Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-08-25

Nv is being made a Mecca by an increas-
W ing number of veterans of the World
War, who find dealing with the Government
by mail too slow for their taste.
The other day, an eX-soldier with three
medals for valor and achievement in the war,
dropped into Washington from a distant city
| via an express train. He felt that cOmpen-
sation was due him because he had served
| throughout the war and had been wounded.
| He claimed shell shock, but an examination
showed that if he had been affected, he was
now in excellent health. So he set out for the
| long journey home with the same answer that
would have been given him in less time had
| he gone to his American Legion post back
home and asked it to help him.
| This is one case The general condition
is that fifteen to twenty-five eX-service men
have been coming in to Washington each day
to see about compensation which they claim
is due them. Now that the Sweet Bill is a
law, arrivals are increasing to about thirty
day, all hoping that the new law will favor
them.
Sooner later, these men are interviewed
by Commander w. f. Franklin, of the Co.'S
tello Post of the American Legion. Costello
Post takes care of them and helps them to get
their cases considered. Investigation shows
that only forty per cent of these men have
any legitimate grounds for asking compensa-
ton. The other sixty per cent men who
either misunderstood the Government laws
puts it ''have acquired chronic dislike for
work. and think the Government owes them
a living
"To take typical case," Com. Franklin ex-
planned. ga man was drafted and sent to
training camp. He took the flu and pneu-
monia set in. He has never fully recovered
his health. So he is discharged and gets some
compensation.
Another man in the same town volunteers
and goes to France. He is wounded and
spends several months in the hospital. He
gets we'll and comes home Now, he sees
this other man who never went to France
drawing twenty-five dollars month, and he
feels that here is an injustice He himself
was wounded, he argues, and surely he is en-
titled to compensation if this other fellow
is.
"The more he thinks about his case, the
surer he is that the Government owes him
something. He does not reason that the cOun-
try can no more pay him monthly salary
than any other wounded man who has been
restored to health. In this frame of mind,
some men do not look favorably on offers
of work. They want Justice They simply
do not understand the situation
Seek Open Door to Treasury
$50 he sets out for Washington, generally
beating his way on the trains, and tramping,
and working here and there for meal. He
is convinced that once he tells his story to his
Congressman, that dignitary will say the
magic word and the doors of the Treasury
will be flung open for him
How to deal with these men-many of
them war herOes-has been. a problem for
Washington, and especially for the Costello
Post. This post of the American Legion is
composed of veterans employed in the munich
pal government offices of Washington. When
policemen began picking up jobless ex-sol-
diers on the streets, and bringing them to
the Municipal Building, members of the Co.'S
tello Post at work there hear about the cases,
and so the post hogan to help these men out.
Now, Commander Franklin sees them, liz
tens to their troubles, helps them out finan-
cially if necessary. He cannot find work for
them, for there are few unoccupied jobs in
Washington. But il a man arrives here
broke' and with any chance of a legitimate
claim on the Government which gas not been
settled the post puts him up in a dormitory
for the time being, and gives him meals, and
sometimes even dollar for cigarettes to keep
him cOntented. Then his case is brought to
the attention of the proper official and he
is sent off-settled-n as few days as posi-
BILE.
If obviously he has no claim-and Com.
Franklin is an experienced judge-he is as
sisted to leave the city at once, so that he can