davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-04-16

money right and left, so why
shouldn't it pay an honest debt
which It gave us?
In April, 1917, congress passed
the draft. Hundreds of thousands
enlisted rather than be drafted.
Thousands were drafted and sent
to environments, to be made into
machines of death. Other men
were arrested for making sedi-
tious remarks, others were brand
ed slackerS. They stayed at home
and they are the ones who have
the positions and seniority of en-
ployment today. / have had men
my junior say they were too young
to enlist, or that they had de-
pendents.
Now, Mr.. Big Shot correspon-
dent, I will assume from the
stand that you are taking that
you are going to be we'll paid for
your articles. You are taking
the same stand that the Stacker
took and the one who claimed he
W0o WV JOAAASs LIZ OA4J OtlCo
that don't want to.
You couldn't see all that drilling
in a southern camp from 8 until
6 in the Sweltering heat for about
three or four months. only to be
grabbed up and hustled to a train,
sent to a port of embarkation, and
showed into the dirty hold of a
ship. Then into an English rest
camp No. 2, and a bath, a drip
bath. After the bath, we were led
over to mess, and a mess it was.
All I ever ate in two days while
there was boiled potatoes. Then
training camp, coolies, lombard
ments day and night, gas and
machine gun fire for days. We
lived as rats; but did we COM
plain? Not in the least.
Now, since capital is responsible
for the war and congress gave us
the money, there is only one thing
to do. Pay the debt.
FRANK M. HARKINS.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-04-16
Lawyer
Hit for
HisSt0nd

bOAANo 0A6AACAg
A Lawyer. In most cases that
readily should explain the con-
tents.
In my opinion, if this country
had just about Is per cent more
lawyers, it would be broke with
out the aid of anything else. It
is my opinion that all that is
making him peeved is that some
body else besides him and the
other members of his profession
have something coming from the
government.
The body of men that admit
ted and passed a law to the eff
feet that the government owed
the soldiers that bonus were most
ly lawyers, and I think they were
a lot higher in the profession
than the one I am speaking of.
If he is trying to get on the
right side of the big money by
putting articles like this in the
paper, he would better quit, as
I don't think it will net him much
profit.
Most of the communities are
talking about racketeering. Well,
the sooner they get after the law
yerS and their friends, the sooner
they will have no more rackets.
You will find behind any scheme
that amounts to anything a law
yer in the drivers seat.
A WORKING MAN.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-04-16
Case Is
Declared
Just

$1,000 49,
which he empties his walls of CAL
umny and detraction upon the
heads of the men who offered
their lives during 1917 and 1918
that this nation and free gov
eminent throughout the world
might live.
Now that the danger seems
for the moment passed, and the
mission of these men successful,
they r denounced for asking the
government to pay them the ad-
justed compensation now, when it
would be a life saver to many of
them in this crucial hour of our
history. 1t should be remembered
that men who worked in the
shipyards and other industries did
not need any adjustment, as they
were paid up to $18 a day, and,
as Will Rogers said, Nailed in
shipyardS in silk shirts"
The railroads, after close of the
war, demanded and received their
adjusted compensation cash on
the barrel head. Some of the Eu-
ropean nations came to our treas
ury and got sufficient funds to
pay their soldiers adjusted COM
pensation shortly after they
ceased fighting, and recently the
House of Morgan made a raid
on the finance corporation and
unloaded some bad loans that the
Missouri Pacific railroad owed
them. Why don't Mr.. Powell use
the Morgan raid for his next
theme?
We understand why he won't.
We know that all the predatory
interests in this country are
against us, and we believe that
when the people understand it
they will love us for the enc
mics we have made:
Pleasant it is for the little tin gods
When the great Jove mods
But the little tin gods make their mistake
When they miss the hour that the great
Jove wakes"
Congressman Patman stands
in the national capitol at Wash
ington, the champion of Lazarus
at the gates of Dives. The Ro-
man ambassador stood before
the Carthaginan senate and said:
Il hold peace and war in the
folds of my toga-which shall I
shake out for youP" The Car
thaginans replied: WAR" and
were swept from the earth.
Despite all the efforts of the
predatory interests, our cause is
just and will become a law. If
this congress does not take action
a new bunch of faces will be in
Washington at the next session
and will pass it quickly.
JOHN FOX.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-04-16

