For the past six months a ruling has been in effect that where a Bureau beneficiary in a foreign country was ordered for examination, he must appear before a physician designated by the U.S. Consul only, and that unless a report was received within three months from the date of the letter directing him to appear, or to furnish satisfactory evidence to the Bureau as to the cause of his inability to report, his compensation, if he received such, would be held in suspense pending the report of his medical examination. The result of this procedure in securing an examination by competent physicians has been that more satisfactory reports are received.
CHECKS SENT TO BENEFICIARIES IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES:
The records of the Bureau for the month of December show that at this time there were 5,977 beneficiaries of the Bureau to whom checks were sent, totalling in value $489,714. These beneficiaries are resident in foreign countries located in all parts of the earth, as is shown by the tabulated statement submitted.
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?