The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-04-15

From he New Herald Tribune)
Undeterred land possibly even stimulated) by the
American Legions stand against the paper bonus
leaders Of the Veterans of Foreign Wars marched
upon the Capitol bearing 100000 signatures to petit
tons demanding that the printing presses be started
in the name of patriotism
Il will drive six-mule team through the treas
ury" G. A. R. pension lobbyist once exclaimed.
God help the surplus!"
Today there is no surplus; all that sx-mule team
driven through the treasury could collect would be
q deficit The " F. w, therefore, are proposing to
drive super-tank through the whole program where
with the administration has been struggling to meet
the economic prostraton of the country.
Their intention is not simply to wreck the treas
ury but to wreck the only present hope offered by
anybody for curing the conditions under which the
ex-service men, in common with every else,
suffering
Few things are more certain than that the only
result of such strategy should it succeed, would be
to wreck the v. F. w. Our neighbor, The World
Telegram has undertaken what is perhaps the first
serious attempt to examine effectively the illogical
and intricate growth of veterans relief and the
methods whereby it has developed.
one of its most interesting findings is the way in
which, throughout our history, pensions and re-
lief have followed a recognizable cycle, expanding
uxuriany (and inequitably to the veterans through
the good years. reaching peak load some time after
the treasury SURPRISES have begun to disappear and
ending finally with a necessary pruning and revision
downward when the country longer is able to bear
the load.
That is the point which, the American Legion
heads have seen, now has been reached. The v. F.
W. on the other hand refusing to accept the realities
are seeking to project themselves the treasury
void with the printing press
The attempt can not succeed; rather it will tend to
hasten the moment when the drastic revision and
naturalization of the whole structure will have to be
undertaken.
For there are no two ways about it, We are in
the midst of a severe depression, and must go
through with it one way or the other. We can not
print paper money for the veterans and expect to
apply sound principles in all other aspects of the
problem.
Either have to print paper money for everybody
let the budget 60 hang, the banking system go to
pieces and our whole method of doing business into
llqudation-or else we have to get down to the old
uncomfortable Job of Tightening the machinery and
sticking to principle
There is no middle course the old truth remains
that the way to initiate is to initiate and "the way to
resumption is to resume" Because of the great claim
which the veterans who did the fighting have upon
the nation veterans legislation has been crit
caily regarded since the
Now however, the V. F. w. and their congressional
friends have posed which far transcends the
question of the veterans themselves. 1t is question
Of the basic organization of the economic life Of the
United States. That is an issue which will raise a
determined, nation wide, and deadly opposition,