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Show NEGLECT OF DISABLED i.ioJ Legion's Investigation Shows Lack of Attention to Men Who Suffered ' Terrors of War. Investigations by the American Legion Le-gion reveal shocking conditions of mismanagement mis-management and neglect in the gov- ') ernment's treatment of disabled vet- j erans, according to reports of the Le- J gion's findings made public by F. W. Galbraith, Jr., national coiiinander. . The Legion has launched a nation-wide fight for the correction of these conditions, condi-tions, which Mr. Galbraith has de- V scribed as "a blot and a disgrace on the name of our country." j More than 20,000 veterans are still in hospitals suffering from wor.nds and infirmities sintered in their country's service. Many of them have been there ! since they were brought back from ' France on the hospital ships. Their number is increasing at the rate of 2,- 500 a month, due mostly to the develoi- nient of tuberculosis among men who j were gassed. Statistics show that ' : more than 500,000 men were discharged dis-charged with disability rated higher then 10 per cent. Experts agree that the peak in hospitalization will not-, come for five or ten years. Yet, gov- eminent hospitals at present are filled to overflowing and even contract ar- rangenients are not being made rap- idly enough to care for the ever rising tide of disabled men whose conditions 1 demand hospitalization. Certnlnlv. there is no lack of wil lingness on the part of the American ' public to do all in human power to aid I those who paid the price for the vie- j J tory. The same experts who estimate that the peak of the problem will not come for five or ten years say In the meantime $5,000,000,000 must be spent in Its solution. The government has not been niggardly. More than $500,-000,000 $500,-000,000 already has been spent. Mismanagement Mis-management is the gist of the Legion's charge. Lack of vision and foresight and the ever-present governmental red tape is blamed as responsible for the death of disabled men before aid could reach them, for the Incarceration of disabled In jails and insane asylums,. - ,- and the charity wards of public hos- i pltals where they received the same j treatment as paupers. In addition to its activities In advo- j eating reform in the conduct of the J government bureaus, the American Le- . J gion has dedicated itself to the tre- J mendous task of "humanizing" the' j dreary lives of 20,000 disabled buddies who are patients in the hospitals all over the country. Every Legion post in this country j has been assigned to the definite job J of taking care of a certain hospital j where former service men are patients. 5 The Women's auxiliary also will be- ' mobilized to share in the work and J civic and philanthropic organizations jf in the hospital towns will be enlisted. .x. There is also the dangerous possi-. " -4-bility that the hospital patieiu:,r maining day after day with no interest j other than their physical condition,. i will become bitter against the country j which once honored them and whi-h j apparently has cast them aside. In ? several hospitals, Bolshevist agents $ have distributed inflammatory litera- ture by ingenious methods, of which an example Is the inclosure of the ' printed matter in bouquets of flowers. i In one case discovered by Legion in-vestigators in-vestigators the propaganda was en- St titled: "You fought for America and what did you get out of it?" And in- deed, it does seem that the sick veteran vet-eran got little out of It except a short period of popularity, the consciousness of having done his duty and a maimed and diseased body. "The 2,000,000 who are their bud- dies," said the Legion's national com- t mander, "and are banded together in j uie Aiuti ican region, are ueterminea t that the hundred million shall not for- j get. In this work of giving the dis- j abled man a fair deal and making him J content we shall ask the co-operation of every loyal American. We fought j together and we will stick together." j |
