New-York tribune., 1922-02-16
Strong Pressure Exertcd
Against Presidents Re.
ported Views; Executive
to Consult Aids To-day
Posiponement Now
Held a Possibility
Ex-Ser>icc Men Demand
Specialization; Treasury
Against New Certificates

WASHINGTON, Feb. b Or
ponents Of a sales tax, both in Con
gress and throughout the COUNT
to-day brought the full force Of thci.
influence to bear in an effort to alter
President lIarding's view. az
nounced Yesterday, that if Congress
IS determined to pass the bonus bi.,
the money to pay the ex-service men
should be raised through such tax.
II was generally felt that the Presi
dent had recognized the pressure
which was being exerted against tils
plan he suggested, and this was be
lleved to have been the determinil.-
element in his decision to postpone
his message 10 Congress OIL ~
subject.
AT the Capitol it was believed thai
the message. which was expected to-
day, would be sent tomorrow. A.
the White House it was said the
message had been delayed because
the President wished to go carefully
INTO every phase of the question ans
receive counsel Of his advisers before
suggesting a means Of raisine. the
bonus money.
'loakroom discussion was removed
IN increased volume in both the sonat.
and House when il was learned tina.
the President had delayed his state.
mcnt- The two snb-ccics,sttres of .he
House Ways and Mcans a7laittcc AID
the Senate Finance Committee had onl--
the most informal sort Of meeting.
with DO results. There was some tall
Of reducing the maximum amount c.
the proposed cash bonus payment f.
effect q reduction in the total required
This led to suggestion that the cas-
feature of the bonus bill be entirely
eliminated. The discussion then brough.
the committee TO the conclusion tha.
such course would amount to drop
ping the entire bonus program
Bins Fate With Harding
The Senate talk. generally speaking.
followed about the same lines The
predominating feeling in both houses
seemed to be that should the President
not indicate his approval, at least, Of 4
sales tax as the means of providing the
necessary funds. then the whole cues
tion must be postponed for the present
"Ihe whole thing. as | see it now.
SAID one member of the Ways and
Means Committee. sis a matter simpl,
Of no sales tax. no bonus. Every Other
possible means apparently has bcen
eliminated. I believe. however. that tho
President VIII favor the sales tax. and
if he does there will not be more thsn
lOU votes against it,.
1t was reported in the Senate thai
Senator Watson, Of Indiana. had beea
in communication with the President
to-day in an effort to dissuade HIN
from recommending the sales tax. The
Senator denied visiting the President.
but he indicated that he regards mod
flied sales tax recommendation from
the White House as probable Incident
ally, the White House mail delivery
this morning brought full truckload
of letters, mostly from former service
men, demanding that the Prcsidont
push the bonus legislation through
speedily.
Treasury Notes 1mpracticabls
Representative Nicholas Longworth,
of Ohio, one of the Ways and Means
conference subcommittee. got in touch
with the Treasury Department to-day
on the possibility Of financing the
bonus through new issue of Treasury
certificates of Indebtedness He was
told that the scheme is entirely i'm
practicable, that the second Liberty
Loan act limited the volume of certiti-
Gates and that the limit had been
reached. Mr.. Longworth. with all til.
other committee members, is casting
scheme IN the hope Of being able to
provide where the money shall come
from.
TO report out bonus bill without
stipulsting the source of revenue would
be nothing short Of political cowardice,'
said Mr.. Longworth to-day
House leaders put in much time cor
sidering whether the sales tax plan
could win the necessary votes. Their
conclusion was about unanimous that
as a means OF raising the bonus money
such bill would pass the lower body
without the slightest difficulty. Re
sponsiblc Democrats declared that their
side would split about evenly on vote.
There arc already q number of sales
tax plans before the House in bills
which have been introduced during the
session by members. One of these WAS
drawn up by Representative Isaac Bach
arach, of New Jersey, d prominent Re-
publican member of the Ways and
Means Committee. His proposal for
onc-quarter of l per cent tax on all
retail sales would net about $S00,000.-
900 year. half again as much as is
needed to defray the cost Of the cash
end of the bonus plan.
Ex-Servicc Bloc to Caucus
The group in the House known as
the "ex-service bloc" composed Of
about twenty-five members, will meet
in q secret caucus tomorrow morning
to consider the new bonus situation
and make some recommendation for
the revenue provisions of the bill,
Representative Hamilton Fish jr., o.
New York, one of the leaders of tho
group, said tonight that it is hoped for
an agreement on a demand that tina
bonus bill be reported to Congress
without specific provisions as to how