on him." This fellow came in, and he was apparently a man who had been shell-shocked, and such an attitude did not appear right to me.

The CHAIRMAN. Was that one of the employees of the board?

Mr. HAMMOND. One of the employees-it was not a Federal Board officer, to my knowledge-but this employee said that to this girl: and, of course, it kind of ruffled me up for the time being. I thought if a man like that came in, a man who had fought for this country and had been crippled-incidentally, I believe he was an Italian, and he had quite a bit of fight in him, because he came in there. pretty well fussed up, having waited a long time, and everything else he should be treated right. So he, I believe, was examined before the rest. That was all right.

Well, the examining of men went pretty slowly. In the meantime the doctors would be running in and out-not running in and out, but walking around, taking things, what I termed, pretty easy for the number of men that were there and to be examined. It was possible that when a man did finish up there were some necessary things to write, but it didn't seem to me that after a man was examined the time elapsing between the examination and the time that another man came in to be examined should be as long as it was. So that sort of thing carried on all the afternoon. When 5 o'clock came. I said to this girl, "Well, I guess you win your bet." She said, "Yes; I guess I do. I know; I have been here." And she had seen many of them, of the same cases. But while she didn't appear to be sympathetic about it or anything, it was more-well, it wasn't exactly a joke with her, but it was a common, ordinary occurrence with her. She didn't look at it as out of the way one way or the other. So I then said, "About what time do you think I will be examined?" And she said, "Why, you will be examined by aboutyours is next."

The next time I spoke to her-apparently my time was next, and by that time there were a lot of men that were waiting there to be examined and had got disgusted and had gone out; but I came from Huntingdon, and I made up my mind I was going to see that through that day, because I had got that far, I had waited that long, and was going to see the thing through.

The CHAIRMAN. This was your first day there?

Mr. HAMMOND. Yes, sir; my first day. I then saw the doctorapparently the doctor that was to examine me. I saw a man leave his place, and I was the next man, I was told, and I went in, and I asked this doctor-I don't know his name-I asked him when I would be examined. He said, "Oh, you will be examined all right in a little while." I understood that he was going to examine me. I sat there waiting in this place. I was half awake and half asleep from that long grind there, and just eating myself away doing nothing, and I saw him put on his coat and walk out. I went over to the stenographer again, and I asked this stenographer what was the idea. By the way, this wasn't the same stenographer; this was one that stayed late. It seemed to me that this was one of the nights when they had a night shift of doctors, and this particular stenographer told me, "Well, he is the last doctor. He has gone out." I said, "Well, he told me that he was going to examine me." "I can't

help that," he says, "I am not the doctor here. You have to go out and come back to-night and get examined. There is your case, I know. You are next, but you will have to come back." So, that was 6 o'clock, and he said, "At 7 o'clock come back and there will be a doctor here to examine you." At 7 o'clock I came back and was examined.

The doctor came on the night shift. He was a fresh man and I ́ was the only one there, so there was nothing else, but I had to be examined. That was all there was to it. He examined me in a very casual way. I might state that instead of examining me as the Bureau of War Risk did-if I may bring that in-he simply gave me an examination that you might give a horse. He said: "Open your mouth." He couldn't find a stethoscope, and he had to run around in somebody else's office to get a stethoscope, hunting in other people's desks for one. So he came back to me after he found a stethoscope and looked me over, simply with the stethoscope; he had no instrument to look into my nose to see if there was any trouble up there or not. He asked me if I knew about it. I had no definite idea of what the War Risk Insurance doctor had said regarding my condition, but I told him how I felt, and without looking, using an instrument to look down my throat, he wrote, "Adenoids and tonsils." I have here a letter recently received from Mr. Clark, in which I would like to just point out this first paragraph:

We note in reviewing your papers that you were advised by our doctor when you were examined to have an operation performed to relieve your tonsil and adenoid trouble.

Now, that is the first time that I knew I had adenoids, and that examination was not an examination with any medical instruments, that was simply the eye looking into my throat and nose. Now, whether that is so or not I can not say.

The CHAIRMAN. What is the date of that letter?

Mr. HAMMOND. The date of that letter is March 27, 1920.

The CHAIRMAN. And when were you examined?