The Times herewith presents the views of a rep
resent1tiUe group of Indiana World pCdr Ueterans-and
Ueterans' wiUes-on immediate payment of the bonus
to er-serUice men.
For several days a series Of stories By Tdlcott
Powell has been running IN The Times, giving facts and
figures on cost to the government of compensation of
former service men.
He has told how many veterans, grounded or other
wise disabled IN foreign service, hare receiUed benefits
in lesser degree than many who neUer saw service ON
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-04-16
Lost His
Sight in
Service

a NNA@OO
very sorry that it had to be The
Indianapolis Times which takes
that attitude toward the veterans.
I always have been an admirer
of The Times and its principles.
I enlisted at the outbreak of the
World war. served two years, lost
the sight of my left eye and in
Cured other disabilities which l
could not prove by my medical
record. Therefore, I made claim
under the new law and was grant
ed So per cent.
I am an active member of the
American Legion and Veterans OF
Foreign Wars. The way l feel
toward your paper now, I do not
want it in my home and I believe
other veterans will take the same
attitude. I have a small lunch
room and have fought hard
through this depression.
Seems like I have read or been
told that the government let's
banks and other big business have
money, but I am just a little ex-
soldier. I can't have any money
to hold my business, which proba-
bly, your own paper promised me
back in 10 when I was hungry,
cold, and wallowing in the mud
in France.
WILLIAM BRAMBLETT.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-04-16
"Nof
Beer We
Want"

sentative Patman of Texas, and
do not let the higher-ups in the
American Legion stop the bill that
will pay you the bonus. 1t is not
beer that we want. It is money
to buy our families something to
eat,
On April 6 I read what the
American Legion officers and
wearers of the D. S. c. had to say
against the bonus. These men
have good jobs or have parents to
finance their means through life.
Do not let such men as these
stop you from getting what is
coming to you-your bonus. If
the President should die, Mrs.
Hoover would be after her $4,000
a year, and there would be no OBJ
jections if she would get the
money.
Furthermore, the American Le-
gion never has thought how many
e~x-service men are staying in the
soldiers homes throughout the
United States because they have
no financial means to keep them
outside the homes. These men
would leave the homes as soon as
they received their bonus.
It is true that some men will
blow their money in and have
nothing to show for it, but ninety
nine out of 100 will put it to good
use. There are just as many
holding D. S. C.,s who want the
bonus as there are those who do
not want it.
Write to your congressman, for
$4,000, 100000 will help a lot, out
in circulation.
CHARLES &c RLER.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-04-16
Insult
to
Veterans

April 7 edition, wherein Sidney
Howard, noted playwright, was
reported to have stated, Amer
lean soldiers were we'll paid for
their part in the war"
Such a remark is an insult to
any man capable of earning more
than 81 a day.
Why do you not advocate a
retroactive tax on all money
garnered during the war, that
exceeded the pay of the soldiers?
How in the name of sense do you
arrive at the absurd conclusion
that serving in the army is a
patriotic duty, when a great
many of those remaining at home
in safety are permitted to gouge
the country for all it will stand,
resulting in the un-American
condition Of numerous families &C
cumulating wealth to the extent
that offsprings who have not
earned a penny, never will spend
the interest, whereas millions are
dependent upon charity, and
thousands of ex-soldierS COM
PEELED to rely upon soup lines for
Sustenance?
A large majority of eX-SoldierS
are not affiliated with the Amer
lean Legion, therefore neither the
national headquarters nor in
dividual posts of this organiZa-
ton have a right to speak for the
ex-SoldierS outside of their ranks.
I served sixteen months in
France and as yet have not had
to cash my bonus, nor have I been
examined for compensation. I'm
fortunately this car be said for
altogether too few ex-Soldiers.
What has become of the agita-
ton of 1919 to pass a law to con-
script wealth as we'll as soldiers?
Of course, this will never be
enacted, as history proves greed
for profit is the underlying cause
of all wars. JOE N. CLINE.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-04-16

clothes are so shabby I can't even
look for that kind of work, so I've
got to take anything I can get
where clothes don't count, but so
do the other unemployed.
If the government paid the
bonus, the good landlord would
get his back rent and so be able
to pay his taxes, too. The cloth
ing and shoe merchants would
sell some of their goods, so that
would help some, but Of course if
it's more important to feed the
poor in China, why?
I'm a waiter, and, while I'm
waiting, I'm also thinking.
THINKING WAITER.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-04-16
HoW
About All
This?

