The daily times., 1922-02-04
HARDING APPEARS
RECONCI[ED TO A
SOLDIERS BONUS
PREDICT EARLY PASSAGE
The Method Of Raising the
Money Seem. Uncertain to
Everybody, Probabilities Are
That it Will be By a Sale of
Government Bonds or Treas
ury Certificates.
(By David Lawrence.)
lCopyright 1922 by The Daily

l1m0S.
Washington, Feb. 3.-There will
be q soldier bonus this year.
All doubt on the subject was re-
moved when President Harding today
agreed to meet the members of the
Senate Finance Committee and the
House Ways and Means Committee to
determine the method of raising the
Chairman Fordney said after talk
ing with the President that the SOL
dier bonus bill would be passed by
the House in two weeks. Senators at
the White House said the Senate
would follow suit in a fortnight.
How will the money be raised? The
are by sale of govern
ment bonds or treasury certificates.
Direct taxation has practically been
abandoned though Mr.. Fordney was
careful to point out that there were
many ways of raising money and that
Congress had varying opinions. He
would not favor tax on gasoline.
He showed plainly that he didn't
think much of the suggestions made
by Secretary Mellon that money
might be raised by taxes on second
class mail matter, tobacco and ci-
garettes. Mr.. Mellon had not made
any recommendations" but had
listed the ways by which money
could be forced out of the peoples
pockets.
Entirely apart from the unfavor-
able economic effects which might
result from more taxation, the poll
tics of the situation is against this
method. The very listing of possible
sources of revenue by Secretary Mel
lon sent political shivers up and
down the spine of Congress.
The pendulum is swinging again
toward raising the money out of the
proceeds of the allied debt. Chairman
Fordney who came to the White
House really to talk about the bill
empowering a commission to nego-
tiate with foreign governments con-
principal on the war debt made it
clear that the funding bill itself NO
longer contained any reference to the
soldier bonus and would not carry
any provision about it at all.
But the bonus bill will provide not
only five ways of government aid to
the war veterans but will specify the
exact means by which the funds will
be raised. Although the Treasury in
Isists that the country cannot stand
Ianother bond issue without embaras-
sing the refunding operations where
by money is being constantly borrow
ed from the American people to pay
the Victory Bonds which shortly
come due, the legislators on Capitol
Hill insist that the capacity Of Amer
lea to absorb new securities has been
greatly underestimated and that
bonds given by the government di-
lrectly to the soldiers as a bonus
could be sold by them or the govern
ment could itself sell the new bonds
and give cash to the veterans with
out disturbing the fiscal operations
already in process for the borrowing
of sums to meet interest and prin-
3cipal of existing bond issues.
| Another idea which seems firmly
implanted in the congressional mind
lis that Great Britain is ready to pay
interest on the war debt and that
tsometime this autumn the first pay
tments can be confidently expected.
These who feel that British money
Twill be forthcoming insist that the
American government can begin pay
ling the soldiers out of treasury re-
tcefpts and can apply the funds re-
lceived from England toward the new
Indebtedness. The Treasury Depart
iment takes vigorous exception to this
/ gContinued on page Tbassy