Evening star., 1924-06-01

10 records in the Army files, and with
first and even second names identical
in countless cases--it may readily be
Eeen that whatever difficulty there
may have been in persuading the
five hundred odd congressman that q
bonus should be paid is only the first
barrier to be overcome in seeing that
each individual who served gets just
what he is entitled to.
Further complications are found in
the fact that % per cent of the ap-
'proXimately 5000. 900 potential claim
ants under the adjusted compensation
act cannot read or write the English
language.
But the Army. Navy, Marine Corps
and United States Veterans Bureau,
with the support and active assist
ance of the American Legion, post
masters Of all classes, each chapter of
The American Red Cross. the National
Guard. the Organized Reserve. the
Regular Army, recruiting stations,
the Disabled Veterans Association
and similar organizations, are going
10 see that each man who saw service
gets his fair share of the bonus" and
shat no one is going TO get any that he
does not qualify for under the provi-
sions of the act OF Congress.
This means careful scrutiny of the
service record of each applicant,
.hecked against nearly 100000
lecords of world war veterans on file
here in Washington. and identifying
ZACH man by his fngerprints. 1t
means intensive work by nearly
5000 additional government employees
here in the Capital. including a corps
of expert Interpreters able to read
and write in almost every tongue, to
make careful and exact analysis of
these records.
But the government work kshop is
ready for this job--and has been
ready for two years, as far as it could
be ready until Congress appropriates
the money necessary for hiring these
extra employees and for other essential
expenses Of administration of the
bonus law.
Now arises the question: How
many will there be TO get the bonus,
how much does each get, ana what
will the administration cost"
Naturally, most Of the applications
Will come to the War Department
from former soldiers. There were
100000 men in the Army who may
apply. There were more than 4,00O,-
600 men who performed actual mill
tary service. There were 2.O57,907
who performed both home and over
seas service. There We're 1,993,699
who performed domestic service only.
i :: *
THE law, it must be remembered,
Droyidas for cash paynapt 1f sIn
or a paid-up twenty-year endowment
insurance policy. with the amount of
insurance regulated to the length of
service. As bonus of $50 was given
All veterans upon their discharge. the
first sixty days in service will not be
counted in computing the amount of
lash or insurance to be determined
now. If all service was in the United
Estates. the maximum allowed is $500.
and if part of the service was over
seas. the maximum allowed will be
s625
The War Department figures that
about 2S0.000 will receive cash pay
ments. while more than $3.50 900 men
will receive insurance certificates.
The War Department estimated
for its work in administering the
bonus law. The budget bureau has
recommended to Congress, through
the President. that at this time So
100000 should be appropriated. with
the understanding that supplement
tai estimates will be submitted later.
The total number of enlisted men
in the Navy during the world war
was 551,736. For the administration
, Of the bonus law, the Navy has asked
sS60.0o for clerk hire and $4,000 for
equipment or total of some 100000
a wear This contemplates the hiring
OF 270 additional clerks by the Navy,
when the work of checking up the
records is at its peak.
The Marine Corps had about $4,000
men in the world war. and is asking
for sixty-eight additional clerks.
The adjusted compensation legisla
ton first became imminent about
1922 Officials of the Army, Navy and
Marine Corps began to give serious
consideration to the task of prepar-
ing those services for the work that
must be done by them when the
bonus law was passed
The youngest of our American ma
jor generals, who was then colonel,
commanding regiment of infantry
at Plattsburg. y. Y, barracks-Col.
&Robert c. Davis-was summoned to
Washington to prepare plans for
carrying out the War Departments
part in approving the service records
Of bonus applicants. That was in
February, 1922. In April he became
acting adjutant general and in Sep
tember he became "the" adjutant gen.
eral.
He had served in France as adjutant
general of the American expedition
ary forces, a capacity in which he
conceived and created the central war
record office of the American land
forces in France, which proved to be
an agency unequalled in the allied
forces. He began that work by him
self with only one clerk, and 1t event.
,uaIly grew to a force of 1000 clerks,
aside from many officers.
With that background of experience
and observation, Gen. Davis vtsualized
the work of giving every service man
a square deal and an honest adjusted
service credit. He promptly saw that
there are three main elements In the
war records of the Army-the over
seas record, the War Departments
original records and the records of
the embarkation service.
Right then and there he began
building up the organization that is
L. kak AE