Mr. ENGEL. The next is project 15, "Household." slight increase there.

There is a

General LOUGHRY. There is a decrease in personnel as indicated at the top of page 1045 of three positions, at $605 each, which were added by the Bureau of the Budget in 1948. We are now taking those out, so that there is a net decrease of about $1,000 in personnel. Mr. ENGEL. You say the Bureau of the Budget added those in 1948?

Mr. MARLOW. They were added by the Bureau of the Budget in the 1948 estimate simply as a matter of employee-member ratio. Mr. ENGEL. And you did not require them?

Mr. MARLOW. They were not required.

Mr. ENGEL. Did you ever put them on?

Mr. MARLOW. The positions have never been filled.

Mr. ENGEL. So that you are taking them off?

Mr. MARLOW. Yes, sir.

General LOUGHRY. So the amount for personnel is $1,000 less. The other items are the same, or with very minor changes, except for item 09 which is "Equipment," shown on page 1046. We are buying 250 bedsteads to replace old ones that have old type spring mattresses which are very uncomfortable. This will complete our need for new beds. We are buying 200 innerspring mattresses, which will complete our requirements.

Mr. ENGEL. I notice you have them listed at a cost of $10.50 per mattress. Do you know the number of coils in the innersprings? General LOUGHRY. I do not.

Mr. ENGEL. They come in 180, 200, and 225 coils.

Mr. PUGH. They come from the Surgeon General's Office. It is a 200-coil mattress. Incidentally, there is a change in price on those since the Army and Navy consolidated and the new prices came out. Mr. ENGEL. What about the reclining bedroom chairs?

General LOUGHRY. That is the next major item. That is $33 per chair. These are Simmons chairs and are very good ones. We have part of them and these 650 will provide a chair of this kind for every member of the home.

LAUNDRY

Mr. ENGEL. Take up the next project, the laundry.

General LOUGHRY. I have pretty well told the story on the laundry. The amount required is reduced from $128,000 to $60,000, because in 1948 you allowed us $76,000 for the purchase of new laundry machinery. We are asking this year for an increase of five presswomen because of the greatly increased burden placed on the laundry, as set forth on the next page of the justification. From 1945 to 1949 the volume of work has gone up from 1,309,000 pieces to an estimated 1,800,000 pieces.

As will be indicated when we come to the project for the mess, we are going to employ some 40 colored waitresses in lieu of member waiters. They are going to require, three-piece suits which will be laundered three times a week. So that is going to put an additional burden on the laundry.

Mr. ENGEL. Do you do the laundering for the members of the home?

General LOUGHRY. Yes, sir.

Mr. ENGEL. And do they pay for it, or is that free?

General LOUGHRY. The members do not pay for it nor do civilian employees.

Mr. ENGEL. By "civilian employees," you mean they furnish the laundry incident to their work-or do you furnish them with all of their laundry?

General LOUGHRY. No./

Mr. ENGEL. Just the laundry incident to their work?

General LOUGHRY. We launder the suits they use in the dining room. It has nothing to do with their personal laundry.

As I say, we are asking for five additional positions because of the increased volume of work to be accomplished which is going to increase materially as a result of hiring waitresses in 1949.

LIBRARY

Mr. ENGEL. Project 17 is for the library. That is a reduction as compared with last year.

NONPENSIONERS

Mr. ENGEL. Then you have a project here, "Nonpensioners," for grants, subsidies, and contributions. That is a slight reduction.

General LOUGHRY. Of the total number of members of the home, all but 109, estimated, will receive either retired pay or pensions. Last year we asked for this allowance for 113 members. We are asking the allowance for 109 now. The allowance consists of $5 a month for spending money, and that spending money, as I have set forth heretofore before the committee, is for the purpose largely of buying tobacco and toilet articles.

RELIGIOUS SERVICES

Mr. ENGEL. The next is "Religious services." You have a slight increase of $800.

General LOUGHRY. There is an increase of $800, and the reasons for it are set forth at the bottom of page 1055. The clergymen have not had any new vestments in a long time. They also want some altar vases and altar tables.

REPAIRS

Mr. ENGEL. The next project is "Repairs," where you request this year $146,072 as against $304,622 in 1948.

General LOUGHRY. The net reduction is because the estimate for 1948 provided $150,000 for the laundry, $50,000 for an incinerator, and $10,000 for the construction of an additional room in the mess building.

Component 07 on page 1057 sets forth the reasons for the work we want to perform in 1949-totaling $69,000. $5,000 is for painting walls and removing discarded air ducts in the basement of the Grant Building. These air ducts were placed there when we had a hot-airheating system. They are large, and provide a hiding place for rats and vermin.

The lavatories in the Grant Building are in very bad shape. They have been in there for over 40 years, and not only is their appearance bad, but they have become unsanitary. The same remark applies to those in the Scott Building.

GENERAL MESS

Mr. ENGEL. For the general mess, you are asking $136,772 as against $126,451 in 1948-an increase of approximately $10,000 for the general mess.

General LOUGHRY. The increase for personnel amounts to $24,000. As stated on page 1060, in the last paragraph, we are going to have 89 positions instead of 106, but we are going to spend more money. And, as stated in the last paragraph, the increase of $17,909.51 is to provide funds for the substitution of waitresses for a majority of the member-employees classified as dining-hall employees. Forty-one female employees at an average wage of $1,214 per annum will be substituted for 53 member-employees at an average of $516 per

annum.

