Arizona republican., 1921-08-24
By Frederic J. Haskin

oy tfSoCtfS Ss tIaoHtu WASHINGTON, D. C., Aug. 2t- This city is being made a Mecca by an increasing 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 achieve ment in the war dropped into Wash ington from a distant city via an ex- ; press train. He felt that compensa- tion was due him because he had served throughout the war anS 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. sam0 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 con- dition is that Is to 25 ex-service men have been coming into Washington each day to see about compensation which they claim Is due them. Now that the Sweet bill is a law, arr rivals are increasing to about 30 a day, all hoping that the new law will
 
 favor them.
 Sooner or later these men are inter viewed by Commander w. F. Franklin of the Costello pfst of the American Legion. Costello post takes care of them and helps them to get their cases considered. Investigation will show that only 40 per cent of these men have any. legitimate grounds for asking compensation. The oth- CT 60 per cent are men who either misunderstood the government laws on compensation or as Commander Franklin puts it, have acquired a chronic dislike for work" and thinks the government owes thesH a living.
 ITO take a typical case" Com mander Franklin explained, "A man { was drafted and sent to a training camp He took the flu or pneumo- mia set in. He has never fully re- covered his health. So he is dis charged and gets some compensa- ton.
 Another man in the same town volunteers and goes to France. He is wounded and spends several months in the hospital. He gets well and comes home. Now. he sees this other man who never went to France drawing $25 . month sand he feels that here is an injustice. He himself was wounded. he argues. and surely he is entitled 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 nc reason that the country can no more pay him monthly salary than any other wounded man who has beer restored to health. In this frame oi mind. some men do not look fla vorably or offers of work. They wani justice They simply do not un- derstand the situation.
 Seek Open Door to Treasury "So he sets out for Washington generally beating his way on th' trains and tramping, and working here and there for a meal He 1! convinced that once he tells his stor, to his congressman that dignitar, will say the magic word and thu doors of the treasury will be fluni open to him"
 How to deal with these men many of them war heroes-has beer a problem for Washington. and espe cially for the Costello post. Thi post of the American Legion is com | posed of veterans employed in tn municipal government offices O | Washington. When policemen bega picking up iobless ex-soldiers on tn streets and bringing them to the mu inicipal building members of the Cos | tello post at work there heard abou the cases and so the post began t help these men out.
 | Now Commander Franklin see them, listens to their troubles. heln them out financially if necessary. H cannot find work for them, for ther
 are few unoccupied jobs in Wash
 ington. But if a man arrives her
 ''broke'' and with any chance of
 legitimate claim on the governmer
 which has not been settled, the pos
 puts him up in a dormitory for tn
 time being and gives him meals an
 sometimes even a dollar for cigar
 cites to keep him contented. Then hi
 case is brought to the attention (
 the sproper official. and he is ser
 off - settled in as few days a
 possible.
 If obviously he has no claim-ar | Com. Franklin is an experience
 judge-he is assisted to leave u
 city at once, so that he can g
 home or find work for himself els
 where.
 Merely to take care of each ma
 some of whom stay only few hou
 in the city, costs the post s5. To raj
 a fund for this purpose a moviI
 picture show was given. and a we' l va cir Roth fnOet h