Evening star., 1933-06-08
The Political Mill
By C. Gould Lincoln.

President Roosevelt, victorious to Q
remarkable degree IN his fight to gel
through Congress his economy act cut.
! ting the compensation and pension o1
veterans by $40o, 900 900, has come face
to face with political factor which
proved too strong for other Chief Elk.
ecutives. The political power of the
veterans Of the World War, combined
with the power Of the veterans of Other
wars, has been shown to be tremendous
That power has been exercised through
members of Congress. A demand fol
| legislation by the veterans and theil
organizations has been just too much
| for the majority of the members oi
| the House and Senate to turn down
| no matter what their own ideas regard
| ing the demands may have been. First
| it was the bonus and since then it has
been ever mounting and every swell.
| ing compensation Of the veterans. with
| thousands upon thousands Of veteran,
obtaining disability compensation wher
! their disability had no provable con-
nection with their military service
When President Roosevelt took office
| last March he quickly announced 9
determination to put an end to thi.
orgy OF spending, which threatened
y
| try into a morass of debt from which
it could not escape.
In the months that elapsed between
the passage Of the economy act and the
passage of the independent offices ap-
propriation bill, which carries the ap-
propriations for the Veterans Admins
tration, the veterans have been busy
There have been cases found where the
cuts in compensation OF men who were
actually disabled in combat have been
drastic. With these instances the vet
erans and their friends in Congress have
gone to the bat and are insisting on
putting back on the rolls Of the Govern
ment practically all Of the veterans who
! were to be taken off the pay roll through
the operation of the economy act. Pres
ident Roosevelt has insisted that he is
fighting for principle; that he favors
the compensation of all veterans whose
disability is connected with their mill
tary service, but that there shall be an
end to compensating men who left the
military service sound and whole and
whose disabilities nav in many cases
out Of their own later misconduct. The
President will have the backing of mil
lions of the people in his position.
\ X
1t looks as though the Democratic
leaders in Congress, and perhaps the
administration itself, had been asleep
at the switch when they permitted week
after week to 60 by without bringing
in the independent offices appropriation
bill and forcing 1t to an immediate
passage. Had it followed right on the
hnol fNf fhn nt h Wa
been a law long ago and in the shape
which the President demanded. The
long period of time, however, enabled
the veterans and their supporters to
bring the pressure to bear necessary
to force into the appropriation bill an
amendment by the Senate which adds
$170 900, 900 of expense and restores to
the Government rolls thousands Of men
who under the economy act were no
longer to receive compensation. The
Senate having taken this action, the
House Of Representatives seems to be
falling over itself to get back into the
good graces Of the veterans by agreeing
to the Senate amendment or even going
further with an amendment of the
Senate amendment in their devotion to
the veterans.
Grover Cleveland was the only Presi-
dent who has in the past successfully
called halt on pension legislation for
veterans. He set his back against the
payment of pensions to veterans of the
Civil War who had no service connected
disability when Congress was flooded
with bills to pay pensions indiscrimi-
nately. His vetoing Of these bills helped
TO bring about his defeat at the next
election. When Calvin Coolidge vetoed
the soldiers bonus bill back before he
came up for nomination for President
In 1924 the Republican Congress, aided
by the Democrats, promptly passed the
measure over the Presidents veto. He
was elected, but many of his Republi-
can supporters insisted they had done
Mr.. Coolidge q good turn by putting
through the legislation for the soldiers
bonus over his protest; that had the
Dill failed to become law the victory
OF Mr.. Coolidge might have been doubt
ful, even though the Democrats had
come to grief in their desperate intra-
party fight in Madison Square Garden
that year and the late Senator Robert
M. La Toilette of Wisconsin split the
Coolidge opposition by running as an
independent candidate for President.
Herbert Hoover sought to stem the
tloe OF increased veterans compensation
and pensions, but his veto of such
legislation was overrun, too. He tried
to get into the economy act of the lat
Ter part OF his administration a proposal
TO reduce the veterans pay by millions
OF dollars. but his recommendations got
nowhere. The victory of President
Roosevelt, therefore, when the economy
Dill went through this year was con-
sldered almost miraculous. Now the
Congress, however, appears intent upon
undoing most of what the President
has obtained in the way of stemming
the tide OF veterans compensation. If
the Congress succeeds it will represent
the nrst big setback Mr.. Roosevelt has
mad since he entered the White House.
win any Of the States which hold a
popular vote on the proposed repeal of
the eighteenth amendment, now sub
m1tted in the form of a constitutional
amendment, vote against repeal? The
question very well arises following the
remarkable outcome of the vote this
week in Indiana. Indiana not long ago
was banner dry State. It had the
most stringent State prohibition en-
1orcement act perhaps IN the entire
country. The vote in Indiana stood
$4,000 for repeal to $4,000 against.
The result was the election of 246 wet
delegates to the State constitutional con-
yention which must pass upon repeal to
S3 dry delegates. The dry organizations,
including the Anti-Saloon League. cam
paigned vigorously in the HooSier State
IN an effort to stem the tide against
national prohibition. Their represent
atives are attempting to discount the
result in that State But the fact of
the matter is that sentiment for repeal
seems to have run far stronger In all
the States than any one visualized a few
months ago.
Commenting on the Indiana result.
Jouett Shouse, president of the Associa-
tion Against the Prohibition Amend
ment, urged that other States take
early action, so as to put an end to
the struggle and make it possible for
10 hf1i,.