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Show VET HOSPITAL IS URGEDB! UTAHN DATE FOR DECISION IS NOT SET BUT MATTER IS EXPECTED TO COME UP SOON Congressman E. O. Leatherwooo" Shows Benefits To Be Derived If Hospital Is Located At Fort Douglas in Salt Lake City Washington. An extended argument argu-ment in favor of establishing a general gen-eral vetreans' hospital on the Fort Douglas military reservation in Salt Lake City was made before the hospitalization hos-pitalization board of the veterans' bureau bu-reau by Congressman E. O. Leather-wood. Leather-wood. The board later, after considering con-sidering the arguments of Senator Smoot and Mr. Leatherwood, called on General Frank T. Hines, director of the bureau, to report further as j to certain facts involved, and the expectation ex-pectation is that the board will reach a final decision at its next meeting, the date of which has not been fixed. Representative .Leatherwood told the board that two prime questions were involved in the Salt Lake City proposal: First, would a general hospital hos-pital at that point be of benefit to the ex-service men, and, second, is a hospital at Salt Lake City necessary? neces-sary? That such a hospital would be beneficial to the soldiers, he said, was amply demonstrated by the brief filed by the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce. Com-merce. Whether or not the hospital is a necessity, he undertook to prove by the brief and other facts. Pie said the board should consider not only the present situation, but the demands de-mands of the future. The 112,336 ex-service ex-service men now living in the territory terri-tory tributary to Salt Lake City are those to be figured on. Salt Lake City, he said, is not only centrally located as to Utah, Wyoming, Wyo-ming, Montana, Idaho, Nevada and western Colorado, but is reached by trunk line railroads from all these states, and on these railroads through cars on through trains are run daily to Salt Lake City, so that veterans may go through without change. Considering this territory as a whole, he said no other city has such train connections, and none other can be generally reached without the necessity of changing cars. This advantage ad-vantage alone, he said, was of great importance, insuring quick and easy transportation, an item of vast importance import-ance to men needing hospital treatment. treat-ment. This argument appealed to the board. In all the states, save Idaho, he said, now reside 86,413 ex-service men who could be transported cheaply and quickly to a hospital at Salt Lake City. Southeast Idaho, he pointed out is also more accessible to Salt Lake City than to Boise, and the soldier population of southeast Idaho, added to that of the other states, gives 98,413 ex-service men who could reach Salt Lake City more readily read-ily than any other general hospital in their teritory. That, he thought, was a most important consideration, for convenience of location means much to disabled men. Reviewing the chamber of commerce estimates on saving, to, that would follow establishment of a hospital in Salt Lake City, Mr. Leatherwood said he considered those figures conservative. conserva-tive. He estimated that if only 150 patients a year should be sent to Salt Lake City, the saving in transportation transporta-tion over what it now costs the government gov-ernment to send men to contract hospitals hos-pitals would equal the estimate made by the chamber of commerce. He further said a government hospital hos-pital at Salt Lake City is necessary because the private hospitals of that city now claim to be filled and there are times when it Is difficult to get accomodations for patients. Mr. Leatherwood said he assumed the Salt Lake City hospitals would welcome wel-come this relief, because thev are do ing capacity business anyway. In conclusion he told the board the people peo-ple of Utah, who had done far more than their bit in all lines during the war, would regard a veterans' hospital hospi-tal much more highly than any monument monu-ment or any thing else the government govern-ment could erect as recognition of the patriotism of the young men of Utah who offered themselves up during dur-ing the great war. |