New Britain herald., 1925-02-21
POSITION MATTER
 OF LUCK. '.BINGHAM
Opposes Bill for Preferred Re
 tirement Pay for Officers
CALLS IT AN INJUSTICE
Connecticut Senator Cites Instances of Equal Risk Being Run By Men
 With and without Commissions When United States Was at War.
BY GEORGE II. MANNING.

SA~SAsAD AAs btHt'Ni-NSs
 Washington Bureau of N. B. Herald)
 Washington, D. C., Feb. 21.- Branding it as unjust to the men in the service and inadYisable from the standpoint of military policy, Sena- tor Hiram Bingham of Connecticut In speech In the senate assailed the Bursum bill to provide retirement pay for emergency officers who serv- cd durir :. the World War.
 Senator Bingham spoke from the standpoint of former service man. Accounting numerous incidents in connection with his own service as flier in the U. S. army to Illustrate how the Bursum bill would be an unfair discrimination against the en- listed man, the bill, he declared, would make 1t possible for men who were lucky enough to get commits sions in the army to be given six or seven times as much aid as those who were not so fortunate if they were disabled.
 Under the terms of the bill which was introduced by Senator Bursum of New Mexico on December 6, 1923, officers of the U. s. army, other than officers of the regular army, who in- cured physical disability of more than 30 per cent while in the service of the United States during the World War, would be eligible for re- tirement on the same basis as off, cers of the regular army with re- tired pay at the rate of 75 per cent on the pay they were receiving at the time of their discharge.
 The bill was favorable reported to the senate from the committee on military affairs, although the war de- partment has expressed itself as be- ing against its enactment.
 In attacking the proposed meas ure Senator Bingham declared en- phatically that compensation should be given the wounded veterans on the basis of the disability incurred and not according to the rank they held.
 Our soldiers and sailors should be pensioned according to the dis abilities they have suffered" he said. and not according to their rank in the service or their stations In civil life. It is believed that calm and unbiased reflection will convince one of the wisdom of such course. War Is so trem endously matter of luck and chance, not only as regards an individual exposure to hardships and danger but also as regard his rank, preferment and opportunity that classification of post war aid and as- sistance according to war rank or grade is a course that could not fail to lead to a complexity of injustices calculated to arouse the bitterest feelings"
 Senator Bingham related a num- Der of cases from his own eXperi- ences to show how many deserving young men had no chance to secure commissions as officers in the army.
 "This bill provide that if an officer of the World War is 30 per cent dis abled, he shall be given the priv ileges of retirement given to officers of the regular army" said Senator Bingham. Tn other words, if had been disabled while flying as a major and had lost two fingers of one hand, I would be entitled to be aI ct al tho a rf1 v and for the rest of my life receive a salary of s2,250 a year whereas if my mechanic. riding in the front seat with me In the plane, subject to exactly the same conditions as l, had been similarly injured, he could receive for the balance of his life for that permanent disability only $360 a year.
 While taking my reserve military aviation tests in July, 1917, at Min cola, I had it on my schedule to re- ceive training in what is known as flight spirals by Captain Taylor of the army at 9;30, At o'clock an- other pupil was to receive a similar lesson and he did go up. This other pupil had the grade of sergeant in the army, In lhe reserve corps as l at that time had the grade of ma jor. Due to force of circumstances, was more fortunate than he. When came on duty I received the grade of major, when he came on duty just as early in the war as l did