which was built in West Lafayette, Indiana. The National Home continued to face problems of overcrowding and the need for more specialized medical care. In 1898, Congress approved an eighth branch, to be established at Danville, Illinois. The Mountain Branch was established in 1903 near Johnson City, Tennessee. The last of the National Home facilities was established as the Battle Mountain Sanitariumt at Hot Springs, South Dakota, in 1907. It was not a full-service branch, but a specialized institution open to members from any of the nine branches who were suffering from rheumatism or tuberculosis. Neither disease could be cured at the time, but patients were believed to benefit from the dry air prevalent at that location. Between 1900 and 1910, the Board of Managers were directed most of their attention to developing these three new branches. 1916–1930 In 1916, the Board of Managers believed that membership had begun to decline, due to aging and deaths of veterans. But, on April 6, 1917, the United States entered World War I. By the time of the armistice on November 11, 1918, almost five million Americans had entered the armed forces. On October 6, 1917, an amendment to the War Risk Insurance Act, originally enacted in 1914 to insure American ships and cargo against risks of war, extended eligibility for National Home membership to all troops serving in the “German War.” Most importantly, it provided that all veterans were entitled to medical, surgical and hospital care by the federal government. Prior to the 1917 amendment, the only veterans entitled to such medical care were members of the National Home who had access to the Home hospitals. All other veterans were dependent on civilian medical services. The 1917 amendment meant that all veterans were eligible for the same medical care as the members of the National Home. Existing hospital facilities at the ten Home branches were insufficient to care for the potentially high number of World War I veterans needing medical care. In 1919, the responsibility for veterans’ services was distributed among several agencies: the United States Public Health Service (PHS) took over the provision of medical and hospital services; the Federal Board for Vocational Rehabilitation organized rehabilitation programs; and the War Risk Insurance Bureau managed compensation and insurance payouts. The burden on PHS government hospitals was so great that the Service began to contract with private hospitals to provide health care for