Evening star., 1924-05-21
$6,5OO,OOO NEEDED
ADMINISTER BONUS
Estimates of Operation Cost First
Year Given Budget Bureau
by Three Departments.
RUSH WORK ON FIGURES
Officials Hope to Have Total Cost
Ready for Action This Week.

It will cost nearly six and half
million dollars to administer the
soldiers bonus during the first year.
the budget bureau was told today.
The War Department. Navy De-
partment and Veterans Bureau, which
will handle the bonus. have submit
ted to the budget bureau their first
estimates on administrative cost for
the fiscal year beginning July l next.
totaling s6.4ss,5O0. 1t is divided as
follows: War Department, $500
900: Navy Department, 100000, and
Veterans Bureau, s1.1ss,500.
These figures do not include any
payments Of bonus money to veteran
beneficiaries. Further estimates will
be Eece sSary to determine the amount
which will be paid out through the
or less and in compensation to rela-
tives of soldiers already dead.
Rush Work ON Estimate.
Director Lord of the budget bureau
said today the estimates would be
thoroughly gone over as rapidly as
possible, revised. if necessary, ap-
proved by the President and sent
to Congress, he thought, by Friday
or Saturday of this week This would
be in time for inclusion of the item
in the deficiency bill. now before
the House appropriations committee
Chairman Madden of that committed
expects to include the estimates in
the deficiency bill.
The Navy Department was the first
to submit its estimate on the cost of
administering the bonus. 1t reported
yesterday afternoon, the first day fol-
lowing the Senate action overriding
the Presidents veto. Hearings were
held over the Navy estimates yester-
day afternoon, and completed. Fur
ther considera tion will be given them,
however, after the others have been
gone over and the bonus administra-
tive cost considered as whole.
The budget bureau planned to hear
both the War Department and the
Veterans Bureau today.
Explain Factor List.
Veterans Bureau actuaries inform
ed members of Congress for the first
time that the list of factors pre-
pared by them and recently made
public for computing the amounts OF
insurance due under the bonus law
took into account the extra 25 per
allowed by the bill on insurance ce--
tificates.
This means that veteran. in
computing the value of the insurance
policy he will receive simply will
multiply his credits at s1.25 day
for foreign service and 81 day for
home service by his factor. which
hot III
The extra 25 per cent is not to be
added as heretofore announced. AS
an example. If the veteran has the
maximum amount of home service
credit, $500. the insurance policy
would amount to about two and one
half times that amount. or s1.250,
according to the age of the veteran.
H p Brown, Veterans Bureau
actuary. explained the table of factors
recently made public had been based
usual, and thus took into account the
extra % per cent allowed by the bill
and saved a double computation.
This will result in lower values for
insurance policies all along the line
than had been figured by Congress.
Brown said, but woud make no differ
ence in the estimated total cost of the
bill, since all these facts have been
taken into consideration by the
actuaries of both the Veterans Bureau
ana the bSPdl tIiCht " Ho
figured on the expense.
Bonus Money Provision.
To consider the problem of how to
handle the matter of presenting to
Congress an estimate to provide
bonus money which will be paid out
to the veterans themselves or their
dependents for the first year. Di-
rector Hines of the Veterans Bu-
reau held an extended conference
this afternoon with Director Lord
of the budget bureau.
The first money necessary to ad-
minister the bill is to be asked of
Congress as an amendment to the
deficiency bill. but the cash bonus to
veterans or their dependents, which
is to be paid out by the Veterans
Bureau, is another matter. No de-
cision had been reached early this
afternoon, nor had there been any
official estimate given out as to how
much bureau 'Ficials think will be
necessary to mes this demand for
the first,y year.
Cash bonuses will be paid by the
Veterans Bureau to all whose ad-
justed service compensation is $50
or less, and there will be a large
amount due to relatives or depend
ents of veterans who have died.