Dr. CURRAN No; the mental hygiene clinic is for people living in: the community, in their own homes, it is an out-patient department. Children are rarely committed to State hospitals either from the clinic or the hospital proper. 7 sob crony assfolaim omga odt dignos Mr. MARCANTONIO. Just another question.. Do you find you have enough clinics to perform the work needed to be done in New York City? Joidne ehli ai Sotsorolni zaliv od Hi Dr. CURRAN I don't think that there are adequate clinical facilities in any section of the country for neuropsychiatric problems at this time 700 907 1000 dadw of an errors mon Mr. PRIEST We thank you, Doctor.) to broost od) de Fool ommisso and Jedy ose of 2497

-STATEMENT OF DR. A. N. BAGGS, MEDICAL CONSULTANT, AMERICAN LEGION od Blow Beloof diens

Mr. PRIEST. Doctor, will you give the reporter your name and title? Dr. BAGGS. Dr. Albert N. Baggs, medical consultant, American Legions mor siaison 13.977 ECA TIST BOy deadl Temokbomo Mr. Chairman, I haven't a prepared statement, because the notice to appear was a little too short, but I have been interested in this subject for many, many years, especially from the veteran standpoint, as I was connected with the Veterans' Bureau in certain activities, and I was also a member of the staff of the Medical Division of the Selective Service in this war.

The need for a central bureau of information and education is very great, and always has been. We, unfortunately, made the same mistake in this war as we did in the preceding war; we apparently did not learn anything from the preceding war. We were not prepared to screen the psychotic or the neuropsychiatric as they came up through Selective Service. Unfortunately, I was not here when

C

General Hershey gave his testimony differ is not here when

THOM

went into the medical question and the difficulties experienced by the Selective Service, nor do I know just how he treated and discussed the remedies for it, in securing the records of the individual selectees, in the last year to a very satis

However, that has been a ca ou great numbers of these men.

If we had had an institution or bureau as indicated in this bill in 1940,
when the Selective Service went into effect, we would have saved the
Government millions of dollars.
Are yfirsaik 101 Popradorl5 is io

Now, from the standpoint of the American Legion, I wish to state the Legion is in favor of this bill in principle. There may be some détails that can be ironed out and can be changed. The Legion has a medical advisory board, nationally known and internationally known, on which Dr. Oberholtzer is the psychiatrist. You have his testimony here and his opinion of this bill However, bo would be within niy limits in stating that the American Legion concurs in Dri and and we

Oberholtzer Sggestions,

a wide of and more posts and State organizations, to try to get down to the family level of these cases jo and out no anibirte dona mort nozorio ad bloode acccicat tsal G The medical profession as a whole knows very little about psychiatry, unfortunately. The general population naturally knows less.. The whole thing develops into a campaign of education with a centrally located bureau for information, advice and research. We have

ation through our already instituted

spent billions in studying the atomic bomb. The human mind is far more complicated than the mechanism of the atomic bomb, and it will save untold misery. If and when we have another war we would not commit the same mistakes we have done previously.

There will be some 13,000,000 veterans discharged from the services. and their families constitute 20 or 30 million of the population which will be vitally interested in this subiect. Not that all of them are psychotic or neuropsychotic, but many have relatives who are.

You have heard the testimony of the different armed forces and their experts as to what occurred in service, and you only have to look at the records of the Veterans' Administration for the last 25 years to see what has occurred subsequently, and what will occur in the next 25 years, and it is believed that a bureau of this type, centrally located, would be of very great benefit, not only to the veterans, but to the medical profession at large.

That is all I have to say, sir.

Mr. PRIEST. Doctor, we certainly thank you. Are there any questions? Thank you very much; we appreciate your appearance here and your interest in the subject.

