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.