American Legion, is protesting
further raiding of the treasury by
the veterans.
We wonder why that post,
composed of men with such dis
tinguished war records, did not
protest a cancellation of war
debts to Europe, the moratorlumS
to our former enemies which is
costing the treasury billions OF
dollars. Why does not that crop
of $4,000 millionaireS which the
ex-soldier made possible do some
of the squawking about the vet
eran relief?
We wonder how much of the
treasury deficit was caused by
those wooden and concrete ships,
Ford's submarine chasers, rail-
road administration, Liberty
motors, etc. Who paid for MI.
Hoover's food administration to
the B~elgians, relief to the near
and far east? How about those
annexations and indemnitieS?
Who paid for the war chest fund,
and those myriads of monumentSP
About widows: The American
soldiers widow got, while he was
in the trenches, SIS a month. The
Australian soldier in war received
SAT a month and his dependent
at home received $50 a month.
Why try to Stagger the ex-sol-
der and the taxpayer with a
SS.OO0,0O0, 900 deficit? They don't
know how much a billion dollars
is. Why not have greatest of
all treasury heads, Andrew Mel
lon explain to them how much is
a billion dollars?
Talcrt. Powell should not be
souawking about a budget, giving
figures, etc. He sounds like one
OF those curbstone patriots who
waved the flag while the boys
marched away to make the world
safe for democracy, or some one
at the head of a Y. NJ. G. A. or
charity drive.
If Talcott Powell knows so
much about able bodied veterans
raiding the treasury, syphilitic
soldiers and doughboys, why does
he rot bring the fact before legal
authorities and have the rogues
fined or imprisoned?
We think his object is to try
to stagger the veterans into can
ceiling their bonus, so that a lot
of New York bankers can eat it
before 1945. Why not ask some
of the Millionaire dollar war
prohteers to cancel their war
bonus certificates? What about
the millions refunded to corpora
tons that had overpaid their in
come tax, and Andrew Mellon,
who had overpaid his own and
refunded the money overpaid with
6 per cent interest for time of
overpayment, and refunded to
himself overpaymentS?
I wonder If Mr.. Powell has any
figures regarding these things.
We wonder how much is spent
for relief banquets preceding
charity drives, etc? Does Mr..
Powell expect these disabled vet
Grams to go to a poorhouse or sell
apples on the street corners?
What became of the third Lib
erty loan which was for the boys?
Anyway, we know that figures
never lie, but liars can figure.
AN UNEMPLOYED
DOUGHBOY.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-04-16
| Pay NoW,
| Not After
He Is Dead

men were writing in on why they
wanted the bonus paid.
I am an eX-Service man. /
served eighteen months overseas
and was in\a all the heavy fight
ing. My health has been ruined
and I am out of work, without
funds and heavily in debt. There
are six in my family and only a
trustee basket for food that I
work two days each week to get.
If the bonus were paid, we could
pay our rent, get clothes and
groceries, and pay off our many
debts. Many a person who does
not know where the next meal is
coming from would thank God if
he had the bonus now when he
needs it, not after he is dead and
gone.
We gave the best days of our
life when our country needed us
and gave them gladly, and we
sacrificed our health. Why not
give us what is due us, now that
we need help? We surely would
appreciate it.
I'm all for the cash bonus pay
ment now.
LEROY INGRAM.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-04-16
They
Keep Big
Profits

