Norwich bulletin., 1919-09-30
WASHINGTON AFFAIRS
Especial to The Bulletin )

Special to The Builetino
 Washington, Sept.> 29.--The purpose of congress is unmistaka ply to provide for returned soldiers in the form that wi not only be acceptable te the sol diara themselves but will be a work sbIe plan as well. A great number of D. ans have been submitted but only a few were found. after examination, to
 be practical in providing the aid de sired. When the insurance measure
 was before the interstate commerce committee many plans were suggested
 to them for consideration along war
 risk lines but when submitted to ln-
 surance experts it was found they
 were entirely unadapted to working
 out satisfactory result. At last the
 bill which passed the house and is now
 waiting senate action was accepted by
 the committee. It was necessary to
 keep out objectionable features which,
 though seeming excellent on the sur-
 face, might have upset the plan as
 whole. The bill as passed seems to
 meet with general favor. It was drawn
 by the committee on interstate com
 merce, of which Congressman Merritt
 of the Fourth Connecticut district is
 member. The purpose of the bill. is to
 clear up many of the defects of the
 original bill. which naturally was
 marred by inconsistencies owing to
 the fact that it was hastily framed to
 meet emergency and cover absolutely
 new and untried conditions. The
 amount of insurance written under the
 original bill is said to have aggregated
 more than all life insurance com
 panies. The recent bill corrects many
 inequalities of the former bill. It con-
 tains a clause increasing total disabil-
 ity from $50 to $50 or $100 according
 to conditions mans earning ca
 pacity will hereafter be judged by his
 disability to obtain a job on account of some unusual physical condition
 which may not prevent his working
 with his hands. For instance, it was claimed that man suffering from a
 nerve shock which had rendered him
 deaf and dumb could not obtain work with the same ease that a man not so hampered. The same is true of men who are terribly disfgured such as having a part of the face shot away and other similar nisfortunes An other important feature is permitting men to be eligible between the time Of their injury and taking out the in surance. It often happened that men were sick or injured after being in ducted but before the necessary delay in filing their insurance papers The range of persons coming under benefit is also increased and better provision who did not come under the terms of the first bill.
 The recent return Of the coast guard to the department of the treasury after its automatic transfer to the navy at the beginning of the war has brought h., parently by a few young officers. to consolidate the coast guard perna- nently with the navy and make it a part of that department in both peace and war. It is understood neither the navy nor the treasury nor the more experienced coast guard officers. desire OF approve that plan. It is pretty well here that the duties of the coast guard are specialized along lines of life saving and property saving. and fp the continuance of it's splendid eff ciency should it be merged with an other branch of the service whose functions and training are along diff i would make a complete uDheavaI of the peace time duties of the. guard af- fecting custom duty and other matters which come purely under the Urea sury. l on the subject, but it is doubtful if the 1 ma tier will be brought before congress for discussion at the present session 1
 Should the chanSe he made it is pro- posed to entirely abandoo tho coast i guard training station at New London ! and make the trafninr Of the guard ! and that of the navy identical.
 Senator Brandegee is working under 1 no eight hour rule. Twenty hours 1 are scarcely enough to put through l the things that come under his super l vision. As a member of the foreign , elations committee he is taking a | strong and prominent part in the de- bate before the senate. while as mem per of the sub committee to investi- | gate conditions concerning our reIa tions with Mexico he is likewise i spending many hours day in close | attention to that question. Counled 1 with all this. he is very frequently l called to the chair to preside, when the senate shows itself to be in an iprUly mood. for Mfr. Bra -degee is ore 3f the hest presiding officers in that body. and was strongly urged to stand for president pro tempore last spring, opt declined to take any steps in that direction. | rite comments made by Senator Bran iegee during an animated discussion of
 he league of nations few days ago: My chief criticism of the whole COW not seem to get anything out of it ex- :ept an obliga ton. * I would have peace. We did not enter this war to Iorm any league of nations In my opinion if the United States has the and patriotism to perform it's ! iuty it will a six that we be put on the anne basis as the British empire.
 expect to vote for all the reservations md amendments the committee has re- ported, not because I am satisfied with he treaty or with the covenant of the eague if the reservations and amend nents are adopted. but I expect to vote gainst the whole treaty ever if they ire adonted but will vote for them m the theory that if we shall enter the eague I want it to be s little dancer | ,us possible for this country4"
 The war department today stated to The Bulletin correspondent that no had been made in the Lllotment of troops for Connecticut in orming national guard Neither lees the department expect that state 1 will fulfill the requirements at an early ] late either in regard to two troops of ,aValry or other steps necessary to 1 meet the statutes. It bases this opinion n a letter received from Governor within the past week In which he states that there is no pros 1 ,ect of that being accomplished and 1 dds that the state guards are now 1 furnishing good protection. He makes very clear by the terms of his letter