STATEMENT OF MRS. HARVEY W. WILEY, CHAIRMAN, DEPARTMENT OF LEGISLATION, GENERAL FEDERATION OF WOMEN'S CLUBS

Mrs. WILEY. Mr. Chairman, I am Mrs. Harvey W. Wiley; I am chairman of legislation of the General Federation of Women's Clubs, and I was for 5 years secretary of the Washington Institute of Mental Hygiene, from 1930 to 1935. Of course, we are not experts in any sense of the word, but we are a large group of women and we can help form public opinion.

Mr. Chairman, the General Federation of Women's Clubs representing two and a half million women, at its last board of directors meeting on October 16, 1944, passed the attached resolution, which I will read:

Whereas 30 percent of all civilians rejected for military duty were found unfit because of neuropsychiatric disabilities; and

Whereas on the basis of conservative statistics from Army, Navy, and induction stations, neuropsychiatric disabilities contribute approximately 50 percent of all discharges for disability; and

Whereas neuropsychiatric service is a phase of medical practice which has yet not been developed sufficiently to meet the needs of the people of this country: Therefore be it

Resolved by the board of directors of the General Federation of Women's Clubs, in meeting assembled, October 16, 1944—

1. That as a part of the educational program now being planned for the demobilized veterans, there should be included a program of intensive training of psychiatric personnel in such number as the United States Office of Education and the United States Public Health Service shall deem essential for proper coverage of the needs of the Nation.

2. That fellowships providing psychiatric training should be available as soon as the cessation of active hostilities in any theater of war releases medical and other personnel to participate in such a program.

3. That trainees should be chosen from such studies on the basis of their expressed preference, previous training and experience, and personal aptitude.

4. That in order to maintain such training on the highest level it should be integrated into the program of the leading centers of medical education and research.

This resolution presented by the resolutions committee, was inspired and drawn up by its chairman, Mrs. Horace Ritchie, of Athens, Ga., who is the mother of a physician.

Mrs. Ritchie was well acquainted with the fact that there are widespread neuropsychiatric disorders in our country today, which have been increased by the damaging effects of the war. These facts are well set forth in the informative sections of the resolution which I just read.

Representative Priest's bill, H. R. 2550, was, of course, introduced 6 months after the passage of our resolution. But it is very evident that the intent of our resolution to supplement the number of psychiatrists in this country by emphasizing the training of eligible demobilized veterans to carry on this work and to facilitate this program in every possible way is implemented by this bill.

Representative Priest's bill to establish a National Neuropsychiatric Institute to foster research on this subject, to provide for effective methods of preventing, diagnosing, and treating psychiatric disorders, and to provide an increased number of qualified psychiatrists, seems to be a very wise fulfillment of the purpose of our resolution and I am glad, efter consulting with national headquarters, to appear today and give the approval of the General Federation of Women's Clubs to bill H. R. 2550 in principle.

Mr. PRIEST. We certainly thank you, Mrs. Wiley, and we congratulate your organization on taking that stand as far back as 1944. Mrs. WILEY. Thank you.

STATEMENT OF MRS. C. B. LOWE, MEMBER OF THE LEGISLATION COMMITTEE, NATIONAL CONGRESS OF PARENTS AND TEACH

ERS

Mrs. Lowe. Mr. Chairman, I have no prepared statement, but I would like to tell you very briefly why the National Congress of Parents and Teachers is supporting this bill.

Ours is a volunteer organization, organized in every State in the Union, down even to the local level, and ours is the largest organization in the world working solely for the welfare of children and youth. I think I am safe in saying ours was the first of the large organizations that recognized the need for a mental-hygiene program, and while ours has been mostly a program of guidance for the parents of the children, we also recognize the need of treatment, and we, since setting up our mental-hygiene committee several years ago, have conducted thousands of study groups for parents and teachers in the field of mental hygiene. We have been in the forefront in working for the establishment of mental-hygiene clinics under juvenile courts, and mental-hygiene clinics within the public-health services of the States and communities.

We feel that there is a great need for more trained people in this field. We feel that we have done a pretty good job of educating people to see the need, but we have found in setting up the clinics that we have a difficult time in getting personnel for these clinics, and we would like to see this bill passed, because we do think it does provide many of the things for which we have been working.

