The twice-a-week Twin Falls times. (Twin Falls, Idaho) 1916-1918, 1917-08-21
INSURANCE FOR
SOLDIERS PLEA
OF SEC. M AD00
EXEMPTION CLAIMS MADE
BY MANY THROUGH FEAR
FAMILIES BE LEFT
DEPENDENT
Protection N ow Not
Pensions Later Idea
Morals Of Army Will Be Improved
BY Legislation That Will In.
sure Safety for Loved Ones at
Home.

sure Safety for Loved Ones at
Home.
WASHINGTON Aug 1S-Secre- I
tary W. G. McAdoo, of the treasury |
department, tonight issued a power !
full plea for the enactment of legis /
lation now pending for the insurance
of all soldiers in the army and navy !
of the United States instead of wait
ing until after the war to grant pen |
sions to the injured. He stated that
insurance rates were so high as to be
prohibitive for soldiers and that the
idea of leaving families who would he
dependent in case of the death of their
head made many try to escape the Sc
lective draft. In part he said:
The number of claims for exemption
from military duty under the draft
law has caused painful impression
in many quarters, but after all, does
not the fact that no provision has yet
been made by the government for the
support of the wives and children,
mothers or fathers, of the men who
have been drafted explain many of
these claims for exemption?
Under the draft law the government
has the power to require every able
bodied man between 81 and 81 years
of age to perform military duty.
Thousands of the drafted men are
wage-earners who married years ago
and are the sole support of dependent
families. So long as the government
has made no provision for the care OF
these dependents, it is natural that
,o, d,.of fod oh m
tect their loved ones by staying at
home. / am sure that if the congress
should promptly enact the pending
war insurance bill, which makes def
mite allowances for the support of the
| dependent wives and children, fathers
or mothers, of our soldiers and sailors
claims for exemption on that score
will cease. This is an imperative duty
| of the government. We cannot de-
| prive helpless women and children of
| the support of the wage-earner by
forcing him into the military service
of the country unless the government
substitutes itself as their support.
Imagine the emotions of the man
who is called into the military service
of his country with full knowledge
that his loved ones are left without
means of support and may be reduced
to want unless the charity of the COM
munity in which they live comes to
their relief. 1t would be nothing less
than crime for rich and just gov
eminent to treat its fighting men so
heartlessly and to subject their de-
pendent wives and children, who are
unable to fight, to greater suffering
than if they could fight.
The morale of an army is as essen
tial to its effective fighting power as
guns, ammunition and other instru
mentalities of war. OF equal impor-
lance is the morale of the civil popula
ton which must support the armies
in the field We cannot have this es
sential morale unless the nation COM
forts the men in the ranks with the
knowledge that everything possible
will be done for them and their fam
lilies, and renders to the civil popula-
4 ton at home the assistance which
will make it most effective in uphold
Il ing the government and the fighting
forces.
The purpose of the war insurance
bill now pending in the congress is to
secure the future of Americas soldiers
and sailors by insuring their lives and
providing adequate cOmpensations and
indemnities for loss of life and total
or partial permanent disability; also
to protect their families against pow
erty and want by providing them with
! sufficient means of support during
the absence of the men at the front.
The nation, having been forced tc
resort to the draft in order to create
quickly an army to save the country
is under a higher obligation to dc
these things for it's fighting forces
than if a volunteer army only was
created This great and rich Republic
cannot afford to do less, and it mus
do what is proposed in spirit Of
gratitude and not as charity. Every
soldier and sailor who serves his
/ country in this war will earn every
thing the proposed war insurance bill
provides; to be a beneficiary of the
: proposed law will be badge of hon
= or.
: When we draft the wage-earner, WI
/ call not only him but the entire famil.
to the flag; the sacrifice entailed l:
not Invisible. The wife and children
the mother. the father, are all in
| volved in the sacrifice-they directl,
share the burden of defense. The.
suffer just as much as the soldier, blu
| in different way, and the nation mus
| generously discharge as proud priv
| ilege the duty of maintaining then
from the war and resume the respon
sibility.