ORGANIZATION SECTION

Washington Letter  (From a Special Correspondent)May 16, 1949.

Congress Accelerates Handling of Health Legislation  Confronted with the largest and most diversified volume of medical and public health bills in the memory of Capitol Hill officials, Congress has begun to speed up the pace of considering them in order to assure enactment of some of the measures —particularly those in the noncontroversial class—before the session ends. On May 12 two Senate subcommittees concluded public hearings on bills providing for increased federal funds for hospital construction, assistance to local public health departments and for medical research in specialized fields. By the end of May, hearings are expected to be well under way, conducted concurrently by House and Senate committees, on the more controversial national health bills.May 23 is the newly designated date for opening of hearings by the Senate health subcommittee on the Taft-Smith-Donnell, Hill, Lodge and Thomas-Murray-Dingell bills. Originally