Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-02-07
PRESIDENT BALKS
DODGE ON BONUS
Notifies Congress Bill Must Not
Be Passed Without Provid.
ing Means Of Payment
UP TO JOINT COMMITTEES
By a stdG Correspondent

/
Washington. Feb. President Hard. Z.
ing has brought to naught the reported
plan Of some members Of Congress to
ride two horses at once in the proposed
bonus legislation. in order to retain at
once the soldiers and the taxpayers
votes.
! The solution of the bonus dilemma
understood to have been contemplated
by certain Congressman was to pass the
bill without providing any means OF
payment. thus passing on to future
sessions the task Of apportioping the
burden which is sure to cause a storm
Of protest from business interests and
taxpayers in general.
The President. however. has grasped
the situation by the forclock and In a
conference with the majority members
of the House Ways and Means Com
mttce aud the Senate Finance. Com.
mlttec at the White House yesterday in.
was enacted should carry a revenue pro-
vision. He Joined in the agreement
that they should confer together on the
question Of how the revenue should
be raised. with the understanding that
when decision was reached it should
be submitted to the President with
view to his concurrence.
Listen to Veterans at Home
While the veterans organizations are
lobbying actively for the measure. and
have card .indexed and catalogued most
members of the House and Senate as
70 hnip of Of
lators today clearly showed that those
who are supporting the legislation on the
score Of political expediency are in
tluenced as much by the veterans in
their own districts as by any activities
here.
Before them is the spcctcr Of the sol.
dicr in politics. They recall the q.
A. r., look back at the record of Civil
War veterans elected to the House fol-
loving that struggle, view the success
sivc pension bills enacted by Congress
under pressure from the veterans, and
between fears and pcrsuasons conclude
that to vote against the Bonus Bill Is
to court political oblivion.
This is the attitude of many legis.
lators who by conviction. are against
any bonus legislation at This time, for
it is an open secret in Washington that
it is only the veterans vote that gives
the bonus any standing on Capitol Hill.
II is acknowledged in and out Of Con.
gress that il 1t were not for the implied
threat of political opposition to those
who vote against it. the Bonus Bill
would be overwhelmingly defeated.
Sound Public Sentiment
Between the taxpayer and the soldier
those not committed are in a quandary,
and those committed by previous votes
are ready to run with the prevailing
wind of public sentiment, If its direc.
tion can be ascertained.
The original plans was to commit the
Government to payment OF a bonus, yet
give the veterans nothing. Proponents
Of this proposal argue that such course
would enable members Of Congress run
ming for re election to use one argument
to voters opposed to the bonus, and
another to soldiers who demand it.
EVERYWHERE there was disposition to
dodge the issue raised by the success
siye statements of former Secretaries Of
the Treasury aud Secretary Mellon, op-
posing any bonus legislation as eco
nomicnlly unsound and blow at the
national treasury. Congress had re.
reatedly sought TO place the RESPONSE
bility for the bonus legislation on the
President, and the latter, while COM
mittcd to the ultimate payment of
adjusted compensation to war vet.
Grams. has as often refused to approve
any congressional program blindly.
Minority for Principle
A. matters stand, the situation on the
honus NAV be summarized rs follows: !:
4 relatively small minority in Con-
gross fnyors cash bonus in principle
as an enuitable adjustment of the Gov