The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-12-18
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 4ASLL Jp.I1

Washing -on. D. C., Dec. I8-Near-
 } seven months have passed since
 ...= eNtra s.szItu uf Congress con
 ned and the prospect of practical
 .-oe ez.fIsi0E of the clains Of the sol
 Il IS sailors and marines for work
 done i3 tIe World War is still as ne-
 0G-prs a- ever, secretary of the In- terIor Lanes soldier farm measure
 held back 5:l the previous Congress
 hy the 5teEuaIicans and re-christened
 the Mondeu biIl-ts still in a state of
 cal'ia, and all attempts of the Demo-
 Crats to inject the breath of life into
 1t have been discouraged.
 So the Democrats in the House of
 6elnresentatives took the initiative
 and passed a soldiers land bill of
 their own, marking the first con-
 stTUctive measure of the kind to be approved by either House of Con- i gress. The bill, which was introduced ! by Representative Scott Ferris Dem- ocraD of Oklahoma, was fathered in his absence by Representative Ed i ward T. Taylor (DemocraD of Colo l rado. It provides that when any l land is thrown open to settlement : within the next two years, soldiers. sailors and marines will be given ! preferential filing rights for the first 1 so days
 ! This practically means that all the : land described will be settled by the mon who fought for Uncle Sam in i the big conflict.
 ! In the course of the debate pre- ! ceding the passage of the bill Rep l resentative Taylor and W. B. Bank 1 head (DemocraD of Alabama, goad- 1 ed Republican leaders for their in ! ability or disincIination to do some i thing for the fighting men
 l "I do not know, in the long run, whether this Congress Is going to 1 pass any affirmative legislation for 1 the benefit of the service men or not, l but l do say in justice to them, that 1 this Congress ought to exercise it's 1 power and it's responsibility either 1 to pass some legislation of that char 1 acter or to announce to them and the ! country that it proposes not to pass
 it, said MT Bankhead.
 In an effort to speed up legisla ton
 affecting eX-seryice men. Democratic ] leaders introduced into the House resolution providing for a special i committee of IS members to pass upon ali such proposed legislation. As things now stand, the bills are scattered among more than a half | dozen committees with no facilities provided for the harmonizing of all l the various ideas into a small num- Der of comprehensive compact bills. The sole measure in the interest of i ex-service men, now ready for pass ! a2e IS cae Lane or Nondel bill which l provides for the reclamation of arid, l cut-oH @r or swamp lands 3y ez-sol- l diers. It was introduced early in the ] special session recommendation of 1 the President in a special message ] and has been on the House calendar i awaiting action since August L
 1 The Mondeu bill lies dormant, if 1 not dead, upon the calendar" con i tinued Representative Bankhead q ] heard distinguished member of the ] Senate, high in authority in that i body Republican, say casually in i the Senate restaurant, when the ! Presidents message came in, in con- 1 necton with the renewed recommen- l dation for the passage of the NondeI ! bill, that it was idle for the President . to make any recommendation in re-
 gard to that bill for 1t was as dead l as d red herring. It seems to be so i so far as any action here in this
 House or any effort of the majority
 to put it upon it's passage is concern
 ed And bear in mind that this is
 the only bill ready for passage
 Framed in the interest of the ex-ser-
 vice man
 representative Bankhead closed his expose with the flat demand that
 the Republican majority quit mark
 ing time and take some sort of ac- ton on the bills so the country may know where it stands.
 For weeks and weeks it was inti-
 mated that the majority here would
 wait until the national convention
 Of the American Legion met and
 made recommendations" he said. 1 That convention has met and acted. 1 We will now see how much longer
 this policy of inaction and indiffer- | ence shall continue. If you are going l to legislate for the benefit of the men who, above all others. have earned
 the gratitude of this Nation you
 should act and act without delay. If you are not going to legislate for
 their benefit you should have the