Vernon Parish Democrat., 1922-02-09
M 'CUMBER FAV0RS
SOLDIERS BONUS
BILL FOR SUCH COMPENSATION
IS ALMOST CERTAIN TO BE
PASSED IN SPRING.
CONGRESS CHANGES ITS MIND
Where the Money for the Payments
Is to Come From No One Can Say
Yet-Many Service Men Don't Ask
IL
Rx EDWARD 3. cLARK

Washington. - Senator McCumber,
the new chairman of the finance COM
mittee of the senate, is said to be in
favor of a soldiers bonus. A bonus
almost unquestionably will be passed
some time in the spring. Congress it.
self will be obliged by the very cir
cumstances in the case to provide the
means to pay the money.
Prior to the time that the late Sen
ator Penrose had recovered sufficient
ly from his earlier illness to attend
the sessions of the senate, Senator
McCumber acted as chairman of the
finance committee and 1t was he who
presided in the committee room at the
time that hearings were held on ad-
justed compensation for the veterans
of the great war. At that time the
senator perhaps was not particularly
keen for the bonus and other senators
were in a more advanced state of
opposition. Congress, however, finally
made up its mind that the cash bonus
must be provided, but the President
interposed a reluctant objection and
Uncle Sans cash register was not
called upon to ring.
Now things are different. There
was great activity on the part of the
former soldiers representatives here in
Washington. They proved, or main
tanned they proved, that the great
majority of American citizens were in
favor of the bonus, and so bonus it is
to be, although just where the money
to make the payments is to come from
not even Mr.. Mellon can suggest.
Congress must do the suggesting and
the providing, if 1t can provide.
Where to Get the Money!
1t has been said definitely that
bonus payments cannot be made to
depend upon the debt payments made
by foreign nations, for nobody knows
when these payments are to begin,
or when they can begin. Some other
means must be found. What are they
to be?
Some way will be found out of 1t,
of course, but whether it will be
satisfactory way or not from the view
point of the real financiers of the
land, it is Of course impossible to
say. The fact stands that the bonus
bill is to be passed, and the former
soldiers will get their checks. This
perhaps is all-sufficient unto the i'm
mediate occasion Of desire for the
money, but it is not sufficient unto
the necessity of the creation of a fund
from which the money may be drawn.
Former service men are split in
opinion on the wisdom, the justice
and the prOpriety of asking Uncle
Sam to pay the bonus. UnQuestiOn-
ably the majority of the men who
served think they deserve the money
and in a way unquestionably they do
deserve it, but the fact remains that
some men who fought do not think
and cannot be made to think that any
man should ask for a bonus in cash
because he was willing to serve In the
time of his lands need.
The argument which has been adj
vanced and which still is being ad-
vanced by the veterans who are pro-
pOnents of the bonus is one hard to
meet. Everybody knows what 1t is
and everybody admits that human ma
ture seemingly justifies the former sol
diers in asking that something be
done to "even up things" Hundreds
of thousands of Americans of fighting
age and of fighting physique drew
big pay in civil life while their broth
ers were drawing little pay in the
fighting life.
Favored by Unpreparedness Men.
There Is one rather curious thing to
be found in this whole bonus business.
Those members of congress who most
strongly were opposed to anything
like preparedness for war and who
were instrumental In preventing pre-
paredness, are now in considerable
numbers to be found among the most
earnest advocates of cash payments
to the men who served. This is, so
to speak, curious because it seems to
prove in a way that these men are
beginning to feel that they were re-
sponsible in part for the ills which
came to our soldier forces in the
camps in this country, and on the bat
tlefelds of Europe.
Unpreparedness cost the lives Of
thousands upon thousands of Ameri-
can soldiers, and of course multiplied
the names on the lists of the wound
ed. Military students and even lay
men know today that if we had been
even partially prepared for war that
1t was known must come, the casualty
lists would have been just about half
the length to which they were drawn
out by unpreparedness. So In this It
may be Is found one reason why some
congressman are anxious today to do
something for the service men, and es-
pecially for the wounded ones.
obliglng Is Right.
Gentleman Mike-Pardon me, sir,
a Ia.