Evening star., 1932-08-02
MARYLAND and the B. E. F.

There have been many colonization
experiments in this country, from the
Pilgrims on down through the Nudists,
but none of them has been more fan
tastic nor more surely doomed to fall
ure at the outset than the plan Of
the routed bonus marchers to establish
! their new haven Of refuge in pleasant
Anne Arundel County, Maryland. a
few miles from the little two-store-
and-a-postof1ce village of Waterbury.
And there is certain irony, the humor
| Of which probably does not escape the
popular Governor himself in the fact
that the problems attendant upon
the proposed establishment of the new
B. E. F. colony have been dumped on
the Maryland Free State, where the
Bill of Rights Is supposed to be held
in more than ordinary esteem and
where it is a fondly held tradition that
so long as a man behaves himself on
his own property he can do pretty
much as he pleases.
1t is a fortunate thing, too, that the
business of solving the latest phase of
the bonus marchers' problem has fallen
to the Governor and the ofifals Of
the Maryland Free State. LEY will
escape, at the outset, any possible
criticism for hasty and precipitate ac-
| ton. Surely, If human rights are safe
anywhere, they should be safe in
| Maryland!
What are the problems? The owner
of tract Of land has decided it to the
B. E. F. The B. E. F. plans to estab-
lish there a self supporting colony. The
leaders of the B. E. F. guarantee that
there will be no trespassing on other
property, that there will be no admit
lance to radicals or any but 100 per
cent American veterans, and that
through the industry Of the colonists
in cutting timber and saving lumber,
farming the land etc, and possibly
through the acceptance of donations
of food and clothing, they will not be-
come public charges. Here the B. E. F.
and homeless veterans may assemble
and live peacefully with mankind, sure
OF haven Of rest and a task for idle
hands. How could anything be wrong
with that? What, in other words, could
be better or more practical solution of
the problem?
The residents of Washington, D. c.,
and of Johnstown, Pa, In particular,
and the residents of Boston, Detroit
San Francisco and Houston, in general,
will no doubt applaud the decision of
the veterans to move to Anne Arundel
County, Md.
But what about the residents Of Anne
Arundel County?
In that question one discovers the
nub of the whole B. E. F. problem.
Gov. Ritchie has spoken for the ma
jority of these residents when he inter-
poses a few realistic objections to the
"Arcadian" scheme of the B. E. F. The
land chosen Is not suitable for farming.
It is wilderness of scrub timber.
Lumber companies long since have gone
over that land, and an abandoned saw
mill is a relic of days long gone when
fine old trees yielded their quota OF
railroad cross-tieS. There is no good
water supply-only an abandoned well
and a spring. There are no sewerage
facilities. The site is surrounded by
many farms, and some Of them afford
living, no doubt, to the landlord
farmers and their families, while the
rundown condition of others speaks
volumes for the way the battle to wrest
a living from the soil has turned. In
addition, "our own Maryland people"
says Gov. Ritchie, "are suffering sadly
now from the effect of the depression,
want and unemployment. We cannot
be expected to accept in our midst an
organized body of men who do not be-
long here and who would ce-tsinly be
objects of public charity at time when
we will have to strain every energy and
tax every resource to care for our own
people"
Is there not something in this remi-
niscent of the sentiments voiced, not
so long ago, in Washington? And OF
the sentiments now voiced, with extraor-
binary vigor, by the residents of
Johnstown? Does it not make lot
of difference, in other words, whose OK
Is going to be gored?
Absorbed by their own communities,
the bonus marchers will find the refuge
and the help that they now seek. When
they begin marching about the country,
several thousand strong, the hand Of
every community will turn against
them-not for lack Of sympathy, but
because the instinct of self-protection,
not to mention common sense, asserts
itself far stronger than emotional out
pourings over the plight of oStensibly
homeless men.
Gov. Richie has given the bonus
marcherS sound advice. His advice is
that they return to their homes. That
advice has been given many times be-
1OTe. IL dS OeAOAC' 0NNAA N'NA'- 49, ~ ~
deaf ears and as Governor, responsible
for the enforcement of law in Mary
land, Mr.. Ritchie finds the law defed
by an angry mob, he will count him
self fortunate If law and authority can
be preserved without the Intervention
Of armed troops.
-S-@0%-S-------
The patient old stock ticker is doing
! its best to click into rhythm with
( Happy DAYS Are Here Again"