Mr. HAMMOND. I was examined about the 1st of January, 1920.
The CHAIRMAN. Was that the first notification you had?

Mr. HAMMOND. No, sir; I believe my first notification is that dated February 10, 1920. I would not swear to that, though. I wish that would not go down, because I am not sure, about that. But February 10 is the first one mentioned. I will come to that later and I will explain how this thing came through as quickly as it did.

Now to-day I went over to the Bureau of War Risk. I saw them, and I said to them: "Would you kindly give me my case; my exami nation at the Polyclinic Hospital, the diagnosis of that case? I have reason to believe that another examination I have had is not correct." This examination that I am going to mention now was given me in the Polyclinic Hospital in New York City, where the most modern and up to date, I might say, medical instruments were used. The CHAIRMAN. What date is that?

Mr. HAMMOND. That date was about-I believe about January 3.. The CHAIRMAN. Before the other?

Mr. HAMMOND. Before the other, yes, sir; before the other. This information was given me right here in Washington from my record. at the Bureau of War Risk Insurance. Here is the diagnosis: "Chronic rhinitis. Enlarged tonsils, and laryngitis.'

Which, compared to the other, simply does not agree with it in that there is such a condition as adenoids. I can not see any connection with chronic rhinitis and adenoids. I am not a doctor, but adenoids is a growth, I believe, that keeps your mouth open. It is very difficult to breathe through your nose. I have never had any such trouble. Before I was gassed I could run and various other things, and I had to breathe through my nose, and to-day I breathe through my nose and don't snore, and I sleep with my mouth closed. Their examination states that it is chronic- rhinitis. I didn't know what it was until I was told-just about what the trouble is that I have; something that runs down my nose into my mouth and goes down my throat and causes vomiting and things like that, especially after breakfast, or when I get up in the morning, and that is the condition. The adenoids question is one that is simply a guess on the part of that doctor; speculation. It was not given as a fact; it can hot be, because I have no such condition. When that was given it was purely an examination-a casual examination like you might give a horse when you go up to it and look at its teeth and say, "Well, I think he is about so many years old "--something like that. That was the type of examination I had that day.

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Hammond, are you familiar enough with methods of examination that you could state that a doctor who would look into your mouth could not tell whether you were suffering from enlarged tonsils?

Mr. HAMMOND. I am not mentioning the enlarged tonsils. I agree that I have enlarged tonsils. They are correct on the enlarged tonsils.

The CHAIRMAN. It is the adenoids?

Mr. HAMMOND. It is the adenoids.

The CHAIRMAN. And you say that he made no examination into the nose with instruments?

Mr. HAMMOND. Absolutely none. He looked at me with his naked eye, that is all, and stated afterwards that, as it appears in this letter, that I had adenoid trouble. The very fact that I had that examination and that my training and everything depended on such an examination bothered me, but I did not know whether that examination corresponded with the other.

The CHAIRMAN. How long did it take him to make the examination that he made?

Mr. HAMMOND. I feel safe to say that the examination itself, the time after I got in there and took off my shirt so he could examine me until the time I got out, was not over 20 minutes, because I didn't have 101 things to look at. He simply had to test my heart and lungs and this nose trouble.

Now, another thing that I wish to bring up, something that other witnesses have spoken of before me, as I have heard in the past two days, is the question of antagonism, the form of antagonism that a man meets when he approaches the board. To begin with, I might say that is the sort of antagonism that you get when you go to that man at the desk and want to get in and he says, "What is your case?" or something like that. They seem to feel, as I said before, that they are on a different plane. They seem to look upon you as a charity patient. They don't seem to realize that you are going

there as a man who has fought on the other side and the Government has provided the money to be paid men who are disabled or not to be paid to them, but indirectly paid to them by giving them an education or fixing them up suitable to carry on their life work, providing that disability has in any way hindered them from performing the work that they set out to do.

The CHAIRMAN. What was your disability rating?

Mr. HAMMOND. My disability rating I can not state, except that I know my compensation is $12 a month.

The CHAIRMAN. $12 a month at present?
Mr. HAMMOND. At present: yes, sir.

That is, I don't know whether that is governed by the Sweet bill or not. I just received my initial check the other day.

