The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1921-07-13
BONUS WOULD
BE BIG PERIL.
To Financial Stability of
the United States at
This Time
HARDING TELLS
OF DIFFICULTIES
Three Things Are Necessa-
ry to the Restoration
of Country

justed compensation legislation for
veterans of the World war would
greatly imperil the financial stability
of our country" President Harding
told the Senate yesterday in the sec
ond address he has made to that body
during his administration.
Every obligation is to the disabled
and dependent, the president said, and
the executive branch owed it 70 the
country frankly to state the Difficult
ties we daily are called upon to meet,
and the added peril this measure
would bring"
"This menacing effort to expend bill
lions in gratuities will imperil our ca
pacity to discharge our first obliga-
lions to those we must not fail to aid"
he said.
Our land has its share of the hnan-
cial chaos and industrial depression
of the world" the president said. I'VE
little needed the growth of indebted.
ness or the limits OF expenditures dur
ing the war because we could not stop
to count the cost. Our one thought
then was the winning Of the war and
1.-The survival of the nation"
Following is the text in part of
President H~arding's address TO the
Senate:
Mr.. President and gentlemen Of the
Senate:
There has come to my attention the
pending unfinished business before the
Senate, and it is an imperative duty
TO convey to you the probable effect OF
the passage al this time Of the pro-
posed act, providing for adjusted com
pensation to our service men in the
World war. If this measure could be
made effective at the present time
| without disaster to the nations
finances and without hindrance to inn
perative readjustment Of u taxes il
would present an entirely different
question than that which is before
you.
In a personal as well as a public
, manner. which ought TO be a plight of
good faith, | have commended the pol
icy of generous treatment Of the ma
tons defenders, not as a part of any
contract, not as the payment of a debt
which is owing, but as a mark of the
nations gratuities. Every obligation is
to the disabled and dependent. In such
reference as has been made to gen
eral compensation there has been a
reservation as to the earliest consist
ent time for such action if it is tax
en-. Even without reservation, how
ever. a modified view would he wholly
iustifable at the present moment, be-
cauSe the enactment of the compensa
ton bill in the midst of the struggle
for readiustment and restoration would
hinder every effort and greatly imper-
il the financial stability Of our coun-
try.
More, this menacing effort to expend
billions in gr%atuities will imperil our
capacity 10 discharge our first obliga-
tions to those we must not fail to aid.
Our land has its share of the financial
chaos and the industrial depression Of
the world. We little Needed the growth
of indebtedness or the limits Of expen-
ditures during the war, because we
could not stop to count the cost. Our
one thought then was the winning OF
the war and the survival Of the ma
tion.
After a four months survey Of con-
ditions (which would stagger all Of
us were it not for our abiding faith
in America" the president said. he was
fully persuaded that three things were
essential to restoration.
these are" he continued, "the re-
vision, including reduction, Of our in
ternal taxation, the refunding of our
war debt, and the adjustment of our
foreign loans.
1T is vitality necessary to settle
these problems before adding to our
treasury and such burden as is con
templated in the pending tsoldier bo-
nus bill"
Mr.. Harding said it was u~nthinkable
TO expect business revival while main
tanning the Excessive taxes of war"
and quite as unthinkable' TO reduce
tax burdens while committing the
I treasury 10 additional obligations
ranging from thro.' to FIVE billion dol
lars"
The precise figure no n can give"
he said. "If il Is conceivsbly true that
only two hundred millions a year
would be drawn annually from the
treasury in the few years Immediately
before US, the bestowal is too incon-
~seouential to be Of real value to the
nations defenders; and. if the exer-
else of the option should call for cash
running into billions, the depression of
finance and industry would be so
marked that vastly more harm than
good would attend"
"No government fat will paw our
bills" the president said. The eI-