Mr. TOWNER. Well, you told the committee that you were injured by the explosion of a shell. That is true, is it not?

Mr. LIND. I beg your pardon, sir; I didn't say that.

Mr. TOWNER. I understood you so.

Mr. LIND. I said that I lost my hearing through the concussion of a shell. I didn't say I was injured, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. That is an injury.

Mr. TOWNER. Well, I suppose you mean by injury that you were wounded in some way.

Mr. LIND. No, sir; I didn't say those words.

Mr. TOWNER. Were you sent to a hospital when this explosion occurred?

Mr. LIND. No, sir; I was not sent to a hospital until-that was in July. I kept getting it treated, and I was sent to a hospital later on, in September.

Mr. TOWNER. And an operation was performed?

Mr. LIND. Not right away. The operation was not performed until January 4, 1919.

Mr. TOWNER. Were you still in France when the operation was performed?

Mr. LIND. I was, sir.

Mr. TOWNER. That was a severe operation, was it?

Mr. LIND. It certainly was.

Mr. TOWNER. I think you referred to it as being the operation for mastoid glands removal, or partial removal?

Mr. LIND. I don't know whether it was glands or not. It is a bone, I think.

Mr. TOWNER. Part of the bone removed, then?

Mr. LIND. Yes, sir.

Mr. TOWNER. Since then you have been suffering from it more or less all the time, have you?

Mr. LIND. I have been since, sir.

Mr. TOWNER. Is the hearing of the left ear entirely gone?

Mr. LIND. From my examination I would say it was.

Mr. TOWNER. I should think you could tell, can you not?

Mr. LIND. I can tell, sir, because I don't hear anything in my left ear.

Mr. TOWNER. It is true, then, as a matter of fact, that the hearing of the left ear is entirely gone, is it?

Mr. LIND. Yes, sir.

Mr. TOWNER. And was there any other injury that you had?

Mr. LIND. Well, I was sent to the hospital. I was sent there for an operation for hemorrhoids, bleeding hemorrhoids, and my ear started discharging more while I was in the hospital. Then I was in the hospital from September up until January, 1919, and my operation was performed on January 4 at the base hospital 49, at Longivray, France. The man that performed the operation was Lieut. Whalen, assisted by Capt. Platt.

Mr. TOWNER. Now, when you came back to the United States, you made application for disability rating?

Mr. LIND. I did not make my application until they examined me. I was examined. They saw they couldn't do anything for me, and they thought it was best and advisable that I should make application for a disability discharge, which I have with me.

Mr. TOWNER. The disability rating that you received from the War Risk Board was 10 per cent disability, was it?

Mr. LIND. Yes, sir.

Mr. TOWNER. That is all the disability rating that you ever received?

Mr. LAND. I received a 10 per cent disability, sir, but since the Sweet bill went into effect-on my 10 per cent disability I was getting $9 a month for myself; then I got $12, $9 for myself and $3 was allotted to my mother. Since then my compensation has been raised to $30. Mr. TOWNER. So that you are now receiving a disability allowance of $30 a month?

Mr. LIND. I receive it sometimes in the early part and sometimes. at the end of the month. Sometimes I don't receive it until way in the end of the month. I do receive $30 a month. I have last month-or in January, at least, I received a check.

Mr. TOWNER. You never have been transferred from the War Risk Bureau to the board?

Mr. LIND. I have not, sir.

Mr. TOWNER. And your complaint of the board is that they would not give you an examination for rating?

Mr. LIND. No, sir: my complaint is neglect of duty.

Mr. TOWNER. Well, I suppose that would be neglect of duty if they would not give you an examination. You never have been examined by the board, have you?

Mr. LIND. I went through one examination, as I said before, by Dr. Merriman.

Mr. TOWNER. Did Dr. Merriman give you an examination?

Mr. LIND. He gave me one examination, and then I received several letters from him to come back for reexamination. I went back, and I could not see Dr. Merriman.

Mr. TOWNER. You went back, as I understood you, several times? Mr. LIND. Yes, sir; I did.

Mr. TOWNER. Then you became discouraged and made no more efforts to receive a rating from the bureau ?

