Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1920-08-13

venson bill, which would provide the
same rights of retirement at part
pay to emergency corps officers that
regular officers now enjoy.
The Legion legislative committee
has been particularly active in sup
port of the Wason bill. The four
principal features which the COM
mittee has been able to have incor-
porated in the bill are:
l. That the Bureau of War Risk
Insurance establish IA regional Of
fees with as many sub-offices as are
necessary.
2. That there be an appropria-
tion to pay for advertising so that
every service man will learn of the
benefits of the converted War Risk
policy.
8. That all post office employees
be empowered to collect and issue
receipts for premiums.
4. That disabled mems insurance
be carried during disability
The Legion also has requested that
the Public Health Service, the Fed
eral Board for Vocational Training
and the Bureau of War Risk Insur-
ance be merged under one official, so
that it will be simpler for the ex-
service man to learn what is due him
and how to collect it.
The Legion has seen to it that
everything possible is being done for
the sick and disabled. 1t is not
question merely of money. More
money is needed, but the crying ne
cessity is for increased hospital facil-
tiles and the right kind of organiza
| ton. Increased facilities are needed
at once to take care of the 10000
ex-soldiers suffering from mental or
nervous disorders and the $4,000
who are suffering from tuberculosis.
The Legion is pressing congress to
provide places for these men i'm
mediately.
! 1t has been said that the average
soldier" will take the cash in pref
erence to either of the three other
compensation features and rush to
spend it. This presumes that the
average soldier is a bigger mental
dud than the average worker"
who put away $500 in a savings
bank out of his war profits Isn't it
time to lay away in mothballs these
old contentious that the soldier is
some sort of an irresponsible child?
Anyone should know that the "av-
erage soldier" of this war was the
average young man of the country
perhaps a little above the average in
mentality. These men are just as
anxious to save and get ahead as any
one else. They surely want to bene-
compensation, as we have pointed
out, will not fully pay the man for
his sacrifices, but the amount would
be enough to give him start on a
farm, home or a business of his
own, or would enable him to pay the
debts he could not help mourning
while he was in the service.
Some opponents declare it is fair
for civil service employees to get their
$40 a month bonus because it helps
them meet the high cost of living
by bringing their salaries up to a
decent figure. Did not the service
mans family face the same high liv-
ing costs while he was away, and did
he not face them when he came
back? We come again to our argu-
ment that compensation is only just.
No system was right that compelled
the wife of soldier to exc out an
existence at $40 a month while the
wife of a laborer bought fur coats
on her husbands 500 a week. No
physically fit to the battlefield to be
killed and left the less fit at home
to amass fortunes. A compensation
program will help right some of
these wrongs now.
1t has been contended that men in
combat divisions do not want COM
pensation, that only the stay-at-
homes are now vocal, or that the de-
mand has been fostered by politicians
and does not really come from the
veterans themselves. How untrue
this is is indicated by a recent test
poll of several hundred American
Legion posts. This showed that TO-
$50 men favor further cash compen-
sation from the government and only
1882 oppose it. Any plan to help SOL
diers get farms was favored by TO-
TAG voters, and only 1850 were OPP
posed. Every similar poll has shown