The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1917-09-07
Democracy's Duty
to Its Defenders

The plan for furnishing our soldiers
and sailors life and indemnity insur-
ance and allowances to dependent fam
lilies, embodied in bill now pending
in Congress-, seems to meet with the
cordial appreciation of the people and
the press of the country. Some ex-
tracts from editorials in various pa
pers follow:
The Philadelphia Public Ledger:
"'When we draft the wage Garner,
says Secretary McAdoo, we call not
only him but the entire family to the
flag This is the fundamental argu-
ment for the war insurance bill now
before Congress. 1t is the absence Of
any provision for those left behind
which leads so many who would glad
ly give themselves to their country to
ask exemption.
"When military service is obliga-
tory other things are obligatory, too
The national conscience, as the Sec
rotary puts it, will not permit Amer
ica's soldiers and their dependents to
go unprovidcd with everything that is
Just, generous and noble people can
do to compensate them for the suffer-
ings and the sacrifices exacted from
them. That has never been the Amer
lean way.
"The aim of the war insurance bill
is to do justice to the soldiers without
doing injustice to the taxpayers"
Under the title that heads this arti-
Gle the New York Times says:
"Not a dollaro the billions given
to the deserving is regretted. If the
proposed plan shall secure that only
the deserving shall be carried upon
the country's resources, even billions
would be paid and leave still a debt
unpaid. There can be no real money
indemnity for death or disability. The
feeling of duty done and appreciated
by countrymen is all that can be Of
fered against such suffering"
The New York World calls army in
surance "a square deal for our fight
ing men," and comments:
"What the chief industrial States
are doing in insurance and compensa-
ton of workers in peace the Federal
government now proposes to do with
it's fighting men in war. No one could
know what the old pension system
would cost as applied to this war. I'm
der this plan the cost will be known
as we go along. Evenhanded justice
will be assured. Political and personal
favor will go for nothing. There
should be no doubt of its adoption"
The Richmond Times-Dispatch in
dorses the plan:
"Since the government has benevo-
lently insured ships and cargoes, sea.
men and pilots engaged in perilous war
enterprises, it seems eminently prop
er that officers and men of the army
and navy, who run immeasurably
greater risks, should be generously in
IDENTIFIED in case of manning or death.
The proposed legislation is designed
as a substitute for postwar pensions,
a circumstance which further COM
mends it to u.s."
The Atlanta Journals closing par
agraph of an editorial commenting the
plan is as follows:
"The needs anticipated by the bill
are so numerous and the mantle of
protection which it would throw about
the country's defenders and their fam
lilies is so broad that only an extern
sive review could do it justice, but its
great principles really need no COM
mendation. They speak for them
selves, and. they will appeal, we feel
sure, to the mind and heart of Con-
gress as they do to the mind and heart
of the country. This deeply important
measure, so typical of the govern
ment's solicitude for the men it calls
to the colors, should be pressed
promptly to enactment"
To these may be added the indorse-
ment of Col. Roosevelt:
at puts the United States where it
ought to be, as standing in the fore
front among the nations in doing JUS
tice to our defenders"