Evening star., 1932-07-14
"A March of Death''
Veterans Make Supreme Dramatic Gesture Before
The Capitol in Plea for Full Payment
of Bonus.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

IN nENTLY, slowly, almost uninter-
mittently, in an endless chain
along the hot pavement before
~ the Capitol revolves the march
of death"
Men in bare feet. in stocking feet,
| with toes sticking through their shoes.
| IN rags, in the soiled olive drab and
spiral leggins of 1918, in neatly pressed
, civilian clothes, shaven and unshaven,
mostly with faces fixed on the ground,
! but continuously marching in this re-
volving chain. 1t is the supreme dra-
matte gesture of the bonus marchers.
They have been at it since late yester-
day afternoon. Most OF them nave not
slept for 48 hours. But something Is
driving them on, is lifting and lowering
almost automatically the sore, burned.
weary feet. They will keep 1t up, they
! say, as long as there is member OF
Congress left in Washington.
1t is the climax Of an anabasis OF this
gasoline and tin can era such as hardly
could be duplicSted in history-the
5,000-mile trek Of a haphazardly re-
cruited regiment of destitute clerks,
mechanics, farmers and laborers over
high mountains and burning desert to
lay their plea for what they believe to
| be justice at the feet of the democracy
| they thought they were serving on the
French battleflelds IA years ago.
Leader Drives Them On.
| On the side lines, encouraging the
/ marchers, doing everything possible to
supply their wants, is a bronzed, ener-
getic man with his neck In an iron
brace-the man who organized them In
Southern California. who led them
safely across the continent, preserved
order, kept the diverse elements In al
most perfect harmony. 1t Is her
culean Job he has done-this partially
icrippled former movie actor and jack
of-all-trades.
He is Roy Robertson-one of those
natural-born leaders with confidence
inspiring positiveness who arise sudden
ly out of obscurity in times OF crises
and whom men will follow to the
death.
In spite Of the mans braced neck
| it is probably an advantage to him in
securing minor roles In moving pictures
he seems to be living dynamo. Curl
ously enough, his deformity accentuates
an impression Of strength rather than
weakness.
He had not slept for 48 hours this
morning He has not slept much for
a month. Yet there was no diScernible
trace of wearniness on his features. He
was at every mans service, continually
on his feet, most of the time on the run.
Regardless of what any one may think
Of the justice Of the cause he represents,
there can hardly be anything but ad-
miration for the high quality Of Robert
sons leadership. He had welded q
Heterogeneous lot Of men into a strong
| ,i1ot ho hac laI !,
a greater adventure and greater hard
ship than many of them endured during
the World War and he has done 1t with
no hard-boiled discipline inherited from
the Army, but largely by the persuasive
force of his personality. Once 1t would
have taken iron discipline to have
driven these men to endure without re-
volt half what they are enduring now
and Robertson does 1t with q pat on
the back. Many of the men are bitter
fighting mad over what they consider
the tremendous injustice to which they
have been subjected. But they seem to
have fallen perfectly into Robertson S
scheme OF passive resistance.
"A Mans Man"
He is a mans man-but none of your
tin-can soldier sort There Is hardly a
lingering trace of the military about
him. He despises all this rank stuff
handling men-and comes near having
proved it. Two former commissioned
officers Of the A. E. F. started out with
the Los Angeles marchers. They wore
their old uniforms with bars on the
| shoulders. One Of the first things
Robertson did was to make them take
those bars Off He didn't want any of