The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1919-09-01
Three Measures Before Congress
Solution Of Which Will Add to
Country's Welfare, Says Gore
Problems Relate Prevention Of war; Disabled Soldiers Com
pensaon and Insurance Act and High Cost Of Living Says
Senator from Oklahoma

0VAGfVVA Al V1l1 VAA4AAAAVAAASSss
by THOMAS p. GORE.
United states senator from Oklahoma.
| Washington, Aug. a1.--There are
three measures of equal Importance be-
| fore the national congress today, the
! solution Of which will add to our coun-
try's welfare.
| These problems are concerned with
| THE prevention of war. the disabled
soldiers compensation and insurance
act" and tine high cost of living"
| I desire both to prevent war and to
, democratize var: perhaps the former
cannot be.-al+ogether accomplished; but
/ tho hest way to prevent, and the only
! way to democratize war Is to give the
people of every country, at least an ad-
| visory vote OIL the question of peace
| or war.
| let the fathers and mothers OF the
| boys Let the boys themselves, who
must suffer and bleed and die. pro-
! ncunce their judgment as to the neces-
I sity and as to the desirability of a pro-
posed war.
/ This is the best way to restrain am
bilious generals, kings. kaisers. czars
! and emperors.
The war would at least be the peo-
pies war. / regret that this principle
was not Incorporated in the league of
nations by the peace commission.
l would like to see the principle In
| eorporated In the league of nations.
regret that the principle of self-de-
termination was not applied to Shan
| tung. | fear that ii raises an Alsace
Lorraine question in the Orient or else
! it places the neck of China under the
| yoke OF Japan and tends to convert
the yellow peril into. a yellow terror.
| I am Irish by descent. by instinct.
! impulse and sympathy. I would like
/ to see Ireland have membership and
a vote in the league Of nations and al
| proof that this Is not intended to be
! invidious toward the British govern
| fnent, would be willing to include the
Philippines and Korea in the league.
! The sacred. the universal and vaunt-
/ ed panaesa of self-determ!nation ought
TO be oblivious to parallels of latitude
ana to meridians of longitude
I am concerned In the amendment of
| the war risk insurance. providing com
r-nsation and insurance for disabled
soldiers; 'for this reason, I introduce
| Senate Resolution No. 173 directing the
finance committee to investigate the
! operation and administration OF the
act. My attention was called to this
| investigation by reason OF the fact
I that Mrs Gore had been taking the
! wounded soldiers from Walter Reed
hospital out In driving parties provided
by the Red Cross. She brought dele
cation OF those boys to the marble
room in the senate where they were
interviewed by the senators who heard
| their grievances.
AS the law is now administered
| soldier having a disability rating of 100
| per cent. recei Ives compensation
| amounting to 500 per month and in
surance amounting to s57. aggregating
sl5T whereas, soldier having A disa
bllity rating of 80 per cent would re-
ceive compensation amounting to s25To
per month and no insurance whatever.
but he is obliged to pay his premium
/ en- insurance. A soldier having a rat
ing of so per cent would receive only
SIS per month and no insurance, Now
| one of my objects is to correct this
! injustice and inequality: moreover.
soldier having lost both arms or both
| legs. or both eyes. has disability rat
| ing Of 100 per cent, whereas Il soldier
who has lost one leg and one arm
| takes a lower rating.
To correct this is another object OF
! my resolution which has already been
| passed and directs the finance com
mittee to report necessary legislation
| to correct the inequalities and injus-
/ tlce cited.
! Perhaps the most engrossing meas
ure OF our present legislation is con-
| cerned with the high cost Of living.
| The only real and permanent solu-
| ton is increased production. Time
| and the farmers are the essential fac
| tors
| The farmer will solve the problem
II he is not crippled or crushed before
| he has had sufficient time TO render
! mis- output commensurate to the de-
mand
Anything which hampers the farm
er and retards production is unsound
! in principle and unwise IN policy --s
I There may be other expeaief,ss ana
| palliatives which will do more or less
| good. We should be careful not to
do more harm than good not to pun
ish the innocent and not to discour-
age production
! or course the profiteer both real
and imaginary. who would fatten and
| batten upon the mtsfortunes OF his
countrymen, is an object of universal
execration.
There are three reasons why the
high cost OF living has come upon us
1t Is phenomenon that follows
every war; rs the raven follows the
army or as the night follows the day,
/ In the first place thirty millions of
men have been for several years en-
gagged In killing one another, instead
Of producing things to eat and wear.
Many more millions Of men and
women have been making things to
kill men with instead OF making food
and clothing.
There is dearth of food and cloth
ing in the world. The supply Is un-
| equal to the demand. This alone
would raise the problem. On the other
hand the demand has suddenly in
creased. The central powers have been
under blockade four years. The lift
ing Of the blockade brings their de-
mand into the market as an Increased
pressure against the already INSULT
cient supply. This increased demand
would have raised the problem If the
supplies had not been limited.
| Another factor is to be found In the
enormous increase IN the volume of
money throughout the world. especial
| ly irredeemable paper. There were
thirteen and a half billions OF money
when the war began, only four billions
of which were paper. Most of this pa
per was nottomed on gold. Today
| there are more than thirty-two bill
| lions OF money in the world, more