The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-05-15
THE BONUS, PRO AND con.

The subject of additional compensa-
ton for service men has become a ma
tional issue and has reached a point
where il cannot be shelved perma-
nently. A considerable period of time
may elapse and some voting may be
done before results become apparent,
but more pay for the soldiers may as
well be accepted as certainty, attic
much opposition has developed on
various grounds.
Under the caption "A Frank Talk
to Soldiers" the Chicago Tribune dis
cusses the matter as follows:
The one issue which can make the
American Legion stick together is the
soldiers bonus The veterans have
been told to remain out of politics =
that is, not to seek public office on
the qualification of having been to
war-and the present policy of the
legion is not to seek to be a factor in
campaigns
The orga nization was founded upon
some healthy generalities. concerning
Americanism. The generalities were
praiseworthy and we think they rep
resent the sentiment of the men but
they will not keep the organization to-
gether. 1t will be kept together if it
is working for something the men
want.
Labor unions are compact and solid
because the men in the unions thru
them get better pay and better work
ing conditions. If the men did not get
anything they would not be in unions.
The G. A. r. grew into political power
and controlled the country for about
thirty years or more because the Civil
war veterans, thru their organiza ton
and its political power got tensions.
Self-interest governs, most of the ac-
tions of men and it forms the basis of
their association together, whether
they associate in the Association of
Commerce, the Yardmen's union, or
Athletic club.
The cement in the America Legion
is the bonus. We tried to get the
legion interested in universal training,
but the benefits of that were too re-
mote and the benefits of the bonus too
intimate.
Morally the soldier bonus needs no
justification. The services the veter-
ans gave cannot be compensated in
money. The expediency of the bonus
is another matter. When it was a
question Of it or universal service we
thought the legion ought to be for
universal service and give up the
bonus. Congress would not establish
the service. 1t will give the bonus.
All the soldiers have to do it to ask
for it persistently emo Ugh. They will
get it.
Congress proposes to pay only the
enlisted men and not the officers If
the officers stand for that they are
idiots. Congress endeavors to operate
on the fiction that the officers were
aristocrats and rolled out of money
into war and out of war back into
money. In military matters congress
is sublimity in asininity and hypocrisy.
The officers were volunteers who went
in early and did their best to fit them
selves to lead men safely. Many of
them were young men in college or
just finishing college and ready to
take up their professions. They lost
opportunities, time and money. They
bought their uniforms aud had heavy
personal expenses
II the officers of the American
Legion allow congress to proceed on
the theory that an officer is not a SOL
dier, is a gilded aristocrat, and de-
serves no consideration they will hurt
any army the United States nay try
to raise. If there is a bonus the Of
ficers should be in it.
Should there be a bonus? If the
question is merely whether there shall
be a bonus or nothing, we say yes for
the bonus. It will keep the American
Legion alive and its members together.
If they stay together until they have
a working cohesion they can make
their influence felt in American poll
tics. which needs such an influence.
If the legion disintegrates and the
soldiers do not exercise any collective
energy and vigor and influence, the
politics Of the United States will re-
main in the control of paeifists, stay
at homes, Americans who think it was
a mistake to win the war.
The soldiers say they do not Ike the
trend of American government poll
cies They will never correct 1t by
taking strikers places in engine cabs,
chasing I. w. WIS up side streets and
getting out as a constabulary every
time there is a local disturbance.
That Is what the pacifists and peace
profiteering people think the legion is
for. 1t will evaporate il ID has no
other reason for remaining in~exis-
tence.
The people now running politics in
this country are running it for their
own advantage. They are afraid of
war. They\ profited by staying at
home. Rather than have them run
the country for the next generation
Wen take the soldier control and hope
it will be wise.
The bonus will keep the legion in
existence and it will grow strong We
think that If the veterans were wise
H..
but we know they will. If each man
got $500 most OF itSwould be gone in
a short time. Every man knows that.
Some OF them would make wise use of
it and receive a permanent benefit. but
youth is generally committed to "eat,
drink. ana be merry" and the ex-serv-
ice men are young.
The insurance proposed as an al
formative would be wiser than a cash
bonus. There are other wiser plans.
but II the men demand the money they
VIII get it. II they get it we hope it
stren1hens the legion and makes it a
political power for the good of the
country.
We are rather sick of the brand of
political management obtained from
groups which had nothing to do with
the war except possibly retard Ameri-
can efforts- Men who were good
enough Americans to fight are good
enough 10 have somethiu sfo saw IN