The Washington times., 1932-09-12
MOVE EXPOSED
AS WH|TEWASH
Of HOOVER
Writer Who Witnessed Rout
Exposes Discrepancies
In B. {. F. Charges
BY GEORGE ROTHWELL
BROWN
Copyright, 1882, by Universal
Service. Incl

In a desperate political effort
:" 70 save the Hoover adminiStra.
ton from cenSure, on the eve of
the American Legion convention,
Attorney General Mitchell has
compiled an amazing report on
the eviction of the bonus army
3 from Washington last July, which
q so bristles with glaring inaccu-
racieS of fact that it would read
like burlesque but for the
chastity tragedy which envelopes
the whole incident.
Made public in Washington
yesterday, with the obvious view
of warding off the impending
blow to reelection hopes at Port
land, the Attorney Generals YER
Z sion of the midnight routing and
; burning out of the miserable eX-
service men from their wretched
novels in Pennsylvania Avenue,
and on the Anacostia flats, has
famed again to flames the con-
T. troversy over the Presidents
whole handling of the half
: Starved bonus seekers, while in
Washington in midsummer in
Z vain hope to collect at once the
: bonus which the Government
had promised to pay them later.
-~ Many of the charges hurled
at these splendid veterans of the
World War by the Attorney Gen
eral Of the United States are
, wholly at variance with the gen.
eral public conception of the
entire bonus incident.
= Sweeping Allegation
Attorney General Mitchell
makes sweeping allegation that
y "a considerable number Of the
J. marchers were not in the mill
q tary service during the World
i War;" charge which has been
repeatedly denied by the respon-
:. Sible leaders of the bonus army,
who have explained to the ap-
parent satisfaction of everybody,
save perhaps the President and
the Attorney General, the great
care taken in registering appli-
cants for shelter in the bonus
camps in Washington. Nonserv-
ice men were rigidly excluded
n The Attorney General also
makes the sweeping and astound-
ing charge that % per cent of
the bonus marchers of whom
fingerprints were taken, were of
criminal record, or 1,O69 out of
4,723 thus subjected to investiga-
ton.
j. The purport Of the Attorney
Generals charge is that at the
time of the eviction of the bonus
marchers from their camps in
Washington, by United States
troops ordered out by President
Hoover, most of the bona fide ex-
service men had left the city,
and that those who remained
were largely imposterS maSqller-
aiding as exservice men, Comn!u-
nists and men of criminal record.
T.. Hines Statement Cited
e Director Hines, of the Veterans
Bureau, through which funds
were made available by Congress
for the voluntary return OF the
bonus marchers to their homes,
was quoted in the newspapers at
the time as saying that go per
p cent of the bonus army were eX-
service men"
&. That was a damaging admis-
sion. Attorney General Mitchell
seeks to shatter it by declaring,
7 general Hines made no such
Statement"
n It is significant. however, in
this connection, that the two
men killed in Pennsylvania Ave
nue in a riot with the police, on
the afternoon of July %, William
]. Huska, and Eric Carlson, ootn
were proved to be EX-SERViCE
MEN OF HONORABLE RECORD
and both were BUR1El IN An
IINGTON WITH FULL MILL
TARY HONORS.
It is also pertinent to recall IN
this connection. that the three
men subsequently indicted in con-
S1,ection with the bonus riots were
ALI, EX-SERVICE MEN.
1t is unfortunate for the recep-
ton which the report OF Attorney
General Mitchell is certain to re-
ceive, that of the members of the
ffonus army who have emerged
lar identities in the news ALL
WERE WITHOUT A SINGLE Elk
CEPTION EX-SERVICE MEN.
T Met Many of B. E. F.
This writer has personally come
in contact with certainly not less
than 200 of the men of the bonus
army, both before and after the
eviction.
In nearly all cases, in the course
O. conversation about the war ser
vice of the men, he has been
shown their discharge papers. In
no instance was there any re-
luctance to show them.
In no instance that came within
the personal knowledge of this
writer was he eyer made suspicious
of the war service of these men.
So far as this writer knows, Of
fairly comprehensive acquaintance
with them, the bonus marchers
were practically 100 per cent up
standing American citizens who
had served their country in an
hour of peril. and many of whom
had been wounded in action.
So far as the charge of men of
c--.minal record is concerned. there
;. were doubtless such in the A.
E. F..
No large group of men is free
from men of criminal record. But