Evening star., 1933-02-19
VETERAN PENSIONS is KEY
TO i. S. BUDGET PROBLEMS
Cut in Payment of Billion Year on
Inflated Currency Is Question for
Roosevelt Administration.
BY MARK SULLIVAN.

TT IS to be hoped that some one is
keeping a record of the current
qulps, Jokes, humorous stories anc
Il wise cracks" about the depression
They constitute, in effect, an ex-
preston of one way the American
temperament reacts to trouble. With
successive phases of the depression,
successive descents of the downward
spiral, the type of joke has changed.
Early in 1880 they took the form of
jibes about President Hoover. He was
the greatest engineer in all history
because in two years he had ditched,
drained and damned a whole coun-
try" The Hoover flag" was an empty
pocket, which the merry jester pulled
inside out and tipped backward and
forward. Mr.. Hoover and Mr.. Mellon
were walking down the street. Mr.
Hoover asked Mr.. Mellon for nickel
to drop in a telephone slot SO that he
could speak to a friend. Take a dime"
said Mr.. Mellon, ''and speak to both
of them"
That stream of Hoover jibes dried
up. largely, when the depression be-
came really serious, and it was realized
about the time of the German mora
torium in 1881, that Mr.. Hoover was
fighting a heroic battle against not
merely an American but a world
Cataclysm.
But other types of jokes arose, and
the sequence of them, if any one has
kept record or will now make one,
composes a cycle of American humor.
The latest of the quips If there is
not a new one by the time this is
printed, is attributed to Owen D.
Young. I prefer not to stand as au-
thority for the assertion that Mr..
Young really invented it, or that the
humorous bafflement which is the
point of this jest really reflects Mr..
Young'S mind. At any time there are
few assumptions so subject to doubt as
that which assigns the paternity of
current jokes. 1t is certain, for ex-
ample that Henry Ford most decidedly
was not the author of the hundreds of
fF'ord jokes" which used to be attrib-
uted to him some Is years ago.
In any event, the contemporary say
ing assigned to Young as author Is to
the effect that he was asked his opinion
about the present state of the country.
The reply attributed to him is I'VE are
in the same boat with Christopher Co.
lumbus. He didn't know where he was
going; when he got there he didn't
know where he was, and when he
got back he didn't know where he had
been"
Veteran Aid Held Key.
To pick out one of the many COM
pleX conditions that aSsail us, and say
this one Is the most important, is
daring adventure in relative rating.
Yet it really is accurate to say that
they key to nearly everything, in Con-
gress and in public discussion, Is COM
pensation paid by the Government to
veterans. It is the central eXplana-
tion of the inaction of the Congress
just ending. 1t is clue to whether the
coming Congress will balance the
budget. That in turn is the key to
whether America is to have or not
30 have imitation of the currency
Doubt about whether Congress will in
flatesor not initiate is what causes busi-
ness to hesitate. In short, veterans
compensation is the keystone to the
whole intricate structure of troubles
that beset the Nation. So far as vet
,erans' compensation may not be the
actual keystone, it is perfect illus
Eation of the other fundamental causes
of our being where we now are; and
the answer to what we shall do about
compensation is the clue that will be
the next phase.
To know the elementary facts about
compensation is the first step toward
understanding what now Is and what is
next to be.
The country pays to or on account
of veterans of all wars roughly 4
Billion dollars year. This Is more
than one-fourth of the entire amount
paid out each year for all purposes.
With the value CT the dollar what it
Is now, the country cannot pay this
4, l111a No %ryy 9n%
pay it now, and still less can the coun-
try pay in future years, because the
amount rises automatically with large
numbers of additional veterans going
on the pension rolls The country
actually does pay, of course. but man.
ages to pay only by borrowing money.
And the country can no more continue
TO borrow money than a private indi-
Eidual can continue to borrow indef1-
pitely.
The country with respect to the vet
eran Is in precisely the same position
as the farmer with his mortgage. The
farmer and his mortgage and the price
of wheat is the simplest illustration,
the classic picture of the dilemma We
are in. The illustration cannot be too
often repeated, for it is the one vivid
and easily understood explanation of
our troubles: A farmer, preceding
1929, borrowed $4,000 At that time
wheat was upward of dollar a bushel,
and with wheat at that price the
mortgage was reasonable in amount
With wheat at upward of a dollar
bushel, the farmer could meet the an
pual interest and take care of the prin-
cipal when due. Now, however, with
wheat at under so cents bushel. the
farmer cannot make his payments. It
is literal impossibility, as fixed fact
as that two and two cannot be added to
make five, nor six, nor any other sum
except four.
Fixed Preceding Boom.
So it Is with the Nation and the vet
erans. The compensation now being
given veterans was fixed preceding the
boom With the dollar what it then
was, the compensation could have been
paid indefinitely. although even Of this
there is some doubt But with the dollar
what it now is, the country cannot pay
a billion dollars a year in veterans
compensation, any more than the
farmer can pay his mortgage with the
S0-cent wheat
That is the picture Of what IS.
From the dilemma in which the coun-
try is in, with a billion dollars a year
to be paid to veterans, there are two