Illinois mobilizes, vol.3, no.4

              JANUARY 1, 1945 
          
         DEDICATE ILLINOIS VETERANS’ ‘REHAB’ CENTER 
         GREEN GIVES 
         STATE AIMS 
          The State of Illinois is anxious 
         to save dollars, “but we are ten 
         thousand times more anxious to 
         save veterans’ lives,” Gov. Dwight 
         H.   Green said in dedicating the 
         Veterans’ Rehabilitation Center in 
         Chicago. 
          Once again the Governor pledged 
         all the State’s resources in assist- 
         ing veterans to become reestab- 
         lished in civilian life, and said, “We 
         are firmly resolved in Illinois that 
         each of our veterans, no matter 
         what his problem nor to which 
         State agency he goes for help in 
         solving it, will be treated as an in- 
         dividual and not as a number.” 
          The Governor’s address follows: 
          
         “Help Them to Help Themselves” 
          
          “No public event since I became 
         Governor has given me greater sat- 
         isfaction than the dedication of this 
         Veterans’ Rehabilitation Center. 
         For here in Illinois we are pledged 
         to help our veterans to help them- 
         selves, and there are few things 
         we can do in fulfillment of our 
         pledge that would be closer to our 
         hearts than the work to which we 
         are dedicating this Center. 
          “Another thing which gives me 
         great happiness in this hour, and 
         great assurance that Illinois will 
         fulfill the State’s pledge to her 
         veterans, is your presence here— 
         you, the leaders of medicine and 
         religion, of business and agricul- 
         ture, of education and government, 
         of labor and the military services, 
         and of veterans’ and women’s or- 
         ganizations. For Illinois never 
         could hope to fulfill her obligation 
         to our veterans without the gener- 
         ous support, the eager cooperation, 
         the time, the effort, and the energy 
         of you leaders and the groups you 
         represent. 
          
           Praises Track Operators 
          
          “There is one group among you 
         to whose members I must specif- 
         ically express the gratitude of your 
 
          
 
 
 
 
 
         State government, of the citizens 
         of Illinois, and especially of the 
         veterans who will be the direct 
         beneficiaries of this Center. They 
         are the race track operators of this 
         State, who, by their financial as- 
         sistance and cooperation with the 
         Illinois Racing Board, made it pos- 
         sible to open and begin the work 
         of this Veterans’ Rehabilitation 
         Center. Gentlemen, all of us salute 
         you for your generosity, for your 
         public spirit, and for your example 
         to your fellow citizens as we enter 
         upon our greatest postwar task, the 
         task of human reconversion. 
           “We already have taken 
          many steps in this State to 
          solve the problem of human 
          reconversion. For, no matter 
          what the Federal government 
                               (Continued on Page 7) 
           OBLIGATION — Addressing 
         the distinguished group at the 
         dedication of the Veterans’ Re- 
         habilitation Center, Gov. Green 
         said, “The State—our State— 
         can never discharge in full its 
         obligation to the veteran, but it 
         can, by proper administration of 
         a coordinated program of rehab- 
         ilitation, repay in part a most 
         urgent debt of honor.~~ 
                                         v 
          
          
         III. Race Tracks 
         Give $292,000 
          Officials of the associations 
         which operate the race tracks in 
         Illinois and many racing fans are 
         proudly referring to the Veterans’ 
         Rehabilitation Center at 2449 W. 
         Washington Blvd., as “the hospital 
         which racing built.” 
          This is because the funds for the 
         leasing of the hospital and the capi- 
         tal expenditures necessary to its 
         opening came primarily from the 
         contributions of the various racing 
         associations to Illinois Veterans’ 
         Services, the not-for-profit corpora- 
         tion set up to receive gifts for the 
         work of Governor Dxvight H. 
         Green’s Committee on Veterans’ 
         Rehabilitation and Employment. 
          These funds, representing for the 
         most part a share in the proceeds 
         of charity racing days and in some 
         instances outright contributions 
         from the racing associations, 
          
