Part: 12         Session: 123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233343536         Page 595596597598599600601602603604605606607608610611612613614615616617618619620621622623624625626 of 1143

sympathetic and he did help. Albert Thomas, I have never encountered, and he sounds like a fearsome gentleman. Mike Debakey, from Houston, was our great ally, as I've said, and he did know and did testify before him and did try to persuade him to increase the funds.

Well, the net of it is that in the last five or six years, with Senator Magnusson always putting additional money on even though the House wouldn't always add any funds, and fighting with Thomas in conference after he had done it, and with the support of Senator Hill who was on the subcommittee and Mike Monroney, but with the opposition of A of Colorado for many years, we've gone from about five million dollars to about 33 million dollars. Now, almost all of this has been for research and some few million have been to improve the research laboratories in the Veterans Hospitals, or to establish research laboratories physically. Now, actually, incredibly much more money could be used, at least 100 million dollars; it should be at least 10 percent of what they spend now on care should be spent for the training of people and for research. They are now spending about a billion dollars for care. Of course, the care thing has gone up in cost, and they're still spending only about three percent for research.

How did the doctors in the Veterans Administration react to this?

Well, the doctors, God bless them, many of them were