hNAO d1 =
showing less patriotism now than
during the war. We were paid
i've and one-twenty-fourth cents
and hour above our living ex-
penSe.
Making allowance to all civil
lanS the rate the government had
Tor each man in the service and
the same rate of pay, now ask
them to refund all the excessive
wages they made over that.
You know their patriotism
won't quite come up to the sacri-
nee the service man made. There
is a big difference between five
and one-twenty-fourth cents clear
profit per, to anywhere from so
cents to a dollar profit an hour.
Next take the manufacturer,
who also demanded a huge profit.
to show his patriotism. Ask him
TO refund some of the profits of
which he robbed the government
and also the people. Give him.
say 81 an hour over operating and
living expense. Will he do that?
NO. You and 1 and every one
else knows that.
Why? Because the rich are
about to die from a small income
tax our government asks of them.
They would rather the country
go bankrupt. They won't do
That for our government, but u
government made a refund of
income tax after the stock market
crash.
And now they have given the
banks a golden egg to borrow
so they may keep their heads
above water, while the service
man was underpaid, according to
what was paid civilians.
Now, if our government well
could afford to pay the huge
profits and excessive wages with
out going bankrupt, refund in
come taxes, loan golden eggs to
banks, pay out millions trying to
enforce the prohibition law, and
On top of that, with our free
heartednesS, donate the wonder
tul revenues which would help
u treasury, to the bootleggers,
then 1 say we were the most I'M
derpaid and lost more than any
one else.
l, for one, resent Talcott Pow
els poems he is writing under
the heading, Veterans Are Beg
ging the Country for a Dole"
1 wonder what MI. Powell did
during the war. and what was
his rate Of pay, and if he got his
old job back, and as an old man
or a new man. ANONYMOUS.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-04-16

He tried to get them treated. Did
he? Mol I only wish Talcott
Powell should suffer one hour
with trench mouth and 1 guaran-
tee you he will retract that state
ment. This is only one case There
are more cases of different dis
eases.
I think the time to help the
largest part of the boys who
served is to pay the rest of their
money before they pass beyond.
They were the ones who fought
and it should have been paid a
long time ago. The government
never can pay in money for what
a lot of the boys went through.
ONE WHO KNOWS.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-04-16

The other side; hon an able-bodied man who incurred
disability in civl life gears after the aoar may be receiv-
ing more compensation than q0idoOs and orphans of
hose aOho gaze their tves overseas.
He has cited figures to support the contention that
immediate payment of the bonus would bring disaster
to the nations financial structure. That is his side of
the argument.
In all fairness, the veterans hare been given oppor-
tunity to present their side of the CONTROVERSY. Here
1T is.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-04-16
Suffered,
Asks Only
Justice

bAAdO Is 90 a
subscriber of your good paper
and a veteran, am entitled to a
small space in this affair.
1 am a veteran and served over
seas in actual service, "a subject
to the treatment of the ordinary
doughboy, who saw actual service
and that treatment "a sleeping
in mud and water when an OPP
portunity came to sleep.
Dug into holes where water COL
lected and slept like varmints.
liked through mud and water
with pack and rifle, ETC., weighing
lit pounds by actual weight.
Forced to wear English issue
shoes which were made for either
foot and fit neither and by so do
ing my toes had to overlap each
other and the toe nails we're half
black from blood blisters under
them, yet I hiked just the same.
Never had my clothes off, except
to battle, for eight months. Was
sick and confined with no care
except what my buddies gave me,
and thanks to them. 1t was a
brothers care as far as they knew
how.
I've hiked without food and
fought for as much as four days
without food, then only turnips
and water, no salt or pepper. All
this for SIPS a day. And now
they call that good pay. You
can't say that included food and
medical care, for we didn't have
that all the time and not in suf1-
Gent quantity at any time.
Ten times that pay wouldn't
have been enough for most Of
these people who are "squawking"
and most of them wouldn't have
gone at any price. We were good
enough to fight for these yellow
backs, but now we are not fit even
to enjoy the pursuit of happiness
which we are supposed to have.
Did we get preference, of jobs
when we came back? No. And
now if you were an ex-soldier you
don't even stand a f1fty-hfty show.
The taxpayer isn't opposing the
bonus. Big corporations and Wall
Street oppose it, but the man it
really hurts is the small taxpayer
and he isn't opposed to it for he
understands better the condition
of the needy and disabled soldier.
1 have paid more back in taxes
of various kinds than the govern
ment ever paid me in salary. After
all my opinion is as good as Mr..
Powells. Likely he's only a man,
too. So let's have the bonus.
Now.
A. P. o. 776
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-04-16
Pleads for
Working
Man

