Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1922-02-21
AGAiN-THE BONUS.

A WIuety quoted SQlLOfldl from the
New IorA IIerald OF recent uaIe On
me bonus ls prlnLeo III part as sum-
ming up III a strlklngiy clear and
convincing fashion the arguments
Mnlch are beng honestly made
throughout the nauon against the
cash bonus 10 soldiers.
Congress Is bent on a nve billion
dollar bonus distribution to ex-sold-
Iers. The Government mas no money
with winch to pay the bonus.
AND yet, III TINS SITUATION, taxed
wel-mgh TO The breaking point, as
you are, with war aeDt Oh twenty
three billions OF dollars. Congress
now proposes TO ado nve blllon OIL
dollars more to this DEBT on which
interest must be paid.
~ our Government Is already
spending four hundred millions OF
dollars year IN caring Tor the re-
habilitatlng wounded and disabled
soldiers. Your Government Is al
ready paying out one billion dollars
a year interest on war debts. Alto
geCher it is costing you at the pres
ent time to run your Government
four billions of dollars a year-four
thousand millloons of dollars. This
ali comes out OF you in taxes either
direct or indirect. The only way
the Government can get money is
by chiseling II out OF you.
''The duty on imported goods is
added to the selling price of the
goods you buy and so becomes tax
TIT fcx
on you. The fact is that there is no
other source from which your Gov
eminent gets any money of any con-
sequence, except from you. 1t can
not burglariZe it out of oher coun-
tries. No more can it burglarize ii
out of the planet Mars or lure it
from the skies.
THE money you get comes from
the fields, the forest, the mines and
from your toll, and you give up to
your Government some part of every
dollar you get in order that you may
have Government to handle your
interest.
But checking out your money fol
something that should have none OF
your money; checking out your mon
ey for personal political advantage
checking out your money with eyes
fixed on the ballot box, writes q
Congress down as unfit for it's job
at is the ballot box that is goad.
ing Congress on to pass the bonus
bill. Congress knows that in the
large majority you have no patience
with any measure committing the
Government to further war obliga
tions. But, in spite of this fact, the
leaders in Congress have set theil
jaws to the ask of tanning through
the bonus bill, and in spite, too, OF
the further fact there is not a cent
of money in the strong box of the
Government with which to meet it.
when vote hunting in Congress
takes on the desperate phase, wher
vote hunting in Congress supersedes
intelligence, faithful service, and
patriotic craftsmanship, it is high
time for America to recognize the
forces that are shaping for new anC
honest issues between political orga
niZations.
The soldier bonus, as bid fol-
votes in the coming election, is the
AIOSt ldSIdHI anu Tie nOSG WIChtO
assault on your pocketbook ever yet
made in Congress.
''Do you know what this bonus
committee would let you in for!
Let use see: 1t took the Govern.
ment, roughly, half a century to pay
its Civil War debt of two billion six
hundred millions of dollars. We
have now war debt of twenty three
billions of dollars. Add this soldier
bonus commitment to the present
debt and ask yourself when the Gov.
ernment will get the last cent paid
If it takes one hundred years to
clean the slate, and it might take
even longer, this soldier bonus alone
treated as part of the whole, would
amount, roughly, principal and in
terest, to twenty billions of dollars.
This, Mr.. Citizen, is some prob
lem. If you can't beat the bonus in
Congress, you can beat the Congress
at the polls that jams it through.
This is your remedy"