Part 52

SOME CASES OF INTEREST:

In order that you may have a slight conception of the far-reaching effect of the strong arm of this Government in giving aid to its ex-service men wherever located, which means that they are scattered all over the earth, I believe that it will serve my purpose if I cite a few cases that may prove of interest to you. I shall with-hold the names of these men and refer to them by numbers only.

CASE NO. 1:

In this case a member of Congress came to the Veterans’ Bureau and stated that he had been excursioned around from department to department in his effort to obtain assistance in coming to the rescue of a boy who had been discharged from the U.S. military service against medical advice, suffering from melancholia, and who was sent to his home at the earnest request of his parents, as it was believed that his return to normalcy would be more quickly effected in the environment of his home and under parental care, than in a hospital. The Congressman went on to relate that after remaining home for about four months, the boy was one day reported missing. Diligent inquiry and searching parties failed to locate him, and a river nearby suggested the possibility of an accident or suicide. We will drop the curtain on this distressing situation, for we know by the law of the universal heart of the suffering that must have followed in that afflicted home.

LOCATED IN SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA:

After a lapse of fourteen months a letter was received from Sydney, Australia, addressed to a small town in a Southern State, signed by the Christian name of the writer, Henry, we will call him. The letter was a rambling, disconnected communication, addressed to no one, not even to the Postmaster, but simply to the town. The Postmaster, being the self-appointed recipient of the Communication, incidentally mentioned it to the father of the missing boy. The father did not associate the letter in any way with his lost son, but that evening upon returning home, he told his wife of the letter which the Postmaster had mentioned. I can almost see in your faces now that you have read the sequel to my story, that the mother’s love quickly put the question: “Did you see that letter?” and when the father said, “No”, the mother insisted that the letter must be from her lost boy. A visit to the Postmaster was made immediately, the letter was produced and identified by the mother as having been written by her boy. The letter was then two months old. The Congressman had come to see what could be done as to locating the boy in far away Australia.

Although the distance between the yearning mother and her lost boy was over 12,000 miles, I do not think I am exaggerating when I state that within thirty minutes after learning the facts a cablegram was under the water, requesting that the Consul General at Sydney cause a thorough search to be made in the hospitals and other institutions in the city with a view of finding the boy whose personal description was furnished, and to hospitalize if necessary and cable results. Within two days a reply was received, stating that the boy had been found and placed in a hospital. He has subsequently been returned to the United States, where he is now being cared for as a beneficiary of this Bureau, and I am glad to say that he is progressing satisfactorily. Is it strange that the Congressman and the Bureau should have the gratitude of these parents?

CASE NO. 2.:

A medical officer of the U.S. Army while traveling in Northern Africa stopped over night at a hotel in Algiers and there learned of the presence and illness of a U.S. Ex-service man. This young officer was out of funds and in need of hospitalization. The attention of the Surgeon General of the Army was called to the case, who in turn advised the Veterans’ Bureau of the man’s distress. The State Department was called by telephone and requested to cable the U.S. Consul at Algiers, directing him to give immediate service to this American boy and report action taken, with the result that the boy was promptly cared for and sent by first available transportation to Marseilles, France, where he was hospitalized.

CASE NO. 3.:

This case is that of a navy man whose disappearance was a mystery to his family. The first information as to his location was obtained through the U.S. Veterans’ Bureau, Medical Division, as the result of a telegram received from the Director Medical Services, Department of Soldiers’ Civil Re-Establishment, Ottawa, Canada, which stated that a man had been arrested there as a vagrant; that he was apparently a mental case, and had been in the U.S. Navy. His name was furnished and his identity established through the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery of the Navy. He was promptly hospitalized by the Bureau through the co-operation of the Canadian officials and returned to this country with an attendant, where he is under treatment at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital.

PURPOSE OF THE BUREAU’S ENDEAVORS:

I might go on to cite many such cases, but my time allotted is insufficient. My purpose is simply to inform you that it is the wish of the Director and his associates in the Veterans’ Bureau that it and its co-operating agencies may give to each case a human touch, reflecting personal interest and I can think of no better maxim for our guidance than the title of Charles Reade’s book, “Put Yourself In His Place,”—and give service as you would have it given unto you.”

MR. BURKE: stated that in the absence of Major Fraser his subject would be taken up by Mr. Milliken.

MR. J. B. MILLIKEN, of the U. S. Veterans’ Bureau, discussed the subject “Relation of U. S. Veterans’ Bureau to other existing bureaus in caring for its beneficiaries”, as follows:

“Ladies, Mr. Chairman, and Gentlemen: The subject of my twenty minutes talk to you might more appropriately be termed the relation of the U. S. Veterans’ Bureau to all the Executive Departments of the Government, for indeed, there is not a Department of this government with which the U. S. Veterans’ Bureau does not have a vital and immediate contact.

Probably there are three Executive Departments of the Government with which the Bureau has more contact than with the other Executive Departments—that of the Treasury Department, the War Department, and the Navy Department. Inasmuch as the U. S. Public Health Service is a part of the Treasury Department our contact with this Department of the government is immediate and vital, and is of more immediate importance than our contact with the other Executive Departments.

