Evening star., 1932-10-27

competent and minor wards, burials,
the maintenance Of $4,000, 10000 Of
insurance and the administration of the
bonus law, to which later I will specifi-
cally refer, a vast organization must be
set up. We have $4,000 employees on
our rolls-in administrative offices, in
technical services. hospitals, homes and
supply depots. We design our own hos
pitals and homes; We maintain and re-
pair them. We must daily cook our
$4,000 rations; must have doctors, dem
lists, nurses, technicians, librarians.
seamstresses, gardeners, mechanics. We
must maintain a tremendous service of
supply. We must have legal advice and
determination. We must disburse and
audit, and we must perform all the incl
dental clerical and administrative work.
and must rent space where Federal
space IS not available
Thus we have three forms Of expense
direct benefits, that Is, cash allow
ances: indirect benefits, including the
cost Of service such as disqualification;
and, third, the cost Of administration,
or overhead. Last year-1932-the di-
vision of expense of a total OF $84l,-
100000 diSbursed for all purposes ex-
cept for civil service retirement, was
as follows: Eighty-six per cent for di-
rect benefits, 10 per cent for indirect
benefits and 4 per cent for administra-
ton. I consider such record OF ad-
ministrative expense good, and continu-
ously we are striving to better it.
So much for the scope of our vet
erans' problem, except to say. that for
the next 10 years, including the current
fiscal year, not considering the posi-
bility of the prepayment OF the bonus,
but including bonus payments to most
certificates matured by death. 1t is eS-
timated that for all forms of veterans
relief and its administration there will
be disbursed more than $9.130,000, 900,
provided further liberalization Of our
veteran relief laws is not effected. And
at that time the accumulative cost to
the country of relief for veterans Of all
wars for all time will have reached the
very considerable total of SIG 900, ,000, 900.
Two Other Major Phases.
There remain two other major phases
of this problem-first, whether there are
any inequities in our present laws, both
from the standpoint Of the veteran and
from the standpoint Of the Nation. By
that l mean whether the veteran prop
erly may expect favorable amendments
to the laws which will grant additional
has been authorized and certain uf our
statutes confer benefits for which there
is no warrant. The second problem Is
what should be done with the statutes
now Oh our books; that is, whether 1t IS
better to scrap them and commence
afresh or to so mold them as to bring
about a sound national policy OF vet
erans' relief which will eliminate exist
ing inequalities and which will confer
on veterans of all wars the same form
of benefit where like conditions obtain.
At this time far overshadowing all
other subjects in the first two phases.
economical ani political. is the proposal
looking to the prepayment OF the So
called bonus.
On May 49, 1924, the Congress, over
a presidential veto. provided, in sub
stance, that each veteren receive a
basic service credit of 81 a day for each
day of service in the United States and
SIPS day for each day of service over
seas. To those men who had basic
cre3its Of $50 or less payments were
authorized IN cash. In the event of
death to a veteran prior to this legiSla-
tion the value of the credit was to be
paid to the dependents of the veteran in
10 equal quarterly installments If the
amount of credit was more than $50,
otherwise in one sum. For living vet
erans with a service credit in excess OF
$50 there was added Is per cent as an
offset for deferring payment. and this
resultant amount was applied as sin
gle net premium to purchase for the
veteran a paid-up endowment certifi-
cate or, If you like. insurance policy.
maturing upon the death of the veteran
or at the end of 20 years; that is, COM
mencing 1945. In keeping with insur-
ance practices, a loan value was estab-
lished for these certificates, commencing
after they were two years old.
To redeem all of the certificates issued
it was provided that sn adjusted service
certificate fund would be established by
the appropriation annually by Congress
of an amount sufficient to cover the
necessary reserve for the number of Ger