Evening journal., 1922-05-03
BONUS FRIENDS
TEST HARDING
Continues From First PAGE. !

] fiance of the wishes of the President
and Secretary Mellon.
The fact is, the latest venthole of
the bonus raiders has ben modelled
on the lines of the House measure.
II will. If anything, commit the gov
/ ernment to the perpetuation of the
bonus raid for the next forty-three
years, instead OF twenty. as proposed
in the House bill
BY continuing amendments the
government could be made to pro-
vide billions OF dollars beyond the
estimates of the finance experts un-
til the total might approximate
three or four times the 5000, ,0OO,-
600 which every system of computa-
ton indicates would be required.
To make 1t ''as attractive as pos
sible" the bill that the finance Re-
publicans will take to the White
House will call for very little
money at the start" But in the end
the total presented by sponsors of
the measure will be s3,s45. 100000
by 1865. Administration, interest
and carrying charges will, 1t is esti-
mated by impartial experts, swing
It up to the same old total of s5,-
OO0, 900, 900.
The attractive features" which
Mr.. McCumber and his associates
will point out to the President are
many and varied. One is that the
Government would have to provide
only S77,000.000 the first. year, s92,-
600 900 the second year. SIS ,000,000
the third and S370OOO,OOO the
fourth. After that period the esti-
mates on an annual basis run from
500, 100000 to S15O,0O0.O00.
These figures were furnished by |
Actuary Mccoy of the Treasury De-
partment, to whom Mr.. McCumber |
submitted an outline of the plan
which is being followed in the con-
struction of his bill Mr.. Mccoy es-
timated that the McCumber plan
would cost the Government S1,136,-
600, 900 by 1943 and sS,s45, 100000
by 1865.
The scheme OF extending the life
of the certificates from 1913 as pro-
vided in the House measure, to 1865,
was prompted by the belief that by
spreading out the payments" the
objections raised by the
executive branch OF the Government
would be met.
The year 1865 was agreed upon
as the date of maturity because Mr..
and his bonus allies are
confident that most service men Will
delay making application for bene-
fits and thereby reduce to a mini
mum the Immediate demands on the
Treasury during the Harding Ad-
The provision in the House bill
making the proposed certificates
negotiable in banks for so per cent.
NJ their face value for the first three
wears is continued. The American !
Legion fatty refused to agree TO the
Finance Committee proposal TO limit
the borrowing value at banks to 70
per cent.
As the bonus bill admittedly is
constructed to satisfy the Ameri-
,an Legion and other bonus claim
ants there was nothing for tho
committee to do but sanction the :
maximum figure. At the end OF
hree years, of course, the Treasury
will be required to take over the
certificates from banks that elect
n "freeze" their resources with
,ch obligations and to increase the J.
borrowing value of the bonus paper
O so per cent. of the total.
Where the government is going
o raise the money to take up the
certificates is another matter. The
iii now being prepared does not
,ropose any method for raising
evenue. and in that respect comes
lnder the ban of repeated Presiden-
lal objections. Still Mr.. McCumber
md his associates expressed conf 9
Ience that this really was a small !
natter and would be overlooked by
he President. =
The land settlement scheme which
ras designed to improve swamp ana
aste territory IN many Western and
States at the expense
Z the Federal government has been
ropped out of the new McCumber
ill But the home and farm aid p
Ian OF the House has been retained. ,
In moving to the preparation OF e
he new bill the Finance Committee u
decided 20 place no N
me limit upon applications for the Z
onus certificates. Under the new 4
Ian veteran can make application F
or bonus benefits until 1947, or A
twenty-five years after the date OF P
ne passage OF the bill-if It should n
e put through this year.
Mr.. McCumber and his associates
ecided to drop Senator Smoot's al
,rnative proposal for paid up in rs
france. The Utah Senator said to- II
ght he would offer It for an amend ST
Ient to the McCumber bill when It b-
presented TO the Senate. II
Consequently, the bonus Senators M
I'll stand or fall on the McCumber
easure. What they will do after
lie almost certain rejection of II by h,
lie President none OF the Senators y,
no are eager to corral the votes e,
hich the American Legion claims fr
control appears to know
The decision of the committee to =
struct Chairman McCumber to go /
read with the preparation OF bill
.rrying out his plan was reached
meeting OF the Republican
embers OF the Finance Committee,
hich was attended by the chair
an, Senators Watson, Curtis. CAL
r. Sutherland, Lo Toilette and
moot. Senators Dillingham;. Nc
AN and Frelinghuysen were not
esent.
Discussion Of the new bonus prof.
t was purely informal and there
Is no record vote. Senators Calder
d Smoot are understood to have