The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1924-05-22
LET Us FIGHT on TO HALT
FUTURE BONUSES

The thing has been done. The
American veterans of the World
War will now receive insurance
policies which they have taken out
privately at an average cost Of less
than $40 year; and in return for
this paltry benefit the veterans and
the remainder of the American
people will pay heavy taxation
which will weigh down heavily. on
prosperity.
There is no longer any use in
talking OF tax reduction. Even if
the pending tax bill should become
law, we should have to vote u tax
increase soon in order to pay the
cost of the bonus. For the fiscal
year 1925, according to the veter-
ans bureau, an appropriation of
STAG, 100000, plus $6.5OO,OOO for
| administrative expenses, will be
required. For the fiscal year 1926
we will need an appropriation of
$155, 100000. The estimates of the
Treasury Department are material
~ higher
AS a result of the enactment of
the bonus bill, the President may
decide to veto the tax measure He
may feel that temporary reduc-
ton in taxes would serve no useful
purpose, since deficit would de-
vel0p almost Immediately. If such
be his decision, and if his veto
should be sustained, the American
people will Immediately begin to
yho hn l.,
to them.
1t seems to us that the business
community should do its best to
deepen that realization, i'm order to
prevent further enhancement OF the
tax burdens. The forces of econ
Omy and of common sense have
suffered defeat in the enactment
OF the bonus bill, but they need not
be discouraged.
which organizations of veterans
have welded; consider the natural
sentimental arguments in favor of
the bill; consider how it was pre-
dicted, as soon as the first bonus
bill was introduced, that bonus leg
islation would be enacted in a hur-
ry and that if President Harding
opposed it he would be committing
political suicide.
Nothing, it seemed, could stop
the bonus. And yet President
Harding stopped it. And later the
bonus again seemed unbeatable. |
And yet President Coolidge fought
It every step Of the way, and he |
nearly beat it. His opposition to
any form OF bonus was so powerful J
and unflinching that the pro-bonus /
forces were compelled to drop their
cash bonus bill and fall back upon
an insurance plan which the vet
er1ns' bureau estimate will cost !
$2,2SO, 75S,542 during the next 20
years, as compared with the more
than four billion dollars which
President Harding believed the en-
tire cash bonus would require.
All those Americans who have
fought the bonus bill have fought
a good fight. And they have gained
some benefits for national pros
perity. They have prevented the
enactment OF any sort of bonus bill
for three years; and now at last
they have squeezed the cash bonus
down to the insurance bonus. The
results have been good. They have
been we'll worth the effort. And
they indicate that the effort should
not cease now.
If the fight be abandoned, the re-
suit is easily practicable. The pro-
bonus forces will make further de-
mands. ALREADY suggestions are
made for a cash bonus, in addition,
TO be paid at once" said President
coolidge in his veto messag
Such action logically would be en-
if this bill became law"
There will he bonus plans of all
Kinds before Congress. There will
e comprehensive bonus plans for
Ill the veterans, and little, special
bonuses for special groups. A few
ears will pass, and the agitators
VIII begin for horizontal pensins.
such laws would pile the burden
Up enormously. :
We who have fought the bonus !
ave fought good fight. We will
light on. Taxation will weigh down
lron the country. The people will
earn what taxes mean TO their :
happiness. The business commun-
tv will speak out. The veterans
themselves will feel the heavy eff
ects Of the bonus.
If We do not falter if we press
inward. if we continue the fight
which Harding and Coolidge and !
Mellon have led, please God we
nay yet impress upon the Amer
can people the supreme necessity
y turning a deaf ear to the pro-
'ohus clamor OF tOmorrOw.-Chi-'
ago Journal of Commerce.