CAPT. BLACKWOOD reported that the Committee on Forms met yesterday noon and felt they had a task that was going to take months. As they had no copies of the forms in use two of the members of the committee were to get them by noon today.
GEN. SAWYER: urged that the matter be pushed in order that some little understanding at least might be had before the end of the meetings, that perhaps some suggestions could be made that could be carried out after the meetings adjourned. “I am requested to state for the Committee on Resolutions that there is no special report that they have to make now.” He introduced Admiral Stitt, to preside.
ADMIRAL STITT: “The first paper is “Discussion of Disciplinary Regulations of Veterans’ Bureau as they affect the beneficiaries and hospitals,” which someone will read for Colonel Patterson, who is still ill.”
MAJOR R. W. BLISS, U. S. Veterans’ Bureau, took up “Discussion of Disciplinary Regulations of Veterans’ Bureau as they affect the beneficiaries and hospitals”, as follows:
“In a discussion of U. S. Veterans’ Bureau General Orders 27, dated September 9, 1921 and 27–A dated January 14, 1922, covering the Disciplinary regulations governing beneficiaries of the Veterans’ Bureau who are patients in hospital, it is assumed that even before September 1921, all present recognized the advisability and necessity of some lawful method by which the small lawless element, often present in hospitals, as it is in any other community might be effectively dealt with.
It is further assumed that the provisions of the September General Order #27 are generally well known to this audience.
Therefore, this present paper will be limited to a brief statement of fact of the numbers of patients discharged under this order, and to a statement of the essential differences in the September G. O. #27 and the G. O. 27–A, issued yesterday, leaving any comment to the general discussion.
I have here a chart showing the name, location and type of every Government hospital receiving Veterans’ Bureau patients, and giving the total number of patients in each, and the total number of patients discharged from each one, under the provisions of General Order #27, between the dates of the issuance of this order, on September 9, 1921 and January 14, 1922.
This represents 67 Public Health Service Hospitals, 14 Naval Hospitals, 9 hospitals connected with the National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, 6 Army hospitals and St. Elizabeths’ Hospital, under the Interior Department, a total of 97 Government hospitals.
The total number of patients, to which I shall refer hereafter, mean Veterans’ Bureau Patients.