As is appreciated, no hospitals are operated directly by the U. S. Veterans’ Bureau, and all hospitals with the exception of contract hospitals are operated by the other independent establishments of the government, the Public Health Service of course having the lion’s share in providing facilities, and prior to the Act of August 9, 1921 creating the U. S. Veterans’ Bureau, the U. S. Public Health Service had charge of the various fourteen district offices where was stationed at each district office a Supervisor.

The Secretary of the Treasury’s order of April 19, 1921 transferred the functions of the District Supervisor’s Office to the then Bureau of War Risk Insurance, and the Act of August 9, 1921 transferred by law the activities of these offices to the U. S. Veterans’ Bureau, but left unhampered the jurisdiction and authority of the U. S. Public Health Service concerning matters of hospitalization.

Without the work of the facilities afforded by the U. S. Public Health Service it would indeed be impossible for the U. S. Veterans’ Bureau to function and discharge its obligations relative to the hospitalization, medical care, and treatment of disabled ex-service men and women. Co-ordination of their work has led to the fullest cooperation on the part of every agency, to the end that the disabled ex-service man is receiving the best treatment which a grateful government can provide. You have, of course, before you all the data and information relative to the extent of the work carried on by the U. S. Public Health Service as it relates to the beneficiaries of the U. S. Veterans’ Bureau.

The relation of this Bureau to the War and Navy Departments is fundamental, for the reason that before any person can be accorded the benefits provided for under the act creating the U. S. Veterans’ Bureau, a record must be obtained from the War or Navy Department showing the military or naval record of the person seeking benefits either for compensation, insurance, vocational training, or medical care and treatment. Something over 900,000 requests have been made to date on the War and Navy Departments requesting a transcript of the military or naval record of the person while in the active service and there has been no diminution in the number of reports requested daily, in that our average number of requests each day is about 1,000. The matter of furnishing adequately the transcript of record of an ex-service man or woman, showing whether or not they received any medical treatment while in the active service is indeed a most difficult problem. It must be remembered cases are now arising where a given individual has been discharged from the military or naval service for a period of approximately three years, and that in all probability they did not receive medical care or treatment while in the service, but their health has become impaired subsequent to their discharge from the service. Quite true they might have had some slight attack of influenza while in the service or some other disability, but did not report for medical care and treatment.

The most of these individuals believe that the War or the Navy Department should have had a record of such indisposition on their part, and that, in turn, it is up to the U. S. Veterans’ Bureau to secure such a record upon which to predicate the service origin of a given disability. Certainly not in the history of this government has the military and naval establishments been called upon to complete and compile the records of statistics and facts comparable to that resulting from the late war, and while there have been many mistakes made both on the part of the U. S. Veterans’ Bureau in requesting the information and on the part of the War and Navy Departments in submitting information, the great bulk of work has been performed in a most satisfactory manner, and great benefits have been accorded to those applying for the same under the beneficent laws passed by our Congress.

On January 1st, 1922 there had been filed with the U. S. Veterans’ Bureau 81400 claims for compensation. In each and every claim filed it was necessary to request the War or Navy Department for the military or naval record of the person applying for compensation benefits, and in many instances it was necessary to make duplicate requests because of inadequate identification given or of additional evidence which the claimant submitted which would make it possible for the War or Navy Department to make a more exhaustive search of their records. To show the promptness with which reports have been received from the War and Navy Departments for no claim is either allowed or disallowed without a report from the War or Navy Department—out of the 814,000 claims filed, 51% have been allowed, 41% have been disallowed, and 8% are pending awaiting information either from the War or Navy Departments or from the claimant himself.

Also to December 15th, 1921, 486,884 former service men had requested vocational training. It was necessary for the Rehabilitation Division of the Federal Board for Vocational Education, (now a part of the U. S. Veterans’ Bureau), to request the military or naval record from the War or Navy Department, and out of that number 299,000 had been declared eligible for training; 135,000 had been declared ineligible for training; and 51,000 cases were pending to determine their rights to vocational training. These figures also represent a tremendous work required of the War and Navy Departments in that the records of each man must be obtained before final disposition was made of the case.

When viewed from the stupendous task, the results accomplished are indeed commendable.

The great assistance of the War and Navy Departments should also not be overlooked when it is remembered that at the date of the signing of the Armistice there were approximately $40,000,000,000 worth of insurance in force which had been written through the service of the War and Navy Departments in providing insurance officers to make contact with every man who was a member of the military or naval forces.

The War and navy Departments have always been of tremendous assistance in the matter of hospitalization of ex-service men and women. On December 1st, there were 1,410 beds occupied in Army Hospitals, and 2,032 beds occupied in Naval Hospitals. Certainly then from this resumé of facts the contact with the War and Navy Departments is most vital.

The contact of the U. S. Veterans’ Bureau with the Post Office Department is apparent. It need only be mentioned that to date the U.S. Veterans’ Bureau, representing the consolidated agencies since their organization have received approximately 90,000,000 incoming pieces of mail, and have dispatched approximately 105,000,000 pieces of mail, and the daily average receipt of incoming mail in the Bureau, even under decentralization, is approximately 41,000 pieces of mail per day and the outgoing pieces of mail from the Central Office of the Veterans’ Bureau is approximately 58,000 pieces of mail per day.