Evening star., 1922-08-23
M'CUMBER OPENS
DEBATE IN SENATE
0NSOLD|ER BONUS
Plea for Adjustment of Vet
erans' Pay Made by
Finance Chairman.

Enactment of soldiers bonus legis-
lation at this session of Congress is
demanded by every precept of finan-
cial Justice and every principle of
political honor. Chairman McCumber
OF the finance committee declared
today in opening Senate debate on
the amended House bill, with its
bank loan certificate provision in lieu
OF the original proposal for a casn
bonus.
Asserting that the term bonus" was
a misnomer, Senator McCumber said
the purpose was to equalize in a
measure the pay of the men called
to the colors with that received by
those who stayed at home and profit
ed by what he characterized as
wild. drunken orgy of extrava-
gance" that accompanied the war.
The finance committee chairman
told the Senate the time had come
for Congress to show that it was not
attempting to play politics with the
in good faith" when it passed the
first bonus bill. just before the elec-
tion in 1920.
Recalls Campaign Pledge.
The President in his campaign of
1929 declared in favor Of some kind
Of soldiers compensation BILL" he
continued. Republicans. both in the
campaign and on the floor of the Sen
ate. have reiterated their determine
They were made in good faith. and
that good faith will be manifested by
the vote on this measure"
Referring to the position taken by
President Harding and Secretary Mel
lon last year, when the executive
asked the Senate to defer action on
the bonus because of the then 1inan-
cial condition of the Treasury. SEN
ator McCumber requested that they
now view the legislation in the light
of present-day conditions"
These changed conditions certainly
must appeal to the judgment for
revision of the views of year ago,
he said, adding that the government
could meet every dollar this bill VIII
call for without an additional tax
levy and without in the slightest de-
gree affecting the refunding of any
unpaid short-time obligations"
Senator McCumber argued that the
funds necessary for the financing of
the bonus legislation could be OBJ
tanned from the refunded foreign
debt, and that if the refundinG were
not completed when it became ef-
fective, the interest from the British
debt. which, he said. the British gov
ernment already had planned to pay.
would be sufficient.
In this Connection he declared that
to his mind there had been an un-
necessary delay in funding the
should be settlement with the
principal debtors, Great Britain.
France and Italy. by next January /.
AS to the cost of the legislation,
Mr.. McCumber estimated this at a
total of S45.O00,OO0, spread over
forty years. For the next CALENDER ssn
year he placed the cost at s17.44O.sSs.
Increased to $92.177.72s for 1924. and
decreased to s73.1OO.962 in 1925.
The cost would run into several
hundred million in 1926. when the vet
Grams could call on the government
for loans on the adjusted service GER
tificates. but the Speaker said that by
1880 the cost annually would drop to
$21,000.000, with only very few mil
lions thereafter. until 1943, when the
certificates would come due.
Explaining the provisions of the
bill as reported, he said the cash pro-
vision had been eliminated except in
the case of veterans entitled to $50 or
less, with the total of these payments
estimated at $16.O0O.0O0. to be paid
next year, and that in its place had
been substituted a certificate plan
with loan privileges. He estimated
that rs per cent of the veterans would
accept the certificate option.
The next plan. he went on, is the vo-
cational-training aid, under which the
government would advance the
amount due a soldier on the basis of
81 a day for domestic service and
$1,25 day for foreign service, to be
applied toward his vocational train
ing. The final option is the farm or
home aid, by which the sum due the
veteran would be advanced to him as
might be necessary to be applied to-
ward the purchase price of home or
a farm.
THE bill as reported is satisfactory
to the soldiers" continued Mr.. Nc
Cumher. "It ought not to be materially
changed
Twenty millions given in charity
TO Russia, s25,000.000 to salve Co
lombian sentiment, $20,000,000 for
ship subsidy and not ripple Of COM
ment! We talk of $125.0oo.oO0 for
good roads, of two or three hundred
millions to assist railroads, all in
a single year; as if they amounted to
nothing. Why on earth. then. should
we approach this soldiers compensa-
tion bill as though it were an OBJ
legation requiring a special tax levy ),
or as one endangering the refunding
~ ehnrt time obligations?",