The spectator., 1921-08-19

 on the matter and have found that some of them are for it, some of them are against it. but that the majority seems to he for it.
 Why the Majority Favors IL.
 Why is the majority for it? Not so much because the men want to feel the cash in hand, but because they feel that an injustice was done them in asking them to fight for S33 a month while other fellows were driving rivets for ten times the amount and were not under the necessity of dodg- ing shells or parrying bayonet thrusts.
 Personally, the writer of this has been opposed to the granting Of the bonus unless 1t could be given to the men who actually need it and kept from those who have no need for it. There seems to he no way in which this can be done but, opposed 10 the bonus or not. there Is every sympathy among the veterans who think it's granting is bad policy, with the men who, looking Ut the thing as human nature makes them look at it. say that 1t ought to be granted
 There is fear among officials in Washington that the bonus may be made a political issue. IL seems hard to conceive how it can be so made, for the at-heart proponents and oppon- ents of bonus legislation are pretty evenly divided between the political parties as represented in Washington due consideration being given to the facts of proportion, for there are many more Republicans in the two houses of congress than there are Democrats.
 Sympathy Versus Finance.
 So far as the controversy today IS concerned the senators and representa- tives are confronted with two state ments. one from the treasury depart ment and the other from the veteran organizations. The treasury depart ment intimates that passage of the bill will come close to bankrupting the country. The veterans organizations say that this is buncombe. sympathy. runs all one way but sympathy does not always mean support It Is, or course with the men who fought. The government officials who have spoken on the matter say that their feeling is with the men. but that their sound financial sense has to run the other way. People will have to take their choice as between the two contentious. It is perfectly conceivable that the whole thing may be put up o the country in what will be tantamount to Il referendum This does not mean ! that It will be submitted to the people as Il direct proposition, but 1t may be that bonus or no bonus will lind a place in the platforms of the political parties Then one will have to wait to count the votes to know the finish of the fight.
 Every veteran probably would like to see the bonus bill passed if it could be passed without injury to the credit of the country. The subject has been passed on by tie administration. It has asked for postponement. Doe this rpean the end or is it really only poStponement? This Is the question the congressman and the veterans are asking today in the city of Washing ton. and there is no one yet who can give definite answer.
 Taft Eighth Chief Justice.
 In the White House Is the twenty ninth President, and in the room of the Supreme court is the eighth chief justice Presidents are elected for fixed term; Supreme court justices are appointed for life, or until vaun- tary retirement
 The terms of certain ones among the chief justices of the United States have been coincident with the terms of several Presidents. No political party on coming into power is able to secure the appointment of either a chief justice or any associate jus ticeS of the Supreme court of its own political faith, unless at the time there exists vacancy on the bench. Usual ly the high court has been so high that It is above politics.
 John Marshall generally Is ac- counted the greateS' chief justice that the heuch ever has held although there are men whose feeling in The matter probably Is "contrariwise. Perhaps the man whose name most frequently Is on the tongue of per sons speaking of incidents of the Su- pr6me courts life, or its decisions is thnt of Roger F. Fancy. It was the Dred Scott decision, given at time when the sectional feeling in the Uni 1 ted States was at white heat. that ,,oIa tba paYnA nf frpnpN SO familiar even 10 the casual students of Amer i ican history.
 William Howard Taft, the twenty | seventh President of the United ! States. has become the eighth chief 1 justice of the United States. Never i during the years of his adult life has | Mir Taft made secret of the fact i that he had an ambition one day to | sit in the seat of John Rutledge, the [