The Washington herald., 1922-04-21

in the present case. These propa-
gandists also have been asserting
that Washington was granted
bonus" Have these attempted VII
lifiers of the name of the immortal
Washington taken the trouble 10
look up the records? Was Wash
ington paid a salary as commander
in-chief OF the continental army,
and if So what was the amount?
What was the value Of continental
paper money between, 1888 and
1872? Granting that Washington
did receive grants of land from the
Congress as we'll as several States,
is it not a fact that these same
grants were devised intact for the
benefit of schools, colleges, etc,
without any benefit whatever hav-
ing accrued to himself? As to the
Spanish American war, / believe
one months pay, s13 plus 20 per
cent, or $3.50. was the enlisted
mans share, and no cents per mile
transportation allowance from
place of discharge to home was al
! lowed as in the present war. And
| ii is remarkable how many ''veter--
ans" of the late war. especially Che
training camp variety, found that
their home" was hundreds of miles
distant from place of discharge or
enlistment.
In line with the attempted dis
paragement of Washington, are the
remarks in a news item in The
Herald of March 9. under a Chicago
dateline headed: NO extra taxes
needed for the bonus" in which a
statement is attributed to 4. Piatt
&
tary of the Treasury to the effect
that more than $2,OOO,O0O.OO was
| paid to contractors and others un-
! der the Dent act without resorting
to any additional or special taxa
tion and that no prejudice against
these claimants was caused by such
action"
Either Mr. Andrews was misquot-
ed or it was the deliberate intent of
the article to misrepresent the facts
| islation for adjusted compensa-
| ton" The so-called Dent act was
neither an appropriation act nor an
act authorizing the expenditure of
money. Not 1 cent was spent under
| the authority of that act that had
not been previously provided for in
the regular appropriation bills
| passed by Congress for the contin-
| uation of the war. The Dent act
was remedial legislation. enacted
for, the purpose of legalizing COM
| mitments by responsible officers Of
the military service which had not
been reduced TO the formal written
contracts required by ordinary gov
ernment procedure at the time of
the signing of the armistice and
general suspension of war activities
and in the absence of such formal
contracts, no payment could be
made for any supplies or materia,
delivered. AS an illustration, know
personally of a firm that practically
remodeled it's entire plant in order
to manufacture a necessary war
| product. using their own funds for
the purpose and borrowing from
banks to the extent of s150,OOO to
pay for the required machinery,
wages of employees. etc. At the time
of signing the armistice the plant
had not been entirely completed
and therefore not accepted by the
government. No formal contract
| had been executed due to the rush
| of war work and as d consequence
this firm faced bankruptcy, having
used all it's own funds and in addi-
tion borrowed capitaNwith no pros
pect of securing payment at an ear
ly date. and the plant as remodeled
entirely useless for its ordinary
business. 1t was to remedy condi-
| tions such as this and thousands of
others of like nature that Con-
gress enacted legislation authoriz-
ing payment of such accounts for
the actual amount found due by a
responsible board. regardless of the
| fact that no formal contract existed.
Had the war continued, not only
the amount paid under the Dent
act. but billions of dollars in addi-
| tion. would have been paid by the
government as a result OF these or
ders. which in the ordinary course
of business would have been COW
cred by contracts.
A. T. sHELLENBERGER.