New Britain herald., 1922-10-24
LEGALlZEBEER TOPROKZDE,
 BONUS INCOME -SPEZLACY

ing patriotism further depicting an almost empty treasury or increasing present high taxes
 Mir. Spellacys plan would lower present taxes. he predicts. It is to legalize the manufacture and sale of beer with sufficiently high tax to pay the soldiers and also to reduce some of the present taxes, He says the United States owes a moral obi- gation to. the soldiers just as much as to contractors whose claims were settled upon moral basis. Claiming the legality of beer under the 18th amendment he declares a beer tax would easily produce revenue to pay the obligations to soldiers and re- plenish the national treasury which is facing deficit of one-half billion dollars
 Answers to Vets.
 Mir. Spellacys letter. in full, is as follows;
 National -Servicemen's Political
 Organization,
 Waterbury, Connecticut.
 Gentlemen:
 am in receipt of your telegram in which you ask my position Ire garding bonus bill and other soldier legislation" The other soldier legis- lation you refer to I assume is hos pitalization work and vocational train ing. w
 l have heard the criticism that the United States has signally failed in
 
 has been made football of politics: that it has not been efficiently done; that t man selected as it's head was choserfsbecause he was a personal friend of the president and not be- cause of his fitness for the office. l have never heard any person express any opposition to the expenditure of money needed to carry on effectively both the hospitalization and vocation al work. l. am, of course, in full sympathy with the purposes of the United States in this respect, and, when elected to the senate, will con- tinue to be interested, and it will be my earnest endeavor to see that this work is efficiently conducted, l shall vote for whatever appropriations are needed to care for the sick and wounded and properly train those in capacitated for ordinary pursuits, by reason of the service they rendered their country, so they may become producing members of society.
 Would Have Voted Against
 AS to your question regarding the bonus bill" there is a wide difference of opinion. At the very outset l de- sire to be frank with you and to state that, if had been in the senate when the recent bonus bill was before con- gress l would have voted against that measure. would have done so, not because of any lack of sympathy in the cause attempted to be rem edied by the bill, but for the reason that know you would not have your representative in the senate any less courageous than you were when you were in the service of your country; would have considered it coward ly thing to have handed to the men who defended the United States the shadow only instead of the substance. The bill that was passed, and vetoed by the president, provided no appro- priation to carry it into effect nor did the congress- which passed it, provide for raising revenue to meet the expenditures created by the bill. This, in the event of the enactment of the law. would have left to some future congress the burden of pro- yiding the necessary revenue. As you know. congress has not the power to hind it's successors and a future con- sress might or might not vote an appropriation or provide means for obtaining the revenue necessary to carry the bill into effect A promissory note, without any real or expected assets to discharge the obligation, is of little value To my mind the present congress was actuated by what is known as polit- ical expediency--they really sought the votes Q6r ex-soldiers but did not want to ,oHend others who would be obliged to pay increased taxes to carry out the provision. of the bill | do not believe in political eXpedi- ency as guiding motive of conduct |
 Arguments Against Bonus.
 have heard two major objections to the passage of bonus bill, or what I am more pleased to call it. | an adjusted compensation bill. These are, first, the fact that patriotism | should not be commercialiZed; and | second that the treasury of the United States is today, according 10 President Harding, facing a deficit of over one half billion dollars and, next year. will face Il much larger deficit | and consequently, that the United States is not in any position to as sume new obligations. will fdfscuss these questions in order,
 When the soldiers, sailors and | marines were mustered out of the service they were each given dis