Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1920-06-25
HARRISON FOR ASSISTING
The VIRGINIA BOYS.
EXPLAINS HIS VOTE ON ENTRA
COMPENSATION. WHICH HAS
BEEN ATTACKED BY
COL. LEEDY.

opposing Judge Harrison for the
Democratic nomination for Con-
gress from the Seventh Virginia
districts:
"Senator Leedy has attacked
my vote on the extra compensa-
ton t. the soldier boys. AS ]
gather from the report OF his
criticism, he favors paying the
soldier extra compensat ton, but
he would defer the payment to
some indefinite period in the flu
ture.
1.-The bill for which l voted
postponed any payment thereun-
der for nearly fifteen months ;
then made payments to the SOL
der in small amounts, at long
interv ais, for a period covering
about two additional years. How
much longer does the senator
really think that the soldier boy
ought to wait for what the sena-
tor admits is his due -?
Many of the soldier boys were
taken without their consent from
remunerative jobs, for which
their substitutes, in many in
stances. received enormous wages
or pay rendered service to their
country, at dollar a day, of a
character that pecuniary COM
pensation therefor seems mock
cry discharged their duty sc
efficiently that the war and It's
burdens ended in a marvelously
brief period, and through thel1
Legion posts have petitioned fol
this small extra compensation
not only small in itself, but small
compared with what Canada has
done for her ex-service men. An6
the senator criticises me for vot-
ing 20 grant the soldiers petit
ton.
Furthermore, nearly every
rthern state, through theil
state legislatures, has given Il
its soldier boys a bonus bur
Virginia has not. The Pennsyl
vania boy. in the Eightieth di
vision, received a bonus, but the
Virg mia boy who served by his
side receives none. This did moi
appeal to nv sense of justice.
voted for a bill which gave the
Virgin boy a bonus, too, an(
which provided for the payment
thereof out of revenue raised il
great part by the taxation O.
great incomes and stock ex-
change transactions. The grea'
burden falls on the north side Of
the Mason-Dixon line, and as fol-
more than fifty years the south
has been paying pensions to
northern soldiers, l cannot set
why there should not be a little
turn-around, so that the Wall
Street gamblers and bloate(
northern bond holders may pa J
a little something to the sou TIL
ern soldier.
Let me see then what the sen
ator condemns. Upon the peti
ton of the American Legion
posts, | voted to give a small ex.
ira pay to all soldier boys, with.
out regard to the state from
which they hail, out of money
largely raised by Wall Street, SC
that the Virginia boy nigh
have some extra compensa ton in
view of the service rendered and
the loss sustained, and spread
tile payment over three years, SO
as there should exist no tempta-
tlon to loaf. The senator's crit
lclSm is that the soldier should
be made to wait, but for how
long ten, twenty, fifty years
The senator does not say. He
gives the soldier boy sop by
indefinite promises and the Wall
Street gamblers a sop by indef-
mite postponement but in the
meanwhile the Virginia boy goes
abegging, while the boys of
other states are taken care of.
Let tue federal government pro-
vide universal rule for all alike.
Am | justly subject to criticism :?
If this extra compensation is due
to the the soldier, should he wait
for it longer than three years?
Adv.
KA T ~