The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1921-11-11
ADJUSTED COMPENSATION BILL
NOT A CASH BONUS MEASURE
Full Text Of the Bill Passed by the Houss OF Representatives
Chairman Of National Legislative Committee Textiles.

aQJ uSCIneHI VI CoIHpcHodtioii-el
payments-the payment of that
/ debt be sent into as productive
| channels as possible, and that is
why, when this problem first came
up to the Legion men-I hope we
give you the suggestion that we
are patriotic-before the national
soldier beneficial legislation COM
mittee of the Legion, we tried to
sweeten up what we call the PRO
ductive features" of our proposed
bill; that is, if a man took it in
cash he would get an adjustment
of compensation of so much-$1
or $1.25 a day. If, however, the
soldier took it to build himself a
home, we sweetened it up; we
made it $3.50 in the original sug-
gestion to the Ways and Means
Committee in our original bill;
that was changed to- 40 per cent
more than the basic pay.
''Those. features had their origin,
as say, in an attempt on the
part of The American Legion to
direct as much as the adjustment
of compensation into productive
channels as is possible.
"The idea of settling soldiers
ON the land, of course, is an old
idea. Young men who have been
temporarily detached in one way
or another from social or business
relations are fertile soil out of
which to get men on the western
lands. This is one fact of the
thing, but that is not the only
fact.
"There is also the home aid,
getting home builders. If man
can get $700 or $500 as adjust
ment of his compensation as a
boost to buying home, he be-
comes a better American citizen,
and it is to the Nations ad :.
vantage to try to get these men
to become home owners and home
builders.
"And there is the vocational
feature.
'The attempt was made by hav-
ing these four or five options to
meet the needs of all parts of the
country. We were proposing a
national law. Therefore, we were
trying to think up an optional plan
which would meet the needs of the
various parts of the country We
were proposing a national law
'The West for example. In
Californ,a The American Legion
has actually opposed a state bonus
bill, which was a mere cash outlay,
with no productive features to it.,
in order to get the national adjust
ed compensation bill passed, be-
cause the national bill had in it
these land-settlement features. /
do f,,Ir hn II su
ticularly interested in the exact
feature takes. they want some
thing which will encourage the
soldiers, and Z which will give op-
portunities to. the soldiers to get
upon the land and become farmers,
tillers of the soil, and to permit
them to get their adjustment of
compensation in that shape. The
particular form used is, of course,
for the Congress of the limited
States to determine, but. that is
their objective.
THAT ( is the explanation of the
four of five optional plans
"The fifth plan, you know, was
added by the Ways and Means
Committee Of the House. 1t con-
tains that insurance feature, which,
as Senator McClnber has said, is
so attractive that there is very
little doubt that it will probably be
the most popular of the options.
! AS to the calculations of what
the bill is going to cost the Nation
and how many will elect this and
that option, gentlemen, it is i'm
possible to give positive figures
upon that. AS Mr.. Taylor said, at
the beginning and by reason of the
opposition which bill of this kind
naturally excites, the only thing
that was talked about was cash.
The average well-informed citizen
that you spoke to did not know
there was anything else to this bill
than cash, and, of course, when a
soldier was talked to he said, OF
course, / want cash. He did not
know the advantages of the other
plans. They are not known now.
The public is lamentably misin-
formed as to this bill. You have
to justify it as you walk upon the
street. What do you think of the
bonus? Are you for handing out
something's? etc. It , is the same
with all the other features of the
bill-the advantages of the bill to
the Nation are not known at all.
II do not like to call it the
capitalist press'-you know what
mean-the press that feels the
necessity of holding back little
bit in that direction, plays up only
that feature. Probably we are
young in propaganda work, young
in getting our views before the
public. So that those features of
the bill which we think would make
it far more acceptable to the gen.
eral public have not been played
up in the way they should have
been played up"