                               (Continued on Page 6) 
         STATE TAKES LONG STEP 
         IN SERVICE TO WAR II VETS 
           The Veterans’ Rehabilitation Center, recently opened at 
 
          
 
 
 
 
 
         2449 W. Washington Blvd., Chicago, for the diagnosis and 
         treatment of World War II veterans suffering from nervous 
         disabilities was 
         formally dedicat- 
         ed in an impres- 
         sive ceremony be- 
         fore a distin- 
         guished group of 
         several hundred 
         persons. 
          Among the spe- 
         cially honored 
         guests at the ded- 
         ication were the 
         operators, directors and managers 
         of Illinois race tracks, whose con- 
         tributions through the Illinois Rac- 
         ing Board made possible the open- 
         ing of the Center last year. 
          
          The dedication •date was coinci- 
         dent with the Post Graduate As- 
         sembly on Neuroses and Mental 
         Diseases and the War, conducted 
         by the Institute of Medicine of Chi- 
         cago. This enabled leaders in this 
         field from throughout the country 
         to attend the ceremony. 
          
            Distinguished Speakers 
          
          Speakers at the ceremony, which 
         was held in a large tent adjoining 
         the Center, were Gov. Dwight H. 
         Green; Dr Herman L. Kretschmer, 
         President of the American Medical 
         Association, and thus the repre- 
         sentative of 180,000 doctors; Col. 
         William C. Porter of the Army 
         Medical Corps, Director of the 
         School of Military Neuropsychia- 
         try at Brentwood, N. V., and Dr. 
         Alfred P. Solomon, Clinical Direc- 
         tor of the Center. 
          Dr. Harry R. Hoffman, State 
         Alienist, presided at the dedication. 
         The invocation was by the Very 
         Rev. Comerford J. O’Malley, C.M., 
         S.T.D., President of DePaul Uni- 
         versity, and the benediction by the 
         Rt. Rev. Wallace E. Conkling, Epis- 
         copal Bishop of Chicago. The Navy 
         Pier color guard also participated. 
          
            Center First of Its Kind 
          
          The dedication service was ar- 
         ranged by James P. Ringley, Vice 
         Chairman of the Governor’s Com- 
         mittee on Veterans’ Rehabilitation 
         and Employment, and Dr. Hoffman. 
          The Center, first of its kind to 
         be opened by any State in the Na- 
         tion, is a project of the Governor s 
         Committee, and is being operated 
         by the Chicago Community Clinic 
 
          
 
 
 
 
 
         of the Illinois Department of Pub- 
         lic Welfare, It is being financed in 
         large part by the Illinois Veteran 
         Services, a non-profit corporation 
         organized by the Governor’s Com- 
         mittee, with funds contributed by 
         race track operators in this State 
         through the Illinois Racing Board, 
         _________ v    — 
          
          
         of which Ednyfed H. Williams is 
         Chairman. 
          In the short time the Center has 
         been open, its record is that 50 
         per cent of the veterans treated 
         have improved to the point of re- 
         employment. Admission to the Cen- 
         ter is voluntary. 
          
          Among organizations other than 
         the race tracks which had repre- 
         sentatives at the dedication cere- 
         mony were: 
          
            Many Groups Represented 
          
          Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Service 
         Council; University of Illinois; 
         U. S. Marine Corps; Veterans’ Di- 
         vision of American Bankers Asso- 
         ciation; Illinois Veterans of For- 
         eign Wars; Church Federation of 
         Greater Chicago; Junior Associa- 
         tion of Commerce of Chicago. 
          
          Also, The American Legion, De- 
         partment of Illinois; Council of So- 
         cial Agencies of Chicago; Disabled 
         American Veterans; U. S. Public 
         Health Service; Illinois Federation 
                               (Continued on Page 3) 
         v 
         II 
                ILLINOIS   0 
          
                                INVOCATION—The Very 
         Rev. Comerford J. O’Malley, 
         C.M., S.T.D., President of De 
         Paul University, who delivered 
         the invocation at the Veterans’ 
         Rehabilitation Center dedication. 
          
                      OVERSIZE 
          
          
           V 
          
          
          
             ILLINOIS