The Daily Alaska empire., 1932-04-14
SMITH DIRECTLY CHALLENGES ROOSEVELT CANDIDAC
RipaI Comps Array for Bonus Blu Battle; Supporters Are to Wage Fight to Finish
 Despite Presidents Warming of Veto
(By HERBERT PLuMMER)

Of the most stubborn battles Con gress has seen in years-pitting against each other some of Cap- itol Hills proven fighters-looms over the proposal to pay in full the soldiers bonus.
 Warned beforehand that any ef- fort to take from the Federal Treasury at times like the present more than two billions of dollars would be vetoed by the President, bonus advocates and opponents are girding themselves for fight to the finish.
 The first battle-ground will be in the House, which receives the measure before the Senate.
 Three Representatives all Of them tireless iii their efforts to get for the ex-service men what they term as their just due" per- haps will bear the brunt of the attack.
 One is the author of the bill, Wright Patinan, of Texas, curly haired, youthful and determined. Now serving his second term in the House, he won fame in his State before coming to Congress as a Prosecuting Attorney. His heart and soul is in this fight and his Congressional career has been largely shaped around the bonus.
 Help Little Fellows
 @The millions released to the reconstruction finance corporation went to the big boys by way of New York, he says. "The millions involved in the bonus bill will go to the little fellows :" Another bonus champion is John Rankin of Mississippi, Chairman of the House Veterans Committee, slender. wiry and pugnacious. Just fresh from victory in helping elir- mate the sales tax from the reve- nue bin, Rankin has served mo- tice publicly and privately that the bonus must be paid
 I have been in this leg islatien so long" he says, that my sympathy for the veteran is possibly a little abnormal But ann going to vote for the bill, that gives him the most money. Understand that"
 Then there is William P. Con nery, Of Massachusetts, tall, slender young man who was an actor and soldier before he be- came member of Congress. No one seems to feel more keenly on the subject than does he.
 Vets Not Satisfied
 The service men were not sat- isfjed with what they got in 1924, regardless of what any Legion rep resentative said" he contends. Who could say that a dollar a day for service in this country and a dollar and a quarter day for the compensation, while other men got hundred dollars a week?"
 Among those standing against them is that courageous fighter, Royal c. Johnson of South Dakota, ranking Republican on the Veter- ans Committee, and wearer of the distinguished service cross and croix de guerre.
 'If this falacious Patnam bill is enacted" Johnson says, "it will mean that the value of the Amer ican dollar immediately decreases to 20 per cent, and body blow will have been dealt American credit. I still am of the opinion this bill cannot be enacted into law" In the Senate, if the House ap- l proves the measure, second and perhaps more bitter fight is in prospect.
 David A. Reed of Pennsylvania is one of the most outspoken foes of the bonus
 Arrayed against Reed and other bonus opponents in the Senate in all probability will be Tom Con- nally of Texas, Spanish American and World War veteran, and Ken meth McKellar of Tennessee.