piece of Army property we are talking about is a part of that which was purchased across the street. (Discussion off the record.) General HAYS. The Army owns this particular piece of property outright. It is not a part of the National Park Service. Therefore, it is susceptible to normal disposal action. The CHAIRMAN. As surplus property. General HAYS. As surplus property. The CHAIRMAN. You wouldn't have to have a bill for the disposal of that property. General HAYS. That is correct. The CHAIRMAN. But you do have to have a bill along the lines of this bill for the national park property. General HAYS. Now, at the present time, we have been usingthe Army has been using some of these buildings in this small parcel for Reserve activities, and I am not prepared to state at this time whether or not the Army would be agreeable to disposing of this small piece of property. The CHAIRMAN. May I inquire, General, do you know just what the patient load of the Army-Navy Hospital is? General HAYS. It runs about-it has averaged 34 since the first of January, this year. The CHAIRMAN. The Department has maintained, for a number of years, that it was not economical to operate the hospital. Of course, if we try to keep it open and find a solution for this and not just close it down completely-aside from your official position based upon your knowledge, however, and your familiarity with the situation down there, would you say this is a rather happy solution to the problem of the Government owning a fine facility like that, from the viewpoint of the Army it just happens to be geographically, unavailable or unaccommodating to the needs of the Army? General HAYS. Yes, sir; I think this would be a very happy solution for the use of this property. The CHAIRMAN. Let us say, General, suppose you just close down the hospital, from the standpoint of its no longer being needed, or not being economical to operate it, for the purposes as originally intended. What would be the cost of maintaining that hospital in a closed-down state? General HAYS. We have estimated $130,000 a year. The CHAIRMAN. I was a little in error, then, when I said from $200,000 to $250,000. I thought it was something like $200,000. General HAYS. Our estimate has been $130,000. The CHAIRMAN. I am glad to correct the record. I was basing it upon recollection. We have had so many figures submitted from time to time about different aspects of it, that I got confused. Any questions? Senator CURTIS. No questions. The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much, General Hays. Mr. Ferebee, will you have a seat, please, sir. Mr. E. E. Ferebee; you are Deputy Director of the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare? Mr. FEREBEE. That is correct, sir. STATEMENT OF E. E. FEREBEE, DEPUTY DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF VOCATIONAL REHABILITATION, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE, ACCOMPANIED BY CHESTER B. LUND, DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF FIELD ADMINISTRATION, OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE The CHAIRMAN. Who is the Director? Mr. FEREBEE. Miss Mary E. Switzer. She is out of the country, sir, and regrets very much she is unable to be here to discuss this bill. She is attending the First Mediterranean Conference on Rehabilitation, sponsored by the International Society for Welfare of Cripples. She has asked me to testify in her stead. I have a few brief comments, and I should like to insert in the record the prepared state ment. The CHAIRMAN. The prepared statement may be inserted in the record at this point, and, Mr. Ferebee, you may discuss the highlights of it. (The statement referred to follows:) STATEMENT OF E. EMORY FEREBEE, ACTING DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF VOCATIONAL REHABILITATION, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE Mr. Chairman, I appreciate this opportunity to testify on S. 1616, a bill to direct the Secretary of the Army to convey the Army and Navy General Hospital, Hot Springs National Park, Ark., to the State of Arkansas, and for other purposes. The Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, at the request of the committee, has furnished its report on this bill; therefore I shall direct my remarks to supplementary information which may aid the committee in its consideration of this measure. There has been much community and State interest in Arkansas surrounding the proposal to transfer the Army and Navy Hospital to the State, to establish a rehabilitation center. The idea was first suggested to the Director of the Office of Vocation Rehabilitation last year by citizens of Hot Springs. It seemed to them and it has seemed to us-much better to put this excellent physical plant to full and beneficial use for the citizens of the community, the State, and the area, than to permit it to become an idle or partially used facility. The great amount of community interest certainly speaks well for the future of such a center. The State of Arkansas already has enacted legislation to permit acceptance of this facility, should the Congress decide to enact S. 1616. I am convinced that a large