Mohave County miner and our mineral wealth., 1922-03-03
The Bonus Question
By l.. F. Robinson.
One of the foremost bills before

One ot the foremost blllS before Congress at the present time is the No called Bonus Bill. It has provoked Ns much or more discussion than any bill in several years.
 What are the reasons that this bill has not been passed? That is a ques- tion that brings in several other Ques- tionS.
 One senator says that if you give the eX-service men the bonus it will do them no good; they will go on de- bauches or trips and in a short time they will have no bonus left, and they will be as bad or worse off than ever. They do not know how to handle money. And few short months ago these so called "spendthrifts" were called "the flower of our country. God help the country if this were SO, for these same "spendthrifts" are the men who will be running the country in a short time. They are even now being appointed to hold chairs in county, state and national offices.
 Another senator says that if the bonus bill goes thru the country will go bankrupt. Has the senator ever stopped to consider the fact that if the bonus bill was not possible, the coun- try would have been bankrupted long ago. Consider the facts, it is said that the war was sure to last through the year 1919 at least, and the war was costing the country at the rate of $25,000, ,000,OO0 year. But the boys stopped the war in November of 1918, or in terms of cash saved the country approximately $29,OOO,OOO,OOO for No- vember and December of 1918, and the whole of the year 1919. In other words they saved the country from bankruptcy.
 If you lose your purse with, say, $50 in it, a man finds it and returns it to you, would you consider it but fair if you gave him $10 reward for the return of it. The country was in the same fix, it lost it's purse with $29,000,000,O0O the boys who fought the war found it and returned it, shall they get the re- ward. Shall our country, the richest country in the world, do less than our allies have done by their eX-soldierS. They have given them from $200 to $500 in cash each. Canada has form ed farming districts and started sev- eral thousands of men on the road to independence. Are we to do less?
 Ex-service men as whole realize keenly the economic handicap they have as result of their services in the army and navy during the war. And a large number of them, much more than the public realizes, are in need of relief and encouragement.
 The ex-service men says, Eve have had promises, promises, nothing but promises. Nothing was to be too good for us when we got back. The Gov ernment dug up money for the rail roads and the shipping board, but it cannot dig up the money to redeem the promises they made us'.
 There is no doubt in my mind but what the five-fold adjusted compensa- tion act would be the best investment the Government could make. From my point of view and of the great ma jerity of ex-service men, the question at issue is, simply whether, now that the war is over, the country cares enough about us to give us this recognition of the fact that we have lost ground in life's struggle as re- suit of going to war.
 One noble minded man told me not so long ago that, "I commend the boys for the work they did in the war, but l consider that to pay able bodied men for the services and sacrifices to their country, would deprive them of the 'hero's halo'". Who can fill an empty stomach on "halo", can "halo" cover the body when you haven't the money to go with it.
 A good many of the men are not as well placed now as they were before. the war. Some temporary aid would go long way toward helping him to regain part of the lost ground, and certainly would be no affront to him, no more an exchange of money for honor, or cash for "halo". Have the states in the Union that have given the boys bonuses taken away the "halo"? Are they none the less heroes?
 The sale tax seems to be the one best bet for raising the cash for the bonus. do not know, I'll let the men in Congress find way to raise the money. It is up to them. But the five-fold adjusted compensation act is the ono and only plan that the Amer ican Legion and other ex-service men are backing up.
 In the states that have given bon uses, they have found it to be the bes. money that they could have invested. The men did not spend it foolishly, far from it. A banker is the best judge