The Connecticut labor news., 1924-06-07
NATION HAS FAILED IN CARE OF DISABLED.
 SAY VETERANS
Soldiers of World War Claim Presi- dent in Vetoing Bonus Bill Mis-
 represented the Facts.
By International Labor News Service.

dent Coolidge's assertion i'll vetoing the doing what 1t should for disabled vet erans, has aroused intense indignation among World War veterans, who de clare that the President misrepre- sented the situation.
 q am not unmindful," wrote the President in his veto message, that this bill also embraces within its pro- visions the diab1eds of our veterans and the dependents of those who fell To state that the disabled veterans and these dependents are entitled to this additional gratuity Is to state that the nation is not meeting its obliga- tions to them. Such statement can not be truthfully made. The nation has spent more than $2O00, 100000 in behalf of disabled veterans and de- pendents of those who died. It is now spending for compensation, training, insurance and disqualification more than $400,000000 annually. So1icitude for the disabled veterans and the de pendents of those who lost their lives is the nations solicitude. To minister to their every need is sacred obli- gation, which will be generously and gratefully met The nation stands ready to expend any amount needed for their proper care"
 Facts Refute Claim of Coolidge, Say
 Veterans.
 While not denying that vast sums have been appropriated for the care and treatment of disabled veterans, as specified in his message. World War veterans point to appalling conditions in the Veterans Bureau revealed by Senate investigation as proof of their contention that the nation has failed to care properly for its sick and wounded soldiers. They charge that the Veterans Bureau fraud upon the government, its neglect of sick and disabled men, its manifest shortcom- ings in handling the whole situation, give effective answer to the Presi- dents contention that the nation has not failed in meeting its obligations to its former soldiers.
 So bitter has been the feeling against the Veterans Bureau among former soldiers that Senator Tasker L. Oddie of Nevada made the sweep ing statement in the Senate that "it can be said with practical certainty that wherever men have dealt with have been ignored or treated with contempt"
 How One Veteran Feels About
 Bureau.
 To back up his assertion, Senator Oddie read a letter from a former sol dier which is revealing human docu- ment of the bitterness of feeling which exists among many soldiers. Leaders in the movement to obtain justice for the veterans declare that it is typical of complaints made against the Vet erans' Bureau, which President Cool idge blandly intimates has met the obligations of the nation to the vet erans. The letter reads as follows: The American Legion Allein Post No. },
 "Vicksburg, Miss, April 10, 1924 David A. Reed, Esq, Chairman, "Tasker L. Oddie, Esq, and David l.
 Walsh, Esq,
 United States Senate, Select Com
 nittee on the Investigation of the
 Veterans Bureau Washington,
 D. C.
 "Gentlemen: The writer, per nanently and totally disabled ex-offi- Ger of the army in the World War, 1 respectfully petitions your honorable committee to hear and give heed to this, his complaint, of treatment at the hands of the United States Veter- ans Bureau under both Directors Forbes and Hines
 Discharged from the army. cap tain, Quartermaster Corps, May 25, 1921, after seven months hospital ization for chronic nephritis. after a decision by the army medical board that l was incurable, and with rec ommendation for 25 per cent. per manent disability. the United States Veterans Bureau during the latter part of that year decided that I was Is per cent. temporarily disabled but that I was nonfeasibleI for training. They told me I was unable to attend a school, but to take SIS per month and go starve. My wife did the working-I was absolutely unable to do anything we did not starve. After 10 months careful nursing I had inn proved somewhat and was told by Col Dallas B. Smith, manager district 6 at MaI,r 0r-1e.n1oc to -c+n o:-