comprehensive rehabilitation center is needed in the southwest section of which Arkansas is a part. The large number of disabled people needing rehabilitation center services in Arkansas and surrounding States make it evident, I believe, that such a center would be extremely valuable in providing complete and more effective services to those disabled citizens. The Arkansas Vocational Rehabilitation Agency, which would operate the proposed center, has an excellent record in the provision of rehabilitation services in that State. Arkansas is one of the States which, in recent years, has consistently provided the full amount of State funds needed to match all available Federal grant funds for vocational rehabilitation. Last year, 1,900 disabled people were rehabilitated through the Arkansas program, which ranked Arkansas in third place nationally in terms of the number rehabilitated per 100,000 population. Although there is legislative authority, in the Vocational Rehabilitation Act, to provide certain grant assistance for establishment of such a facility, provided the State is willing to assume some share of the cost, I should point out here that grant funds to assist this center in this way are not contained in the appropriation request which we have made to the Congress for the coming fiscal year 1960. Existing legislative authority does not permit the permanent Federal financial aid contemplated by the State's plans for this facility, as submitted to a subcommittee of the House Committee on Appropriations this year. In summary, Mr. Chairman, there are many reasons for feeling that if this hospital were transferred to the State and established as a rehabilitation center, it would be under excellent auspices and in a position to render valuable and much-needed services to the disabled men and women of that State and area. The CHAIRMAN. First, may I ask you how long have you been Deputy Director? Mr. FEREBEE. Since January 1955. The CHAIRMAN. For the last 4 years? The CHAIRMAN. Yes, sir. Mr. FEREBEE. I have been in the Government 18 years. The CHAIRMAN. In what other capacity? Mr. FEREBEE. I was in the Bureau of the Budget from 1944 to 1955. Prior to that I was with the War Manpower Commission for about 2 years, and about a year and one-half with the War Production Board. The CHAIRMAN. All right, Mr. Ferebee, with respect to this bill, will you make your comments about it and with respect to the program that the bill promotes and is designed to serve. Mr. FEREBEE. I shall be glad to, Mr. Chairman. The Department has submitted, at your request, a report on the bill. The Secretary recognizes that this special legislation is required to convey this property to Arkansas. A large part is located on national park lands. Subject to one technical amendment, which is important to us in carrying out the terms of the bill, there is no opposition to the bill. There has been a great deal of community interest down in Hot Springs, the State of Arkansas, and the Southwest in the establishment of a comprehensive rehabilitation center. The Army has declared that it no longer needs this very splendid physical facility. Miss Switzer on her trip down to Arkansas first had this subject broached to her last year, I think some time in September or October, when she visited Hot Springs. It seemed to the people in Arkansas and it seems to us that it is much better to use this facility on a full-time basis to serve the disabled people of Arkansas and that area of the country than to have it either closed down or in a partially idle condition. The amount of community support, we think, bids well toward making the thing succeed. The CHAIRMAN. Hot Springs National Park has been a health resort for a long time. Mr. FEREBEE. For years. The CHAIRMAN. Yes, we have the famous Hot Springs baths there. I know it to be a fact, and I am sure you do also, that people come there from all over the country, some 300,000 of them a year, for those hot baths. Mr. FEREBEE. Well, it has a national, if not a worldwide reputation. The CHAIRMAN. Yes, sir. Mr. FEREBEE. We are convinced that a large-scale rehabilitation center is needed in the southwest section of the country, in which Arkansas is located. A large number of disabled persons in that area, many of them severely disabled, who are not now being served, can be served only through the proper kind of a facility. The Arkansas Vocational Rehabilitation Agency, as Mr. Russell has already outlined to you, has done a creditable job, especially in the last 4 or 5 years. The CHAIRMAN. You mean Arkansas Rehabilitation Service? Mr. FEREBEE. Yes, sir; the division of vocational rehabilitation, if that is the correct title for Arkansas. The CHAIRMAN. How does it rate nationally? Mr. FEREBEE. Well, among the other States, last year it rated third in the number of rehabilitations for 100,000 population. Since 1954, I think, the number of completed rehabilitations of disabled people who had been physically restored and put into jobs increased from about 1,100 to about 1,900 last year. The CHAIRMAN. In other words, based upon comparisons, the Arkansas service is among the top. Mr. FEREBEE. It has done a very progressive