DR. YOUNG: referred to G.O. 26, authorizing discharges from hospitals and mentioned experiences where difficulty had arisen in this connection due to the lack of adequate means being provided to enforce such order. He mentioned cases that had come up where men who had received the maximum benefit, would state that they were not going to be discharged; that these cases would generally occur on the eve of a holiday, or on Saturday night and the men would go into a ward and get into bed. He believed that in such cases the hospital authorities should be given some means of enforcing this order by the Veterans’ Bureau, as aid can not be had from the local police who will not enter upon a Government reservation; that another way would be through swearing out a warrant, but as these cases generally occurred on Saturday and a warrant could not be sworn out until the following Monday, a man is thereby enabled to stay four days longer. DR. CHRISTIAN: stated that in his experience the police had not refused to go upon the reservation and that he has had one of his staff sworn in as a deputy sheriff; also, that upon the date named in the discharge order the man affected is not officially in the hospital and is not rated as present for the purpose of being fed. Concerning transfers, Dr. Christian mentioned that authority for transfers has changed a number of times and was of opinion that it would be advantageous if stations like his could be given blanket authority to transfer mental cases when they are not prepared to take care of them, as it would relieve the medical officers of great anxiety and would save the family of the man a great deal of torture; that this could be accomplished in a few hours by telephoning to the nearest mental hospital and receiving an answer in a short time as to whether or not a bed was available, all of which would expedite the transfer of the patient; that it is now taking too long to get transfers. He also stated that he appreciated the importance of the Inspector’s Department, which is of wonderful benefit to the commanding officers. With reference to G.O. 26, he thought that the length of time prescribed is too long, as with the generality of patients who have received the maximum amount of treatment, it does not make a great deal of difference as to how much notice they have as to when they are going to be discharged, as the necessary arrangements can be made in a very short time without any inconvenience; that there is, however, a certain class of cases which very often takes advantage of the four days’ notice; that it has been his experience that when four days’ notice is given it apparently has no effect on the first day, on the second day the patient will begin to develop symptoms, on the third day the symptoms are very much increased and on the 4th day you get a letter from the patient’s Congressman.