Arizona republican., 1921-08-21

un the article below, Senator Nc Cumber, the chief advocate of. the Adjusted Compensation Bill, ex- plains reason for its recommitta1. which if made clear before would have forestalled much of the criti- cism which has been leveled against the president and the senate. It is made clear that no time will be lost by the recommitment of the bill. That was also stated in a recent let ter by Senator Cameron to a mem Der of the local Worlds Wars Vet erans Post.)
 (By Porter J. Mccumber in American
 Legion Weekly)
 Adjusted compensation for vet erans of the World War has ceased to be questioned as matter of right and justice and now stands chal- lenged as to dollars and expediency. The key to the door of restitution and relief for the nations financially dis abled ex-service men is now not so much a pair of scales as it is a dollar mark.
 As patiently and as painstakingly as friends of the Adjusted Compen- sation Bill have labored to convince congress and the country that the principle involved was just and right
 
 energies to proving that the practical details of the bill are sound, bene- ficial and financially possible. Hav- ing established the obligation, they must show that it is an obligation the country can afford to meet. and to meet with reasonable promptneSs.
 The senate recently by a vote Of AT to 29, and at the urgent behest of the president and the secretary of the treasury. recommitted the ad- justed compensation bill to the sem ate committee on finance. The presi- dent asked the senate to defer action on the bill until the tariff bill should become a law, the tax laws be re- vised and the foreign indebtedness to the United States be refunded. He laid greater stress on the refunding of the foreign indebtedness that the interest thereon might cover the an nual expense or the compensation law. Hold off a little while." was the substance of the presidents re- quest to the senate. We bow to the judgment of the president and the secretary of the treasury" was the senate's reply.
 I announced at the time that was not convinced that any such grave and serious financial consequences would follow the immediate enact- ment of the bill as had been pictured by the secretary of the treasury and that I could not vote for the recom- mitment of the bill. Immediately after the vote took the floor and at tempted. not to defend the recom- mitment. but to explain what l be- lieved it to mean. At that juncture of affairs I said, "The reconmitment will. of course, delay the date on which the compensation bill would in all probability have become a law The recommitment, however, will not, in my opinion, postpone the time at which the legislation proposed will become effective. Under the terms of the bill, the cash payment and the insurance plans are to come into eff feet as of July 1, 1922. Long before that date the bill, in it's present or amended form, will be placed upon the statute books of the country
 So much for this bit of ancient his- tory. water over the dam which turns no wheels. Our faces on this ad- justed compensation matter are set to the future, not to the past. We must address ourselves to the math- ematics of the situation. What will the Adjusted Compensation Bill cost and can the country afford to pay it?
 There has been much loose talk about the billions of dollars" the measure will cost and the "stagger- ing burden of taxation 1t will i'm pose, but little scientific discussion of the actual expenditures involved under the probable conditions, nor oi the way those expenditures are spread over a long period of time noi of the several different manners 1T which they may be met without any additional burden of taxes.
 The most that adjusted compensa- tion could cost the country if every veteran entitled should take the in surance plan and have no borrow ings against it for twenty years is $5,273. .0Oo ,000; the least that it couid cost if every veteran entitled should demand cash is s1,560, ,000, ,000. The senate committee on finance, after the most careful and detailed study reported that, under what would bt the real operation of the measure. the total cost might be set at $4.3S6,- 000,000. The secretary of the treas ury himself gives only S3,330, 900 ,00t as the probable cost of the bill. thu difference between these estimate!