Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1922-02-17
THE SOLDIERS BONUS.

Editor Every Evening Various
editors. politicians and propa gandists
are seeking TO befog the issue raised
by the five-fold plan of adjusted COM
pensation by charging that the ex-
service man. is "capitalizing his
patriotism" selling his vote for 1925,
and similar misleading statements
For tho information Of the open
minded reader I would state that the
only purpose OF this bill ia an attempted
readjustment OF the wages paid the
Stacker" and the soldier during the
late World War. We did not, like
some civilians, refuse to work unless
we were paid for overtime. We did
not ask what the rate of pay was be-
fore enlisting or accepting service
under the draft law. 1t was only after
We had returned 10 SEQ our fellow-men
lounging In tho lap Of luxury that we
appreciated the neceasty for some
economic adjustment.
! Briefly, the five methods OF payment
provided for by the bill, now pending
In Congress are:
/ u-Every man below the rank of
I captain will be entitled TO cash sum
at the rate of 81 per day for home SER
vice and s1.25 per day for service over
seas. The maximum amount is 1925.
t2)-Insurance payable in twenty
years to an amount 40 per cent great
er than his cash payment
I 13-Vocational training at the ex-
pense of the government to an amount
equal to his cash compensation and
40 per cent additional.
(4)--Farm or home aid, by which
the men would receive 40 per cent
. more than the cash payment. TO be
!, applied on the purchase Of a farm or
home.
IL (5)-Special preferences for the ex-
service man in taking up public land
and on all government reclamation
/ projects.
/. Today the ex-service men of Del
: aware 10000 in pumber) and about
10000 more OF their relatives scan the
, pages of Delaware's dailies for some
word of encouragement. Does he find
: it? Not ia the editorial columns ane
: very, very few letters or excerpts from
other papers ever find their way
into pages of local papers.
T, OF course L am referring to the ma.
9 tion-wide controversy regarding the
adjusted compensation (bonus) bill
Why can't the papers print botp sides
Is the one side presented so weak tha
it will not withstand the literary bar.
rage?
For exam It is pointed out b,
/ one editor that hundreds of thous
ands of those who never went acros.
4 got something in their war trainin,
which they never could have obtain
cd. They got good education, physi
/ cal development and a broadenin,
Of their mental horizon" Do you be
l lieve it, buddies? How many of yo
came back with more education an
a broader mental horizon? How di
I you get IL? Shooting butts, on X. p
| guard detail. drilling or dog-robbing
| How many of you took a course
/ Astronomy or Deuteronomy while
| the armee?
II II is also pointed out by one Of on
| contemporaries that millions of psi
| Nsons in civil life made services /
H money and sacrifices in war wor
! fully as great as those who never e
i beyond the training camps.
III He tells you John Doughgob, tha
IL these welfare workers, dollar a yes
I men. coal administrators, shipyaT
| heroes and munition muckers, etc, etc
| served no less than We who wore III
/ olive drab.
I'LL This wielder of the pen wishes yo
j TO believe that these men who enioye
| all the comforts of home and love
I ones served no less than you, NJ
/ Doughgob, who kissed your mother
| sweetheart goodbye in 1917 and-the
| drilled on sun-baked fields until II
/ end Of the period of emergency"
II The opponents of the adjusted con
II pensation bill tell YOU that these dra
/ ayoiders--I use the word advisedly-
| are equal i'm the sight OF Lincoln an
/ Washington 10 those others who did sc
III evade the responsibilities of an Amer
I can citizen.
HI In brief, a leading magazine sun
Hun the argument: Billions for d,
| tense, but not one cent for the me
] who fought and won the war viii
/ the stay -at-homes We're making the
! huge profits OF drawing their fat wax