Mr. LIND. No, sir: I did not make any effort, but the Federal board kept sending pamphlets to me in regard to coming over, and I had to make some means of supporting myself. I couldn't depend upon the Government with their allowance, and when the time would come I would have to leave my work and go to the Federal board to find out why I didn't get my training.

Mr. TOWNER. Mr. Lind, the only information that the Federal board had regarding your condition in the first instance was the report that they gave you a 10 per cent disability, was it not?

Mr. LIND. They knew of my report, sir, when Dr. Merriman took it. He saw from my discharge, which I showed him, that I was disabled and that I was awarded 10 per cent disability, because I received papers later from the Bureau of War Risk to that effect.

Mr. TOWNER. After that Dr. Merriman examined you, did he? Mr. LIND. Oh, no, sir; he examined me before that, but he wrote several times that I should come over. I went, and Dr. Merriman didn't live up to his letter.

Mr. TOWNER. Well, what I am trying to get at is this: Did Dr. Merriman ever officially determine that you were entitled to more than a 10 per cent disability?

Mr. LIND. He did not say so, sir. He never said anything to me, unless it is on record in the Federal board's office in New York.

Mr. TOWNER. I understood you to say that somebody had promised you that you would be entitled to more than a 10 per cent disability. Who was that?

Mr. LIND. I didn't say that I would be promised more than 10 per cent disability, sir.

Mr. TOWNER. What was it you said?

Mr. LIND. I said that I was receiving10 per cent disability, which was $9 a month. Then my mother was being allotted $3 a month, but since the Sweet bill went into effect the check I drew from the Bureau of War Risk was increased to $30 a month.

Mr. TOWNER. I understand that, but what I am asking you about is the board, not the War Risk Insurance Bureau. Did the board ever give you a rating of more than 10 per cent?

Mr. LIND. They haven't said anything to me about it, sir.

Mr. TOWNER. You said that you had a letter from somebody, as I understood it, from Dr. Merriam, who promised to put you in class 2, which, of course, would be greater disability than 10 per cent. Now, how about that? Is that correct? Did I understand you correctly? Mr. LIND. I didn't say I had a letter from Dr. Merriam promising to put me in, but I said I was told by Mr. Solender that if I should receive compensation I would be entitled to section 2 training.

Mr. TOWNER. I understood you to say you had a letter from somebody.

Mr. LIND. I beg pardon, sir; I didn't say that.

Mr. TOWNER. Did you not say on your examination in chief that you had a letter, but you did not have it here, that you could find it, or thought you could find it?

Mr. LIND. I said I had a letter from Dr. Merriam to come over, and I have another one, which promised me that I should go into training in September.

Mr. TOWNER. Well, that is here. You say you have a letter in which Dr. Merriam said that you should go into training?

Mr. LIND. I had a letter from Dr. Merriam that said that I would go into training at home somewhere.

Mr. TOWNER. Did that mean training under section 2 or section 3? Mr. LIND. From what I understood, it would mean training under section 2.

Mr. TOWNER. Did the letter so state?

Mr. LIND. It so stated that if my compensation was refused I would get section 2 training.

Mr. TOWNER. How is that?

Mr. LIND. If I should receive compensation, I was entitled to section 2 training. That was explained to me.

Mr. TOWNER. In the letter?

Mr. LIND. Not in the letter; it was explained to me when I went for my training at the office.

Mr. TOWNER. Do you think you could find that letter?

Mr. LIND. If I should, I could send it here.

Mr. TOWNER. That is all.

Mr. SEARS. How much did you make before you went into the service?

Mr. LIND. I was making on an average $16 to $18 before I went into the service-$16 to $18 a week.

Mr. SEARS. Are you working now?

Mr. LIND. I am not, sir.

Mr. SEARS. Have you worked ever since you came back out of the service?

Mr. LIND. I did work for a while, sir, but I had faith in depending upon getting my vocational training, and I didn't get it, and I had to do something to live.

Mr. VESTAL. There are just one or two questions I want to ask. It seems to be all muddled up here. Let us get down to brass tacks now and see if we can't get some facts. When you first went to see this board they knew that you were getting 10 per cent disability, that that was all the disability that had been awarded by the War Risk?

Mr. LIND. Yes, sir.

Mr. VESTAL. Didn't they tell you at that time that under the disability that you were not entitled to training under section 2? Mr. LIND. No, sir; it was not explained to me.

