Pueblo chieftain., 1922-01-29

addition raise another billion dollars
to meet the bonus, the interest rates
will go~up. Not only will the interest
rate on the billion involved In the
bonus be high but 1t will also be high
on tho other six and a. half billions.
Whatever rate is fixed will extend
over many years as result of this, 1t
has been said that to pay the bonus
now would amount to paying 1t twice
once in the shape of the present cash
payment and once in the shape of the
Unnecessarily added interest burden.
To put In another way, the govern
ment could better afford to pay the
soldiers two billion dollars three years
from now than one billion dollars now.
Tho best Informed persons tell me
that tho project OF paying the bonus
out OF receipts from our European
debtors Is sheer nonsense. There is
not the faintcst prospect OF getting any
cash payment that amounts to any
thing out OF these European countries
In tho near future. In the operation of
rofunding these European debts. we
shall bc able to got a different and
better form pf security. and otherwise
manage things to our advantage, but
II" we'll informed person believes We
viii get any measurable amount OF i'm
medidto cash.
Anyhow This whole suggestion |. n
more bookkeeping operation. Any
money We get from Europe viii go into
tho treasury and viii be available to
meet the ordinary treasury obligations.
To Rttcmp. to earmark It for the sol
dlors huuuT Is camouflagc. 1T is merely
tho yort OF device that worried poll
ticiaus use to make things seem what
they arc not.
President Harding docs not share
this dispNgltiou to cnfnouflagc. on the
10. 4
II. and to insist firmly that whatever
bonus lin Is passed shall bc In good
faith with tho soldiers and shall carry
~ "A rart OF the hill some definite
means OF raising the money. There
isn't any means OF raising the money.
except by new and additional forms
OF IA Sation.
TIL, bin will undoubtedly go thru
som" how or other. Secretary Mellon.
opposition viii not defeat IL. when the
same bonus bill was pending last July
Nr. Mellon wrote letter similar to
tho present one, but that did not head
T. Off. Thereafter the Republican
lenders in the senate appealed to Prcs!-
don't Harding, and he came personally
to the senate and voiced his opposition.
That was tho only thing that Killed
tho bill last July. and the only thing
that could XIII It.
There viii bc some opposition 10 the
II II IL understood that Senator
Eurah opposes any cash payment 10
the soldiers AZ being degrading to
th"n. hut would favor aiding them to
acquire homes aud ftrms thru re-
claimed land. senator Nelson. who
was ciyil war soldier, flouts the re-
quests OF our present soldiers for
money. lic SAYS -hc civil war soldier
only got sll a month aud hsrdtack aud
bacon for food. iIo has made n pointed
nllu-ion to tic two million Of SOL
dfer- who never left tho country. but
liT~d In their barracks IN glorious
peace. surrounded with many of the
facilities OF a modern hotel" lilo fur
thor makes the point that tho govern
mcnt never gave amy pensions to civil
war soldiers. except to those who had
been disabled. until thirty years after
the civll war began.
The soldiers put their present claim
for several hundred dollarS each on tho
basis that the pay which they received
vhiio I'm tho army ought to he made
equal to the average paw which labor
In civil life received during tho war.
They say that sipcc those who wcro
left at home profitcd greatly hy war
conditions. the soldiers also ought to
profit. II is Tor this reason that tho
soldiers insist on calling tho bonu.
proposal by the tiiic OF the adjusted
compensation act" There is n consId-
cradle number of ,-oldicrs who oppose
tho whole theory OF = bonus on grounds
~ patriotism and individual sclf-rc-
sreCt. but these appear TO bc ncglihrc
compared to those who insist on their
risht To the bonus
Nevertheless. n is barely possible
that n We could have a frank state
ment OF conviction from those leaders
tho TN politics and ont. who deplorc the
bonus. and sincere debate ON il freed
from apprehcnsions about this years
elections when IT comes up in congress,
We might arrive ut different results.
Copyright 1872 by the New York
Evening Post. Incl