Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-06-03
Overriding the Veto.

Presidents who veto measures in
tended to aid veterans of wars this
country has engaged in run up against
a stone wall of sentiment, plus or
ganized groups, which make the vetoes
ineffective. President Hoover is the
latest to feel the power behind these
pension bills. His veto of the Span
ish-American War veterans bill was
overridden in the Senate and the
House Overwhelmingly yesterday. His
immediate predecessor undertook to
halt the bonus bill fer the men who
served in the World War with veto.
His veto. too. was entirely ineffective
and the bonus bill was finally passed
without his approval.
War veterans who served the country
in time of stress are entitled to gen.
erous treatment by the Nation. No
Nation has been more generous to its
old soldiers and sailors and to men
who have been disabled in war than has
the United States. The veterans of the
Spanish War should be dealt
with as generously as the veterans of
any of the wars. There are certain
well defined rules regarding pension
legislation. however. which have been
laid down in the past President Hoo
yer in his veto of the bill which has
now become a law Notwithstanding his
opposition held to some of these rules.
1t was well lderstood that he would
have approved a bill which did not
carry the provisions to which he OBJ
jected in his veto message. And to
many who make a study of pension
legislation and no have an inkling OF
what this country will be called upon
to do in the way of pensions not many
years hence, his objections have APP
peared we'll taken,
With one-third of the membership OF
the Senate up for reelection this year
and the entire membership of the House,
the plea for the passage of the bill over
the Presidents veto may perhaps have
fallen on more fertile ground than had
the measure been passed in an on year,
when no election was pending. 1t was
to be expected, too. that the Democratic
opposition would make as much capital
as 1t could out Of a veto by Repub-
lican President of veterans pension
bill. In the Senate % Republican Sena-
tors joined their Democratic colleagues
in voting to pass the bill over the veto.
Not a Democrat voted to sustain the
Presidents veto. In the House the
handful of members who stood by the
President were all Republicans.
Representatives OF the organizations
of veterans were actively engaged in
working for the passage of the bill over
the veto. Senator's were buttonholed by
leaders of these organizations yesterday
and urged to vote for the bill without
change The national commander OF
the United Spanish War Veterans. Gov.
Green OF Michigan, was on the floor Of
the Senate during the debate, making
use Of the privilege of the floor accorded
to governors of States. Former Sent
tor Rice w. Means, who at one time
vas national commander of the veterans
also returned to the floor
yesterday in the interest of the bill.
The Spanish War Veterans are justi-
fed in seeking more liberal pensions.
The question at issue yesterday, how
ever, was whether the objections raised
by the President were sound and
whether the bill should have been
to meet those objections. Both
houses of Congress have gone on record
Overwhelmingly in the matter and the
bill becomes a law as it was originally
passed. Whether the precedent set yes
terday will rise to plague the legislators
in the future is another matter.