Thank you.

bo MrPRIEST. We certainly thank you, Mrs. Lowe.isloagree with you. I think the training program that will be made possible if this legislation is passed, is one of the most important phases of the entire -program. We appreciate your presence.pos llow żew shotiferi/ oved doily yobor vimuos tuo et arobroaib sirtuilovegowont bœorqa STATEMENT OF WATSONO B. MILLER, ACTING ADMINISTRATOR, I birdw HolmOBOT FEDERAL SECURITY AGENCY i d'ol Joa low best devi bosMr. MILLER. Mr, Chairman, may I speak for a minute? I share the views of the gentleman from Tennessee. I come here today -before this committee to rather express an inference by my presence. Mr. McNutt has left the Federal Security Agency for other important duties, and as Acting Administrator of the Federal Security Agency, I feel that one of the intelligent things that Congress has done and I mean that very seriously, because I have lived with the Congress many years-is to conduct this kind of an investigation, which will berintelligent, which will be one of interest, and which will be exhaustive. I believe that the elements expressed in the bill are sound.

With respect to the query of the gentleman from Ohio, I think, Mr. Brown, the position of the Agency is exactly as you would wish it to ebe. We are on all-fours with each other. We are in the field of States' rights; we desire to make our facilities of persuasive benefit to the States when they require them. If this is done, you will not only produce surcease from mental distress while people are alive, but it will be one of the most tremendous contributions to the future of medicine that the American people can bring about.

I appreciate this opportunity, Mr. Priest. exr To TEAMITAT? Mr. PRIEST. We appreciate your presence here and your statement to the committee.

Now, because there is a meeting at which all members of Congress are expected to be present at 10 o'clock tomorrow, the committee will adjourn over until 10 o'clock Friday morning of will bou (Whereupon, at 11:45 a. m., the committee adjourned to 10 a. m. Friday, September 21, 1945.)

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1945 8770) 707 8 ei li

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,201 to OMERTOJ SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON

INTERSTATE AND FOREIGN COMMERCE,

At the age Washington, D. C. The committee met at 10 a. m. the Honorable J. Percy Priest (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. me 27 reas

Mr. PRIEST. The committee will come to order. The Chair may state before beginning the hearing that we expect to conclude these hearings today, probably during the morning

take whatever time may be necessary this afternoon, DAS RIGA FORTH not, we will according to our list we ought to be able to finish by noon of anopor! We are very happy to have with us Dr. Edward A. Strecker, professor of psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania; ex-president of the American Psychiatric Society; consultant for the Secretary of War to the Surgeon General of the Army; consultant to the Surgeon General of the Navy; and consultant in Mental Hygiene, United States Public Health Service. 99 tolos at avongo Dr. Strecker, will you please take the stand.d gif euing to emelt STATEMEHT OF DR. EDWARD A. STRECKER, EX-PRESIDENT, AMERICAN PSYCHIATRIC SOCIETY...

Dr. STRECKER. Mr. Priest, this bill is very close to my heart, because it represents the fruition of something I have been working for a great many years, as a member and later on as president, of the American Psychiatric Society, and it becomes all the more important in my mind because of my experience in the two wars, where it was obvious, I think it is not too much to say, that the greatest medical need of the country is improvement of the psychiatric situation. I believe that this constituted the single most important medical issue of the war. This bill would not only be of the greatest concrete help' in dealing with this enormous problem, but it would have the greatest value in stimulating the interest in study and research in psychiatry. throughout the country, perhaps would even have repercussions throughout the world, so I believe this bill would accomplish in a relatively short time for psychiatry and for those of our citizens who are mentally and nervously sick something which in the ordinary course of events could not be accomplished under a hundred years. We estimate that at the present normal rate of training of men to care for people who are sick mentally it would take 100 years to educate a sufficient number. With the stimulus coming from this bill we would have a very definite shortening of that time, and we would relatively soon be able to see daylight.

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