Red Lodge daily news combined with Carbon County news., 1933-07-05
Our Government
How 1t Operates
VETERANS
ADMINISTRATION

- which this. or any other gov
eminent. has been called upon to
solve involves the veterans of the
World war. 1t Is a problem that has
bedeviled congress and one Presi-
uent after another. and Ii Is going
TO bedevil more congresses, and
more Presidents, for the answer is
not in sight and In this year alone,
the payments to veterans under one
or another of the h~undred-odd vet
eran relief acts amounts to the as
founding total of S9S5.00O ,00O-just
about one-fourth of the operating
cost of the government, or that part
paid for running expenses.
All of this vast sum, and 1t has
been growing year by year, Is paid
out through one agency. namely, the
veterans administration. The vet
Grams administration Is not In the
fight; Ii is not a part of the prob
lem. Ii is simply the agency through
which the money passes, never to
return to the federal treasury.
Undoubtedly, there is a large sum
OF this total which the taxpayers
would not have returned TO the
treasury. Surely. there is none who
would object to a governmental and
public expression of gratitude In the
form of compensation aud care for
the widows and orphans left behind
by those who made the supreme
sacrifice, or for those men whose
lives were wrecked in the service.
The care of them is recognized ev-
erywhere as an obligation that must
be met. But about the remainder of
this sum. q real battle wages for
that involves the bonus. Ii includes
payments In the nature of compen.
sation or disqualification and the
like for causes not remotely con-
nected with the war. These are the
things that are being questioned.
and unless all signs fail, congresses
of the future are going to be con-
fronted by 1t, because there never
has been an investigation made to
disclose what share of the nearly a
billion dollars falls within the recog-
nized requirement of caring for
widows and orphans and wartime
disabled
The best available figures indicate
that something like 100000 persons
are receiving payments In one form
another under the veterans re-
lief acts. But that Is not all. There
is that demand, best exempllfied by
the bonus march on Washington. for
payment of the remainder of the bo-
nus In cash. Half of the sum that
was intended originally to be paid
to the veterans In 1915, or prior to
that time to be paid TO their bene-
ficiaries In cas- Of death already has
been made available, In the form Of
loans. There Is no denying, how
ever, that some Of the veterans have
organized powerful groups to force
through to carry out their
wishes, and If they do, congress will
vote a total of two billion, four hun
dred million dollars out of the treas
ury at one fell swoop.
1t has been pointed out as this bo-
nus question has been debated up
and down that the federal treasury
Is likely to end the current year next
June 80 with another deficit. 1t had
a deficit of S9S3,0O0, 900 on June 30.
1881, and more than two and a half
June 80. 1882. so imagination
Is not required to see what will hap
pen If the bonus is voted. 1t Will be
more taxes Of more bond Is
sues which the taxpayers of the
eventually will have to
meet.
But the veterans have a claim
They point to the fact that fifty
years after the Civil war, the fed
eral government was paying pen
sions that amounted to as high as
s300,000.000 a year, and even now,
50 years after the war between the
states, pensions drain SIPS, 0O0 900
the treasury.
AS was stated, however, the veter-
ans administration is not a party
10 the controversy, except incident
ally. 1t goes on carrying out the
which congress has passed and
out the money which con-
yress has appropriated. 1t does the
Job through some eight or ten thou
sand employees. scattered through
but the country. They are necessary
Il funds are to be handled and II
the hundred or more hospitals to
which veterans may go for treat
.ent are to be supervised.
The veterans administration has
10 get as near to those It serves as
IAN be done conveniently. Hence. the
afty-odd district Offices; hence, the
local physicians In 80 many commu-
nlties, hence the examining boards
n so many sections. 1t would ap-
pear that the veterans admlnistra-
lion eats up a tremendous sum In
salaries. The cost of handling these
payments to the veterans or their
oenefciaries Is only about 5 per cent
the total. Criticism has been d.
to the agency from time to