The Penn's Grove record., 1921-10-28
thousand FraIta Uncovered as
Treasurer Speeds Checks to
Service lien Of New Jersey.
CRlTICS GIVEN AN ANSWER
There Has Already Been Disbursed
About So, 900, eco of the $4,000, 900
May Delay Some Payments
Treasurer Read Hears GroWls.

4ItIllbIl. "NlblF ltltlll isttV bbSbH
claims for the New Jersey soldier
bonus have been found among the 120,-
600 claims filed in this State. Through
careful INVESTIGATIONS, conducted under
the direction of State Treasurer Will
liam T. Read. they were detected and
Fhrown cut. llt not until considerable
delay had been caused in the proper
handlin@ Of approximately 14,Oih
claims that were ready for settlement
when suspicion WIS directed to SOME
W them and Il ADMINISTRATION of the
entire 14,OO0 was decided upon. 1t was
in that number that the LOCO were
found that were fraudulent and dis
carded. Now the payments on all
claims are proceeding aS rapidly as
they can be handled 10y the force at the
command Of the state treasurer for
that purpose.
Thus far 81, 900 of the entire 100000
claims presented and verified by
proper investigation have been paid,
1.-The claimants having received their
Checks some time prior. Payments
are now being made at the rate of
about 700 a day, or approximately
$500 a week. There has already been
disbursed about SS,000,000 of the $10,-
100000 received from the sale of state
bonds from the proceeds of which the
solsier bopus is to be paid. The entire
expense of the vast amount of work
involved, including tie cost of printing
the bonds, has thus far been less than
con nAa ~ NOD ,,o, an,+ af fIa 10 rn0
SUBJ involved.
May Delay Some Payments
Money remaining in hand will not be
sufficient to meet all the bonus claims,
as only $1O.000,000 of the 100000
of bonds authorized have been sold.
The remaining 100000 of bonds will
y be sold to meet the whole number of
Z claims, and it is possible that on some
of the latest claims received there may
be slight delay in settlement for that
reason, but they will be paid as rap
Ndly as the money is acquired and can
be checked out through the channels
designated in the law providing for
payment of the bonus to soldiers Of
the world war. State Treasurer Read
would employ a larger force than he
has had in the work involved, but he
has found that men suitable for it can
not readily be found owing to the fact
that the state can promise them en-
ployment only to November 30, the
time when the period in which bonus
applications can be made will expire.
Recently there have been grumbles
t. zOnaN rA1+fApr &c fIn Ctnfn NV col
diers because they have not received
their checks as promptly as they had
expected. Various reasons have been
Asuggested as the cause of the delay,
some of them not complimentary to
the state officials having the matter in
charge. There has also been assertion
that one reason for the soldiers not
receiving their money was that it was
being kept in banks and that the state
was receiving 2 per cent interest on
it; that the state did not want to lose
that interest. and that the banks hav-
ing the money on deposit did o care
to part with it any oOn than they
had to.
Treasurer Hears Growls
' ' Z liz liAttIbOA "a btA W ~
State Treasurer Read in his office in
<the state house in Trenton he re-
marked he had heard quite as many
grCwls and ~inSinuations as had any
one else, even the one that bonus
money was kept in banks, interest was
being earned on it and that some one
was getting some graft"
"One man put the money-in-the-bank
graft declaration right to me-" said
Treasurer Read, "and I told him that
he was exactly right. The money is
being kept in banks that pay . per cent
on daily balance. The interest money
goes into a sinking fund which is to
he Used to retire the bonds issued to
make the soldier bonus possible,
and the graft goes to the citi-
zens who pay the bills through taxa
ton. In other words, the interest
earned by the money while it is in
hanks means just that much less for
the taxpayers to give out of their peck
cts to make good on the bonds at their
. maturity. If there is ny other form
of craft in the whole matter l wish
some one would bring it to my atten-
tion. | haven't been able to discover
if. Practically all the stories that are
embodied in what have been termed
.crowls' about the manner in which
the soldier bonus is being adminins-
tered are ridiculous.
y "Nfyself and everyone connected
with the handling of the claims of sol
diers have only one desire-to see to
If that the boys for whom h bonus
money is intended get it as quickly as
II can be handed out, but, of course,
not without proper consideration OF
every claim presented. I am sure that
even soldier boys themselves would
mot want it otherwise, and the course
we have followed has been its own JUS
ti6cation. The 1000 bogus claims
thrown out is the answer to much OF
~,ba trouble that has been encountered.