Evening star., 1924-03-19
Bill as Passed by House
Meets Objections Raised
Against Previous Measures.
EXACT COSTS CERTAIN;
NO INCREASE IN BUDGET
Gives Able. Bodied No Money to
Waste, But Will Prove Boon
for Those in Need.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.

fT6SlueNl Ia
sign the endowment policy insurance
bill just passed by the House for the
benefit of soldiers and sailors who
participated in the European war
provided the Senate does not mate
rally alter the measure.
The President was opposed to
bonus bill that the government could
pressed his antipathy toward the
payment Of funds to the able-bodied.
The new bill in large part takes care
of the veterans when they are ap-
preaching age or when they are in
acute need. 1t is a bill to relieve
possible distress and not measure
that will permit the ex-service men
to fritter away the funds given them
as argued by the opponents of a larg'
cash outlay.
Principle Of Bill.
The principle of the Insurance bill
is so different from previous meas
ures passed by Congress and vetoed
by the Executive that Mr.. Coolidge
can consistently sign it. The Amer
ican Legion favors the bill. The total
cost to the government Is slightly
more than two billion dollars, spread
over a period of twenty years, and
the annual appropriations are already
available because Congress has been
authorizing about $1,000 900 for
vocational training, and that comes
to an end shortly So the existing
budget contains the funds, the total
cost is not conjectural, as has here
tofore been the case, 81 per cent of
the ex-servioe men will be alive to
enjoy the benefits of the insurance,
according to the estimates of insur-
ance experts who have been able in
the past to figure out mortality
tables, and the families of those vet
Grams who have died since the war
will Immediately get the benefit Of
the insurance payments.
The reason why the new measure
Will not make serious financial bur-
den is the Introduction of the sink
ing fund. In other words, the maxi
mum annual appropriation will be
$110, ,036, 564 while the minimum out
lay for any one year will be Se0,835.-
e36. Such sums as that when set
aside annually grow larger and larger,
because the interest on the sums in
vested constantly increases.
Based ON Natural Law.
The idea is absolutely sound, be-
cause it has been demonstrated in the
case of private insurance companies,
who invest the premiums paid by in
dividuals, and yet the number of per-
sons who die annually is not equal to
the number who carry insurance. The
law Of probability and mortality
takes care of the insurance company
just as surely as it will take care OF
the governments sinking fund.
The government will give the veteran
the opportunity that private insurance
companies give to borrow on an insur-
ance icy when in need. No loan can
exceed 90 per cent of the reserve value
certificate or so per cent of the face
value at any time. The veteran who
borrows on his insurance certificate at
the bank and fails to pay the amount
back to the bank will find it expensive
to recover the full value of the policy
when he comes to redeem II. The
banks will be privileged to go to the
Veterans Bureau in case of default
and receive the amount they have lent
to the veteran with the accumulated
interest, but when the veteran tries to
redeem a defaulted certificate he will
have to pay 6 per cent interest COM
pounded annually. This was arranged
so as to discourage veterans from bor-
to pay up. The number of defaulted
certificates will not be large, according
to the estimates thus far made, and
the Veterans Bureau will be able to
take care of the defau.ted cases out
of the sinking fund provided.
Indeed. the whole plan is worked
out so conServatively that the gov
ernment may find in a few years that
the amount appropriated annually cap
be cut down. for the purpose of the
fund is not to make a profit, but to
take care of the needs of the veterans.
Payments in Cash.
The bill provides:
First-The payment in cash of the
adjusted service credit to those
veterans to whom $50 or less is due.
The basis of the credit is 81 per
day for each day Of service on this
side of the Atlantic and s1.25 per
day for overseas service. So few
men were in the service fifty days
or less that the sacrifice involved
was considered relatively small and
the cash amounts in the aggregate
will not total very much.
Second-The dependent relatives Of
the veterans who have died will be
paid Immediately the full amount Of
the insurance policy to which the
veterans length of service would have
entitled him based. of course on g.
twenty-year paid-up endowment
policy The age of the veteran, OF
course. is a factor in determining
the amount of insurance to which
he would be entitled.
Third-The credit in no case ex-
ceeds $500 for home service and $625
for overseas duty. The veteran re-
ceives the equivalent of a twenty
-paid-up insurance policy for the
amount of his service credit plus %
per cent and with interest compound
ed annually at 4 per cent. If a veteran,
therefore, is entitled to $500, the face
of his policy would be increased by
rs per cent, to $625, and that sum
compounded at interest of 4 per cent
for twenty years constitutes the
amount of money he would receive at
the end Of that. period. If he died
before the twenty years, his family
receives the full amount the veteran
would have received IL he had lived
through the twenty-year period.
Right to Borrow.
F'ourth-The veteran has the
privilege Of borrowing money on his
insurance certificate and the govern
ment will indicate on the certificate
the amounts that can be borrowed
at any one time. More money can be
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