The New York herald., 1922-02-02
BONUS PLAN DRAWS
FLOOD OF PROTESTS
FROM ALL SECTIONS
EX-Service Men Call 1t In
defensible and a Peril
to Business.
WANT JOBS, NOT CHARITY
Trade Bodies Urge Movement
Be Stopped; Disabled Veterans
Cheer Work of Bureau.
Special Dispoteh to THE Nrw YonK HERALD.

Washington. u. C.. Feb. 1.
Protests against a bonus for SOL
diers, based largely upon the convic-
ton that to raise the gigantic fund
needed. regardless of what means is
adopted, will paralyze trade for years
to come, continue to pour in upon
members of Congress from CONNER
cial and trade organizations.
Many ex-service men also have
Joined the opposition to the bonus and
are expressing their views in letters to
Senators and Representatives. One ex-
service man says bonus legislation is
"indefensible, and the demand for it
from former soldiers is largely ex-
aggerated by a few who are playing
upon public sympathy for their per-
sonal advantage and emolument."
Indorsed by Others.
The viewpoint of many ex-service
men is expressed in a striking letter re-
ceived by Senators Wadsworth and
Calder Of New York, Senator Borah
tIdaho) McCumber IN. D. and
France (Md.J. 1t. is from Fltzharding
Berkeley, former lieutenant in the
United states army OF 397 West
Twelfth street. New York, who saw SER
vice in the world war.
His letter follows
= y take the liberty of submitting for
your information and possible guidance
conclusions reached with spontaneous
unanimity by group of perhaps ten or
a dozen of ex-service men recently At
social gathering among whom The ques-
tion of bonus was raised.
"We concluded that the bonus is OBJ
jectionable and highly unacceptable to
the rank and file of ex-service men who
have studied 1t in its various aspects
because:
I. 1t IS gratuity.
.. 1t offers no solution TO the
present deplorable condition OF un-
employment now prevalent among
the returned soldiers and sailors.
3. BY the addition to the public
debt, II renders more stringent than
ever the deplorable industrial condi-
tion that is making il so very diff
cult for the ex-service men to gain
steady employment and genuine re-
habllitation.
4. The sales tax method. by which
it seems likely that the bonus funds
will be raised, is calculated to act as
an intolerable burden upon the al
ready much harassed buying public.
and to bring into disrepute the ex-
service men as beneficiaries of
taxation method long since anathema
among all classes. particularly the
middle class and the poor, even down
to the small purchaser OF the ice
cream cone. Do not stigmatize us in
the mind of these.
s. In a months time this three
billion dollars given to the soldiers
will have followed in the wake of all
previous war appropriations. and our
profiteering tradesman. still with us,
will take stock OF an dvordupois per-
cep.ibly enriched and grid his loins
for the piece dc resistance he loves
best and knows so well how TO use
the sales tax. The ex-service men
will then be exactly where they are
now and the stone wall of employ
ment more unyieldirg than ever.
G. Whatever method of raising
this bonus funG iT adopted Il will
react upon the men to whom II is
given. especially ~ the sales tax
method is used. but in any case in
evitably. In the course OF six months
this reaction will be in full swing
and they will be the first to feel its
brunt.
z. 1t restores to activity and n
position Of undeserved prestige, an
institution that is doing more to mis-
represent and cast odum upon the
e.-service men that all other factors
combined, which In serving the self
isli purposes OF few men who would
play upon public sympathy for their
own personal advantages and emolu-
inent. which was on It's last legs,
and which without success in the
bonus issue could not have lasted an
other year. | refer specifically to the
American Legion.