The Colorado statesman., 1922-06-03
BY EDWARD 3. CLARK


OH the .Jassuge OF bill Tor an addi-
tiOnal grand jury Tor the District OF Co.
lumDla, cases which mIve been pre-
pared against allegeG wartime proh-
teers will be taken up for indictment
and for the prosecution of the in
dicted.
For weeks charges were made free
ly that the Department of Justice was
Il luggard III its attempts to get at the
protiteers. The matter was taken up
in congress and direct charges against
the department were nude by some
Republican representatives, aud ut
course the Democrats have been max
ing cupituI out of the controversy.
a promise of prosecution and a
statement of what has been done were
made by the attorney general in let
ter to the President. The direct word
is that some of the big ones of eurth'
will be under the fire of the courts be
fore much time has elapsed.
The fate of the bill for bonus for
the former service men is perhaps In
some measure dependent upon what
happens 30 the proiiteers or 10 the men
alleged to be such. If there hnd
been no protiteering during the war
there probably would have been no
demand for bonus from veterans OF
the World war. The majority in the
senate 'Oday is trying to figure out
some means of providing what is
equivalent to cash bonus and doing
ii in such a way that it will receive
the Presidential sanction. If develop
ments prove that men IA business lite
most active in opposition 10 the bonus
rrohted largely at the expense of the
government during the war, it seems
likely that opposition to the cash pay
ments to the veterans will melt away
like IL SHOW on southern slope under
II spring sun.
No Politics in the Bonus.
OF course the fact that some men
prutiteered during the war, did their
government OUT of money and en-
riched themselves ut the expense of
the taxpayers does not in itself form
an excuse for the calling upon the tax
payers to pay more money, but IL sup
plies the human reason for the de
mand of the eX-service men that they
get bonus, and it also supplies rea-
son why the men asking for the bonus
get considerable sympathy from the
people for their demand.
Members OF the lower house who
voted in favor of the bonus have told
your correspondent that they do not
believe that a vote for or against the
bonus will have any political effect
one way or the other. These members
said they thought men who voted
against the measure will get as much
voting benefit at the polls from their
action us would come to men who
voted for the measure.
One of these representatives has
told me that he was moved to vote
for the bonus by the comparatively re-
cent action of certain great business
organizations of the country which
came out in bitter opposition to the
payment of anything to the former
service men.
This man said that study of the
personnel of the business organiza-
tions showed him that large number
of the memberships are held by men
who reaped financial harvests from
the war, although he would not say
whether or not he thought all these
men actually were intentional protl-
teers. The representative added that
opposition to the payment of compara-
lively small sums of money to the
men who served did not come with
good grace from men who did not
serve and who made large sums of
money as result of their business
activities during the war.
Many Charges by Both Parties.
The proiiteering charges have been
provocative of all kinds of charges
against individuals and corporations In
private life and against officials of gov
ernment. Democrats and some Repub-
licans with them have charged that the
present administration has endeavored
through its Department of Justice to
cover up some of the protiteering
Many Republicans have declared, or
the contrary. that the Department OF
Justice has been at work unearthing the
facts in the various cases, and that
when they are disclosed to the public
view 1t will be found that officials of
the previous administration winked at
profiteering operations.
That there was protiteering during
the war is known to every American
Men who made fortunes out of the
government Nntracts spent their ac.
ouired riches in glaring living in New
York city. and, in winter at Florida
resorts and elsewhere. They Haunted
their wealth. 1t is said that many
of them since have gone broke, not
being able to stand the prosperity
which suddenly came to them.
Bureau Transfer Controversy.
1t is intended to transfer some
certain bureaus of government from
departments in which they have oper-
oted for years to other departments