Mr. ENGEL. As shown on page 1059, you are dropping 58 employees in 1949, the total for which is $31,890 less $1,595 for lapses, or a net of $30,295 for these employees you are dropping. These new employees are what you are substituting in place of those employees; is that right?

General LOUGHRY. Yes, sir. I think you would be interested in the further statement on page 1061, in the second paragraph.

On June 30, 1947, out of a total membership of 1,504 men, only 354 were eligible for detail. Subsequent experience showed that only 43 percent of this number were physically able to serve out the detail. We have gotten to the point where there are only a couple of hundred men who are available for service in the mess, and we have to detail them to a great degree. Although we pay them, they are

dissatisfied. Their complaint is that they are doing work for the other members of the home. We finally reluctantly came to the conclusion that we will have to employ waitresses, which, so far as we can find out, is being done in all of the Veterans' Administration homes.

TRANSPORTATION

Mr. ENGEL. In project 22, "Transportation," you have $29,970 in 1948, and you are asking for $30,230 in 1949-a very slight increase. General LOUGHRY. For "Transportation of things," we are asking for an increase of $205. I think that is the only change in that project.

GENERAL STOREHOUSE

Mr. ENGEL. Take up project 23, "General storehouse." You have $9,644 in 1948, and you are asking $10,185 in 1949-a slight increase. Comment briefly on that.

General LOUGHRY. That is an increase in salaries of the two employees, which has been approved by the Brueau of the Budget$240 and $120 respectively.

GROUNDS

Mr. ENGEL. For "Grounds," project 24, you have $69,611 in 1948, and you are asking $93,411 in 1949. I think you commented upon that heretofore.

General LOUGHRY. I commented upon that in my preliminary statement; $5,000 is for the treatment of trees and shrubbery on the reservation, which is a routine item and the same amount as last year. But we are asking for an increase of $10,000, which is a nonrecurring item, for clearing away the underbrush on the reservation, which has grown up to a point where it not only is unsightly, but is destroying the fences and also, according to the superintendent of grounds, is going to destroy, to a great extent, the trees on the reservation.

Mr. ENGEL. You mentioned tree diseases. What particular diseases do you have out there?

General LOUGHRY. I cannot answer specifically.

Mr. ENGEL. There is no tree disease out there which is destroying everything, like this Dutch elm disease?

General LOUGHRY. No. Some of the tree diseases we have out there are the result of the vast amount of underbrush that has been permitted to grow up. This underbrush was cut out by the WPA in 1934, but no work of this kind has been done since that time. This $10,000 we are asking is a nonrecurring item; also the $5,000 for fixing up the roads, which are in a bad state of repair.

CHICKEN FARM

Mr. ENGEL. We come now to the chicken farm, for which you have $47,985 in 1948, and you are asking $50,075 in 1949, a slight increase. General LOUGHRY. The increase in this project is under component 08. As we did in the estimate for feed for the dairy, we employed as a basis the same consumption as in 1947 and the last prices we paid in the fiscal year 1947.

Mr. SCRIVNER. As a matter of curiosity, could we have some idea of what the egg production is?

General LOUGHRY. In the fiscal year 1947, the number of eggs produced was 77,867 dozen. In this past December, the production was 7,120 dozen.

Mr. ENGEL. What about poultry production, so far as meat is concerned? Do you kill any chickens out there for eating purposes? 'General LOUGHRY. In the spring of the year there are a certain number of surplus young cocks left over, which are sold to the mess by the farm.

Mr. ENGEL. You charge these eggs up against the mess account, do you not?

General LOUGHRY. Yes, sir.

Mr. SCRIVNER. According to my hasty calculations, that makes your egg production about 60 cents per dozen, under your estimates. General LOUGHRY. The price has been fixed at 56 cents based on estimated cost of production in the fiscal year 1947.

Mr. SCRIVNER. În addition to that there would be some payments from the mess for your young cocks.

General LOUGHRY. That is correct.

Mr. ENGEL. That is additional increased income over and above this figure for these eggs.

General LOUGHRY. That is right.

DAIRY PRODUCTS

Mr. ENGEL. While we are on that tell us about your dairy products, your milk and butter?

General LOUGHRY. In the fiscal year 1947 there was produced 112,266 gallons of milk.

Mr. ENGEL. That was consumed at the institution?

General LOUGHRY. Yes.

Mr. ENGEL. And what did you charge the institution for that? General LOUGHRY. I have fixed the cost of milk, based upon the cost of production in 1947, at 53 cents.

Mr. ENGEL. Fifty-three cents per gallon?

General LOUGHRY. Yes, per gallon.

Mr. ENGEL. How does that compare with the cost of feed?

General LOUGHRY. I think I can show that later under the commissary.

Mr. ENGEL. How much feed did you buy, in dollars? What page is that found on?

General LOUGHRY. Page 1022.

Mr. ENGEL. You produced how many gallons of milk, did you say? General LOUGHRY. 112,266.

Mr. ENGEL. In 1947?

General LoUGHRY. Yes.

Mr. ENGEL. And you consumed $25,498 worth of feed; is that right? General LOUGHRY. May I give you a statement on that, Mr. Chairman?

Mr. ENGEL. Yes; you can place the statement in the record if you would like.

General LOUGHRY. If I may. The combined figure for the maintenance of the dairy farm and the chicken farm for 1949 is $124,239.