The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1920-04-19
LEGION POST IS
 AGAINST BONUS

New York, April 1s - Describing
 the campaign for a bonus as "a drive
 fer selfish gain at the expense of na-
 of the American Legion has adopted
 resolutions calling for aid only flor
 those ex-service men who have been
 turned out of the army less qualified
 to provide for themselves through
 wounds Or disease. and the families
 of soldiers who will never return"
 The men of the G. Amstnck Post,
 bitterly condemning the plan now be-
 fore Congerss. believe it to be sup
 ported by only g. small minority of
 service men, who appear to be about to succeed in raiding the Federal
 Treasury" Only about 15 per cent. of those who served are engaged in
 the raid, it is asserted. The resolutions which have been adopted depict in full the spirit and purpose of the G. Amsfnck Post and | are as follows:
 sswhereas, The National Congress, | through the Senate Finance Commit tee and the Ways and Means Commit
 tee of the House, is already giving serious consideration to the question l of raising funds to pay a bonus to 1 those who served in the armed forces of the nation during the war, and Whereas, It is quite possible that not a single member of either of those 1 committees believes in the necessity | of such payments. from the stand l point of general welfare, and it is cer- 1 tain that all members of those com- ! mittees are aware of the outrageous 1 tax burden that the people of this | country are now carrying, and of the l ~F Il iTISt 7fa77f l of the means of raising revenue and
 reducing the amount of governmental 1 expenditures The only conclusion l which the members of this post are able to arrive at is that the political | pressure of those who represent the American Legion is sufficient to | corece Congress into doing a thing l which would not be done without that
 pressure
 ~That we, the members of AmSnck Post, joined the American Legion be- | cause we believed it was organized for one great purpose-fTo protect | and preserve and develop America We understood that selfish political activities were to have no place in the organization
 | Our personal opinion has been that the most fertile field for constructive l action by the American Legion was in l the Congress Expedfency, party pol tics and reelection are first in the | minds of our Coagre9smen- IntelH- gent, fearless and adequate considera- l ton of national interests is almost un- heard of We had hoped that the American Legion would set itself to | the task of putting some men in Con- 1 gress who are not So anxious to gos
 some whom the office might seek,
 some who wouldn't care whether they. are reelected or not, and that means, men who would 1egislate as l our National Congress must legislate i if we are to preserve America Instead of this, the American Le- zion has adopted for its first great objective drive for it's own personal, 1 and, as we feel. selfish gain at the l expense of national welfare. As we 1 understand it not more than 25 per 1 cent of the men serving in the late war are members of the Legion. and
 from the voting that has come to our 1 attention, not more than 60 per cent ] of that 25 per cent are urging a gen. | era1 bonus to all who served In other \ words. about IS per cent or those i who served are about to hold up the i National Treasury through the , knowledge that an Organization even 1 I minority, has and wfeads an over 1 whelning power over the politicians 1 who control the nations funds.
 1 We coneeds that every man who
 served sacrificed: probably every man
 who served did 50 at financial boss.
 We aN know t&AaE a. connsoi3atzon of
 lack Of prsxknedness, n14sfit, h,Irry-uE
 legislation, peodteer4ng by labor and
 capital aM tended to give those who
 did not enlist either as soldiers or civilians an advantage financially.
 Many 8. soldier has retlEned to his home to find his own family barely
 existing Whike that of his stay-at- home neighber has advanced to a state Of cheap and mushroom f11x11ry Of course that is not falr---it is the opposite; it is unfair. unjust, and we know that it would be impossible te build a more vicious situation. E4a1eseztheAess, what soldier would exchange his period of service or f1a4 present position with that of hi; more immediately prosperous neigh boF? Certainly none who served with cEedit,
 f4S8zailaF co1zdH1oas have followed every waF of importance. Demo 5 eraeies were built by men who were 5 willing to make just such sacrifices and they can only be preserved b. S l the same type of men.
 Ell 'We had naereenaries and HeSsian 5 before America was born, and if sa' dies we will have them again, eithe S in the form Of hirelings of an auto cratic proletaFiat OF the hireliHgs 0 q 8 eoRseieaceiess and tifnid Congress q Had the American Legion ad A l dressed itself exclusively at first t 4 the task of providing adequately fo @ those who have been turned out o A the army less qualified to provide fo 7 themselves, through wounds or dis # ease, and those families of soldier S who can never return, it would hay A engaged in 8 laHdable and neeessaF a task aud earned the gratitude of tn A deserving and the respect of the na $ ton. This, to our mind, is the i'm q mediate problem effffecting all wh Fl served.
 3 'fWe feel that the present person s mel of Congress is such that the sma yd organized minority of those w1 sa were in the war are about to sue A ceed in raiding the Federal Treasur. :S We believe it can be prevented, an N that prevention lies, in the premI E$ and organized reputation of tn