The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1924-08-19
GET TING BONUS
ON PRACTICAL
BASIS
War Department and Bureau
Have Overcome Delay Due
To Organizing

This is the second of series OF
sic articles dealing qOith the "a
rious phases of the a0orld aoGr
bonus. The author is the director
of the bonus Information bureau
maintained By The Washington
Times, in common with Hearst
newspapers throughout the Unitet
States.
BY JIM RING
Where is the demand for the
bonus?
When the. government got the
news that the bill had been passed
over the Presidents veto. there was
mighty scurrying to and fro and
an impressive realignment Of cleri-
cal forces.
In the War Department and the
Veterans Bureau, most noticeably,
orders flew from office to office,
vast supplies were. requisitioned
and refrigerated officials posed,
pen in hand, for newspaper photo
graphers.
The jobless pulled wires right
and left to get into the bonus work.
Men and women whose Congress.
men were out-of-town perspired
over examinations at the Civil Ser
vice Commission schoolroom.
Don't crowd begged the govern.
ment. There win be room for
everybody"
Fires 10000 600 Blanks
With a great fanfare of trumpets
and another series Of news pictures,
the War Department fired 10000
600 applications throughout the land
and held 100000 in reserve, later
to be snatched up, so it was ex-
pected, by the avid veterans.
In a word, the Government braced
itself for a great big job. 1t was
much in the position Of man
who, believing his threshold is being
stotrmed by an armed band, bar
ricades the door with his body.
Later, he opens the door and finds
that there's nobody outside.
Imagine the Governments sur
prise when it mad the same dis
covery.
After the tumult and the shout
ing had died, the bonus situation
became tired of being a situation
1t devolVed into a part Of the days
routine.
Still, there. is a brave attempt
to keep up the bluff. Lawyers
wrangle over the too simple
language of the act. and one Of
fetal quietly blames another for
failure to speed up the job. There
is brave talk of, Organization" and
coordination while the desks
and adding machines remain un.
named and mutely pitiable.
First Papers Arrive.
When the noise had partially SUBJ
sided. the applications for the bonus
began to arrive, to bureaucracy's
great delight. These were papers.
These were something tangible
something to paw over-questions
to refer to lawyers-letters to write
back to the applicants-cards to
make out -fingerprints to test.
There were these and a thousand
other little experiments so' well
beloved by petty officialdom.
The adjutant general of the army,
Robert c.. Davis, an officer and
gentleman, supervises that depart
ment's activities in connection with
the bonus. He estimates that rath-
er more than 100000 applications
have been sent in.
How does he know" ask the
sceptical. THE generals going to
get the surprise of his life when
those applications are all counted.
A thousand envelopes can look like
10 ,0O0."
But the sceptical don't know, and
the general ought to know.
General Davis says he is quite
content with the number so far re-
ceived. Apparently he remained
cool through all the excitement. He
was one of the few who did not
hold to the belief that the War De.
partment would be swamped with
applications. =.
Trained In Details.
The generals job was to send
out the blanks, and to verify the
information sent in by veterans and
their dependents. Then he was to
send this information, officially APP
the real administrative action.
1t is now more than two months
since the blanks iwere sent out. The
War Departments organization has
reached the point where the clerks
are trained in technical details. Now
they may go to work. The job is
going ahead easily, without pretense
of speed, but with great careful.
ness. This, condition, according to
General Davis, is just what he
wants
But where is the demand for. the
bonus? Considering that the blc.nks
may be made out in less than fifteen
minutes by veterans, ana in a day
by dependents, 1t seems that more
than the generals 100000 applica-
tons should have arrived.
Large as this number seems. II is
less than one-fourth of the number
Of potential applications. Some.
things the matter. At no time has
the bonus office Of the War Depart.
ment been swamped with mall.
Something's the matter. It's no use
to ask the officers of the depart.