The Omaha morning bee. [volume] (Omaha [Neb.]) 1922-1927, 1923-11-15
Coolidge Is
Ii kew to
Veto Bonus
Majority in Senate Expected
to Sustain President in
Refusal to Sign
Bill.
MELONS Power Shown
BY MARK SULLIVAN.

depends wholly upon President Cool
idge. 1t can be taken completely for
granted that Secretary Melons pro-
nouncement in favor of tax reduction
and against the bonus was seen by
Coolidge before 1t was made public.
No cabinet member would give out so
important statement without the
- evious approval of his chief.
1T is commonly assumed that the
reXt stage will appear III the presi'
dents message at the opening Of con-
Gress. While this is i'll the futile
field of trying to surmise what is in
another mans mind, it may readily
turn out that this assumption is in
correct. The anticipation about Cool
idge'1 message, based on his known
habit of mind, is that he will cal
with pending business.
The soldiers bonus is not pending
business. And is not up to Coolidge
for action or utterance. After con-
gress has been in session some time
the bonus bill will undoubtedly pass
both houses. Thereafter 1t will go 10
Coolidge for signature or veto. IL
Coolidge vetoes twill then go back
to congress to seek the two-thirdS
majority necessary to pass it over
the presidents veto.
Won't Overridge Veto.
The common assumption in Wash
ington is that there are enough votes
in favor of the bonus to pass it over
Coolidges veto. But your correspond
T., 4AI
idge vetoes the bonus it will turn
cut that there will be the necessary
80 votes in the senate to sustain the
veto. The anti-bonus leaders in the
senate like Borah, republican, and
Glass, democrat. are men of great
ability, and, when their interest is
aroused. of extraordinary energy.
Under the leadership Of men like
this it may lot be easy, but 1t will
be possible and probable that the
necessary 3: senators can be brought
together. Last year the anti-bonus
!. l.aders in the senate started with
mere handful Of 10 or IL and built II
up to the necessary third.
Whether Coolidge vetoes the bonus
or not will depend on the form In
which it comes to him. This again is
in the field Of surmise. But there Is
a general feeling that Coolidge's po-
sition on the bonus is quite similar to
Harding's latest position, namely,
that he Is against the bonus unless
it is accompanied by specific taxa
ton for this particular purpose.
attitude the
bonus one school Of hought proposed
that it shall be paid by means of
Doubt Tax Measure.
The other is that the bonus shall
be paid by specific sales tax.
Neither of these is popular, and
while a majority of congress is com
mitted TO the bonus, 1t Is by no
means certain that the same ma
jority would vote in favor of the
taxation to go with the bonus. What
ever Coolidge does is bound to be
consistent with Melons sense OF
responsibility as secretary OF the
treasury.
1t was Mellon. chiefly. who caused
Harding to veto the bonus bill be-
\ fore. Melons steady growth IN
repuation has enlisted for him such
a following, both amsng republican
leaders and among the larger public
that any president would hesitate TO
run directly counter to 1t. In spite
of his quiet way, or because OF IT,
Mellon has come to be very large
figure in the republican party and IN
the business world.
&s,That there should ever he any dl-
rect conflict between he president
and his secretary Of the treasury is,
of course, fantastic. But in the
event of any such fantastic hypoth-
esis. it would probably be possible
to say that Secretary Mellon has
come to have such standing "lth
leaders of the republican party ana
with business men that Coolidge
quite conceivably, could not be re-
nominated II he were following
program openly disapproved by MT.
Mellon. OF course no such confiict
will ever occur.
Parties Oppose Bonus.
While a majority Of both houses OF
congress has committed itself to the
bonus. the members have done so
chiefly in the spirit of placatng lit
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