Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1920-08-06

! quate compensation for ex-serVice
men, opponents frequently resort to
what professional orators call heart
appeal"
They dodge your logic by declar-
ing it is merciless. They grant you
J are entitled to something, to put you
somewhere near even with the man
who stayed at home and profited, but
they temper their acquicscence by
declaiming that it is "unpatriotic'
to expect the country to pay you that
to which you are entitled. They say
war is mot mere matter of dol
lars and cents"
Doubtless, there are some ex-serv-
ice men who have been convinced by
such rhetoric and have become it's
opponents. They declare no money
can buy their feeling Of exaltation
at having served They did their
part gladly, they say, and do not
expect to be paid for having done it.
They do not believe love of country
ever can have any but it's own re-
ward.
These sentiments are all very we'll
The man or woman who served
knows the complete satisfaction of
having given freely when the coun-
try asked. But he may have missed
the point in this compensation bust
ness. After all, it is a matter of
reasoning, not sentiment
We will challenge the statements
that war is mot a mere matter of
dollars and cents
Consider what the government did
financially for the men who served
by working-no fighting.
Take the matter of environments.
When 16 were to be built it was a
hurried, frenzied job that needed
real patriotism.
Because of this need, the men in
charge of environments did not stop
to bubble over millions. They made
free-handed recommendations and
congress rushed them through. To
protect the contractor, the cost-pluA
J system was adopted. The contractor
received ten per cent profit on the
total actual cost of the work he SUI
pervised. Agreements were entered
into whereby the government as
J sumed all costs, met the weekly pay
roll, paid for tools and handed out
sums to cover even such incidental
expenses as messing the workmen.
This system was adopted because
Che men in charge believed it was
only fair to protect the interests of
contractors who were patriotic
enough to drop all other work and
rush to the aid of the government.
} AS matter of cold fact, most of
them didn't have much work to drop.
But they were protected. All the
contractor was required to furnish
was his organization or, in some in
} stances, merely his knowledge of
where to get the men to form an or
ganization. He ran no financial risk.
His profits were assured A man
with a bank balance of $40 could
J as easily have assumed such a con-
tract as the biggest firm in America.
Why not? He didn't have to put up
| dino ho
money.
! Further to simplify things, con-
tractors received plans and specifica-
ton that had been prepared by the
quartermaster department. The
construction was of the simplest
nature.
| will not go into any of the criti-
cism directed at the whole handline
of the cantonment project. Experts
from General Goetha's down testl
fled that the cost-plus system was
cver-generous to the contractor and
: not generous enough to the govern
| ment Defenders of the system adj
| mltted TINS was true, but said ar
emergency existed and things had to
be accomplished quickly 1t had
come to a choice between lives and
dollars, so contractors were put on
their patriotism not to take advan.
tage of the governments forced lib
| crafty.
Very well; then this is one in
stance where war was a matter OF
dollars and cents, where the patriot
ism of the man who served by work.
: ing got a hearty financial slap on
: the back from the government.
| But do not imagine that the con
tractor was the only worker who
was safeguarded lest his patriotic
impulses do him financial harm. The
man who fingered a draft tickle,