Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-07-24
A Theory Under Test.


Reports from all over the country
show that veterans who have Dor.
rowed on their adjusted service GER
tif1cates, or bonuses" are not meet
ing their payments, but are awaiting
the time when these certificates will
have accumulated new loan value in
order that additional cash may be Sc
cured. There is nothing surprising
about this. 1t might have been ex-
pected in the first place, although
veterans who testified before con-
gressional committees at the time the
bonus legislation was under consider
alton estimated that only from one
to eleven per cent of the veterans
would ever borrow on their certifi-
Gates. But with human nature 1t is
easy come and easy CO." Human ma
ture is no better exemplified by any
class than by the great army of vet
Grams of the World War. The bonus
certificate is a paidup life insurance
policy which from year to year accrues
loan value. Could anything be more
natural than the fact, now demon.
strated, that an ex-service man who
has in his possession paper with
certain cash value will make use of it
to get the cash? The fact that twenty
years hence it will be worth more
makes no difference. The fact that he
is decreasing it's value as insurance
by borrowing on it restraints him
none. What he sees is the cash.
What he wants is the cash.
Insurance men have estimated that
If one thousand men open a savings
account, five hundred of them let it
remain for six months; two hundred
and fifty Of them let it remain for
nine months, and only fifty of them
will let 1t remain for ten years or
longer. The other two hundred will
have withdrawn 1t before it is six
months old. They have also figured
that Of one hundred men. one at the
age of sixty-five will be rich; four will
be well to do; five will be working;
thirty-six will be dead and fifty.four
dependent. The average life of an
estate Of $4,000 or over is only seven
to nine years. And Of money makers,
eighty-nine per cent of these who
have made fortunes will have lost
them before they die. Money is hard
to get. But it is harder to keep.
Such facts may be applied to the
veterans who now hold bonus certifi-
Gates. The great majority Of them
will borrow on them from year to
year, although the amounts to be bor-
rowed will rarely exceed 800. A pro-
portion Of them will be dead, and
very small minority Of them will have
allowed their certificates to accu-
mulate their full value over the twenty
years. Those who have $1,000 or more
in cash at the end Of twenty years
will be able to use 1t advantageously,
for by keeping it intact they will have
indicated their ability to spend it
wisely. But for the others, who have
received annual loans of less than
500 over the twenty-year period,
what benefit in their lives can they
possibly attribute to the soldiers
bonus? Perhaps a needed suit Of
clothes, a few meals. ton or so of
coal, or the wolf kept from the door
for few days.
Yet in testifying in support Of the
adjusted compensation veteran
summarized the issue thus: Hundreds
Of thousands of these dependents suf'
fered want and hunger during the serv'
ice of their loved ones and more found
it necessary to neglect their home
duties and seek employment in order
that they and their children might
have food, clothing and fuel of the
poorest sort. And when it was over
the ex-service man came home to be
greeted by welcome-nome committee
jobless and in many instances with
out funds enough to outfit himself
with civilian clothing. 1t Is this
handicap in civil life that we seek to
adjust. These are the facts Of the
real necessity Of adjusted compensa-
tion."
Has the adjusted compensation re-
moved the handicap?