The CHAIRMAN. No: that does not-I presume that does not satisfy the Sweet bill. I think that must be the original rating.

Mr. HAMMOND. I am sure I don't know. I would not be qualified to make any statement on that.

Now, my next statement is one that I don't like to say much about, except-because, in a way, it is directly with you gentlemen. I feel that in my case-a moment ago you said something about the date being February 10. I will admit that that was rushed. This case was rushed. I am not going to mention the Congressman's name, but it was a Congressman that rushed the case. He got on it and looked after it for me; but my impression of this thing-of this law is to provide a man with training without the necessity of him getting a Congressman to see the thing through. I think that a man ought to be able to go to that Federal board in New York and say, "Here, I have a case, such and such a thing. Examine me, please, and let me know about it," without waiting quite a while, as some do-as I know people have done.

I was tipped by this one-armed officer that the only way to do this thing was to use a little pull. That is the way he said it: "See your Congressman, and then you will get it through; otherwise, you will wait forever on it."

So I did that, and you see the result. My contention is this, however, that a man-there are a number of men that have not that tip. There are a number of men in New York, and all over the country-not only in New York-that haven't that tip to see a Congressman; that don't know how to go about it; and those men, when they make application for it, ought to get through just as fast without a Congressman. If a Congressman can put a priority order through, or something like that, why can't these people hustle up and make it all in the form of a priority order and put them through just as fast? There wouldn't be any delay, then. If one man can cause a condition that will put those things through, I can't see why they couldn't follow in natural sequence and all go through that way.

The CHAIRMAN. That comes, Mr. Hammond, from this sort of a situation: If you had had an unfortunate experience and could not get immediate action, and you would have written to me, calling attention to it, I would have immediately called over the telephone to the board and would have asked them to make a special effort to see your case at once and to see if possible whether they could

remedy the situation or do whatever the case would justify. Now, in that case the board would likely make a special effort with you and leave a great many others still waiting, simply because I had made the request. It is hardly fair to the board to say that they are purposely delaying others, but it is rather because some particular person specially interests himself in your case that you get immediate action.

Mr. HAMMOND. Yes, sir; I agree with you on that, and I say that that should not be. I employed those means to do that because I was told by this person that the only way it could be done was that way, and my reason, my chief reason for putting it in at that time, my examination and all, was to try to eliminate this proposition of compensation; let that come through by itself.

The CHAIRMAN. Well, this person who told you that it was necessary to find some one of influence in order to get your case through did not mean to leave you under the impression that you could not get any recognition unless you did that, did he?

Mr. HAMMOND. He didn't mean to say that I would not get any recognition. I don't say that; but he is a man who had had dealings with the Federal board before.

The CHAIRMAN. Wouldn't he mean that you would get immediate recognition by the request that would be made? That would mean that others would have to wait until your case was adjusted.

Mr. HAMMOND. He meant that the question of getting on to a thing would be done more easily through pull or something else, and he said: "If you can use it, use it."

The CHAIRMAN. Of course, if any situation will justify that statement it ought to be corrected. That is not right at all.

Mr. HAMMOND. And this gentleman that I speak of, who is the ex-officer-I am not permitted to mention his name, for I don't believe he cares to appear as a witness or anything like that—had something to do with some proceedings not long ago against the Federal Board, where some member of the board was dislodged. I believe it was-I won't mention his name; I don't care to bring it out, but it has something to do with that hard-boiled-egg order. The CHAIRMAN. Let me ask you, Mr. Hammond, this specific question to get your own view. Is it your conviction that in order to get proper treatment from the board you would have to have some influence outside of yourself?

Mr. HAMMOND. I will have to qualify myself in answering that question. I feel that to get influence that would satisfy a man; ves: I feel, to get it in time. A soldier naturally expects a few things done for him, doesn't he?

The CHAIRMAN. Yes.

Mr. HAMMOND. In the Army the soldier has things done for him all the way through, and when he is working for a Government body he expects things to be done for him, and now if these things are not done he seems to think they are never going to be done. He gets that feeling, well. he will let it go. And I think that is the trouble. It seems to me that is the trouble with a lot of men when you talk Federal board to them.

The CHAIRMAN. I am under the impression that this is the extent that most of the boys who wait have said: They think that because