job and it is among the top in the country. Although we have legislative authority, Mr. Chairman, to help establish a center, a regional rehabilitation center, there was nothing included for that purpose in our 1960 budget. We have a section of our act which does authorize us to conduct research and demonstrations which promises to improve the vocational rehabilitation of the country and to establish rehabilitation centers. We are firmly dedicated to the principle that it means exactly what it says, to "establish." We realize that the beginning of an enterprise like this requires supplementary funds in addition to the regular grants made to the State of Arkansas. We also feel that the center should be on a financially sound plan so that after a period of several years with supplementary financing, it should be able to carry its own weight. Of course, the center would be eligible to receive research and training grants for worthwhile research or training activities. The CHAIRMAN. In other words, based on the program from the national aspect of its objectives, you are convinced that a rehabilitation center, under the supervision or direction of the State agency, can be made to operate on sound economic basis, that would warrant the support of the Federal Government. Mr. FEREBEE. Properly managed and gotten off to a good start, I think we are convinced that it could. The CHAIRMAN. Is there any reason to anticipate that it can't be properly managed based on the record of the Arkansas people? Mr. FEREBEE. None whatsoever. I was just going to say that under the auspices which I have just described, that we think they are good auspices and they are in a position to make this establishment into one which can be successful and can The CHAIRMAN. In other words, the past record of performance demonstrates that to you. Mr. FEREBEE. That's correct. The CHAIRMAN. I see. Mr. FEREBEE. I have nothing more to add. I do have with me today Mr. Lund from the Office of the Secretary. The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Lund, will you come around, please, sir. Mr. FEREBEE. If you have any questions regarding our report on the bill which are technical in nature, he would be glad to answer those questions. The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, sir. Have a seat, Mr. Lund. Will you state your name and position, please? Mr. LUND. My name is Chester B. Lund. I am Director of the Office of Field Administration in the Office of the Secretary of the Department. The CHAIRMAN. Did you, on behalf of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, submit a report on the bill to the committee? Mr. LUND. Yes, sir, we did. The CHAIRMAN. That, I believe the Chair has already ordered placed in the record. Mr. LUND. That's right. The CHAIRMAN. Now would you have any comment to make in addition to what is contained in the report? Mr. LUND. No, I think not. We were concerned primarily from several technical aspects that we felt would give some relief to the State of Arkansas. We also did not want to accept the responsibility of having the compliance responsibility and perpetuity, and we therefore recommended a 10- to 20-year period. The CHAIRMAN. In other words, that seems to be general now. I hadn't thought of it in that way, but that seems to be the policy of the Federal Government; if you comply with the conditions for a definite period of time so as to show fully good faith, then you obtain clear title to the property, is that correct? Mr. LUND. Yes, sir; that is correct. The CHAIRMAN. I don't know why. But that seems to be the policy of the Government. Mr. LUND. Well, actually we borrowed that from the surplus property program, wherein when an institution has made application, we have a 20-year provision, we assume that in that period of time the public benefit has been derived for the purpose for which it is intended either for health, hospital health, or education; and that the costs thereafter of doing the compliance and following through has, shall we say, run itself out. The CHAIRMAN. I think, there is another aspect of it. The agency, as in this instance the State, may decide to expand its program so that it will have to make a heavy investment in the expansion therefore. If it does that, title to the property must be clear or the owners thereof cannot raise any capital, or borrow any money on the property. Mr. LUND. As well as the public interest total utilization, for public benefits. The CHAIRMAN. I believe, before Miss Switzer went overseas for this meeting she is now attending, that she sent the Chair a letter regarding this matter. I shall insert her letter in the record at the conclusion of Mr. Lund's statement. Anything further, Mr. Lund? There is one more thing I'd like to ask her. There are some local interests in Arkansas who have suggested that instead of conveying the property by deed, that the bill provides for a long-term lease. Now, that has some local interest. The State government is going to take this and operate it, but I was wondering what was the difference, or what the objection to leasing it, from a standpoint of policy? Mr. LUND. A long-term lease? The CHAIRMAN. Yes. |