Mr. VESTAL. It was not explained to you. Now then you say you talked with some one who told you that if you were getting a certain disability you could have section 2 training?

Mr. LIND. That was what Mr. Solender explained.

Mr. VESTAL. Now, let us get just what he said. What did he say to you? Use his language.

Mr. LIND. I can't recall the exact words that he said to me, but he told me if I should receive my compensation, that I was entitled to section 2 training. That was along in July when he told me that.

Mr. VESTAL. Did he say to you: If your compensation is increased by reason of an examination, you may be able to get section 2 training? Mr. LIND. No, sir.

Mr. VESTAL. Well, he already knew that you were getting compensation, didn't he?

Mr. LIND. He did, from Mr. Gildersleeve filling out the application. Mr. VESTAL. Then can you give the board any reason why he would say: "If you get compensation you shall have training under section 2?"

Mr. LIND. I am going upon the man's verbal phrase, what he used to me.

Mr. VESTAL. Your compensation never has been increased-that is, 10 per cent disability?

Mr. LIND. No, sir.

Mr. VESTAL. Did you tell them that you did not want section 3 training?

Mr. LIND. I told them that I could not see paying my own expenses.

Mr. VESTAL. Did you tell them that the first time you were there? Mr. LIND. I told them- no, sir; I didn't tell them that I didn't want section 3 training.

Mr. VESTAL. When was the first time you told them you didn't want section 3 training?

Mr. LIND. I didn't tell them exactly that I didn't want it, sir; but I told them that I couldn't afford to take it.

Mr. VESTAL. Did you tell them that the first time you were there? Mr. LIND. Not the first time, sir; I went back several times. Mr. VESTAL. When was it that you told them that you could not afford to take section 3 training?

Mr. LIND. Well, I went back so many times, sir, that I can't exactly remember the time it was.

Mr. VESTAL. Well, was it shortly after you went the first time? Mr. LIND. No, sir: it was later.

Mr. VESTAL. How did you come to say that to them?

Mr. LIND. Because they continued sending letters to me.

Mr. VESTAL. They continued sending letters and telling you that you were entitled to section 3 training? That is true, isn't it? Mr. LIND. Yes, sir.

Mr. VESTAL. So that you knew all of the time that all this board was offering you was section 3 training, didn't you?

Mr. LIND. Yes, sir; I knew that is all they cared to offer to me. Mr. VESTAL. Now, then, your complaint is that the board ought to have given you section 2 training. That is it, isn't it? Mr. LIND. Yes, sir.

Mr. VESTAL. Certainly, that is all there is to it. The board offered you section 3 training and you thought you ought to have section 2 training?

Mr. LIND. No; not on that ground. I took Mr. Solender's words for it, because when they sent me to Hefley Institute, they made arrangements by giving me a letter of introduction to one of the members of the Hefley Institute; a party from Hefley Institute gave me a letter to go back to Mr. Solender, the man that was to place me in training, and I was told that I could start my training in September.

Mr. VESTAL. What kind of training?

Mr. LIND. Surveying and mechanical drafting.

Mr. VESTAL. Under section 2?

Mr. LIND. Yes, sir; my application was filled out for that.

Mr. VESTAL. Was that in the letter? Have you a copy of that letter?

Mr. LIND. I haven't a copy with me, but the Federal board has that on file in their office.

Mr. VESTAL. That is all.

Mr. BRAND. Who was this that examined your right ear the last time?

Mr. LIND. Dr. Vilas.

Mr. BRAND. Where does he live?

Mr. LIND. I couldn't say where he lives. He is at the Bureau of War Risk.

Mr. BRAND. In New York or here?

Mr. LIND. In New York.

Mr. BRAND. I want to know if you recall the date of the letter you did not bring with you?

Mr. LIND. I can't give you the exact date.

Mr. BRAND. Do you remember the month?

Mr. LIND. It was along in August or September.

Mr. BRAND. Now you knew you were coming down here to testify, and you brought a lot of letters; why didn't you bring that one? Mr. LIND. I couldn't find the rest of them. I have it mislaid at home.

Mr. BRAND. You haven't had any difficulty in hearing Dr. Fess, have you?

Mr. LIND. I am facing him at an angle where the sound drifts.

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