coupons q 4 -
and disqualification from the rich
class. Now give a little front
page space for the views, along
the same line, from the poor class.
I am of the working class of
~ex-service men, striving to rear a
family on a meager salary, and
can represent the sentiment and
feelings of this type of e~x-service
men. The views printed recently
on the front page of your paper
have made my blood go to ITO
degrees, because they have been
backed by the men who are not
in the class OF the majority of
e~x-service men, but + men who
do not need the bonus money,
who can pay for the hospitaliza-
ton they need and who have
been turned down for compensa-
ton or do not need it.
They are afraid they might
have to pay a dollar more for
taxes if this bonus should go
through and, in reality. the work
ing class would shoulder the
burden.
I wish I were in a position to
talk to these men personally, so
I could express the views of the
other side. This type of men
can not see the other side of this
question and are striving to push
the working man down instead of
helping him out.
If this depression is to come to
an end, it will have to be done
by the working man, because
business depends on the man who
spends the money, and not OF
the one who tries to corner all
the money on the market.
In the army the working man
dug the trenches and did the
dirty work, while the moneyed
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-04-16
He Waits
and Also
Thinks

Look them over doctors, attorneys,
artists, newspaper publishers, and
professors, men who have plenty
and don't know what it is to be
hungry. I'll say 95 per cent Of
the ~ex-service men want and need
their money now as never before.
AS for the treasury of the rich
est nation on earth, it can loan
billions to the railroads to pay the
interest on debts, but charges us
AZ per cent interest on our own
money, and I've paid as high as z
per cent. If we don't get the rest
before 1945, we won't have any
coming, as the interest will eat up
the balance.
Canada paid her soldiers from
S 1000 to 81, 300 each and they had
it long ago. I work two days for
the trustee each week for a basket
of groceries, but that doesn't pay
my rent or put clothes on my
back.
They say the trustees are get
ting short of money and soon viii
have to stop the baskets. I've been
q waiter before, but now my
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-04-16
Put the
Blame on
Doctors

k@AS&AA9 - OO0AAN-A
help noticing two or three lines
the second time about men 60
ing into the service with certain
ailments.
I am not speaking for myself.
I was a volunteer and went
through the strenuous examina-
ton of the regular army, and gave
my services for SIS a month,
and whatever congress does on
the bonus question I will have no
grievances.
Now these men who were
drafted into the service with
certain ailments, several that I
know, how can they be blamedP
Why not blame the doctors who
passed them, and took them into.
the service when they were not
physically fit?
EDWIN B. HOLMES.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-04-16
Benefits
Are Paid
by u. S.

of his required period as a gov
eminent employee.
And any e~x-service man with
an honorable discharge, after his
emergency period has terminated,
is just as entitled to hoSpitaliza-
ton.
Who are you supposed to be,
taking up such questions?
Hoping to see your answers
through your paper, also let us
know when the price Of same will
come back to 1 cent, like it used
to be?
ANOTHER Ex-SERVICE MAN.
Delphi, Ind.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-04-16
Try This
Diet on
Family

$1,000 49,
I'll bet he was one of those BOYS
who stayed home and made his
jack while the making was good.
I am a veterans wife. We have
three boys. I wonder how Mr..
Lawyer would like to sit down
to beans and jowl bacon three
times a day, day after day, and
see his children go to school in
rags and on that kind of food. and
his wife never have a change of
dresses or hose or any thread to
sew with. To do without every
thing that makes life half worth
living.
We think he has lots of "guts."
Let him give up his automobile.
his radio. electric lights, steam
heat and get a job with the county
two days a week, and eat Hoover
ham and beans. Maybe that would
make him see the bonus in a diff
ferent light. I don't have a stamp
so am sending this letter with a
friend.
FIVE WHO NEED THE BONUS.