Evening star., 1935-04-15
The olitical Mill
BY C.. Could Lincoln.

Now that President Roosevelt has
returned to Washington the pressure
for action on the soldiers bonus by
the Senate Is growing. Senator Har-
rison Of Mississippi, chairman Of the
Finance Committee, to which the Pat
man bill, passed by the House, has
been referred. discussed the matter
with the President at the White House
yesterday. Growing out Of the con-
ference are rlmors Of . compromise,
which would satisfy both the President
and the great majority Of the vet
erans. The veterans, however, have
been insistent that they shall have
cash settlement Immediately of their
adjusted service certificates and that
the interest due the Government on
loans they have made against their
certificates be remitted. The Presi-
dent, on the other hand, has been
equally tnsistent that the Government
shall not have this additional expendi-
ture placed upon it right now, partic-
ularly since the money Is not due for
another 10 years.
Unless the plans for compromise
work out, the issue will have to go
to a showdown. No one doubts that
a majority of the Senate will support
a bonus cash payment bin. If it does,
then the measure, after conference
with the House If the Senate amends,
the Patman bill will go to the
President for his approval or veto.
Then the question as to whether
the President or the veterans are the
stronger will have to be settled, II the
President returns the bill to the
House without his approval. Two
thirds of the members voting In each
House will be needed to override .
presidential veto. While the friends
of the cash payment are confident
they can muster more than tvo-thirds
Of the House to support the bonus
bill, they still have doubts about the
Senate.
It Is this doubt about the Senate
that might lead the veterans and their
friends to accept a compromise, pro-
vided 1t hurried up the chances OF
cash payments. Whether the Presi-
dent will be willing to compromise Is
still another question. Senator Har-
rison apparently is hopeful that some
kind Of legislation can be worked out
that the President will accept. One
plan, it Is reported, looks to the pay
ment Of the bonus in 1888 instead of
1945, on the theory that the 20-year
period of the certificates should really
have dated from the time the armistice
was signed and the war was over. This
plan also contemplates the issuance
of negotiable Government bonds to
veterans who wish to exchange their
bonus certificates for such securities.
Such a transaction, it Is urged, would
enable the veterans who 80 desired to
cash in" without further delay. The
veterans, however, have insisted that
they should not be compelled to mar
ket bonds to get their cash. but that
1T should come direct from the
Treasury and without further delay.
II the principals in the discussion
of bonus compromise find it impos-
sible to reach a satisfactory conclu-
sion, then the Senate leaders will have
to determine whether it would be bet
ter to pass the Patman bill Of the
House or some other measure. The
Patman bill calls for the payment of
the ,30OO00,000 bonus total in
"greenbacks," Treasury notes. It
seeks to set up what its supporters
cau controlled expansion of the cur
rency. Its opponents say that there
Is no such animal as controlled ex-
pansion or controlled imitation. Once
currency imitation or expansion gets
under way, they contend, there can be
no control. A presidential veto OF the
Patman bill. it is said. might be easier
to sustain than a veto of a bill which
provided for the payment Of the bonus
without The initiation feature OF the
Patman bill. So the administration
leaders might be tempted to let the
Patman bill 60 through. believing that
they could kill 1t IN the end.
The bonus issue has been knocking
at the door of Congress every yeaS
for some time. Many of the members
of Congress would like to dispose of it
once and for all. It is one Of those
issues that bob up to give them
trouble with this or that group OF
constituents The question arises in
many minds, however, whether the
payment of the bonus will not merely
be a forerunner of further trouble,
with demands for pensions for the
World War veterans soon developing
Every effort was made during the war
to SO arrange war risk insurance and
other benefits, and later through COM
pensation to injured veterans and the
bonus certificates, to avoid the old
soldiers pension troubles which grew
out of the Civil War. There is talk
now of writing into q compromise
bonus bin q declaration by Congress
that the Government is against fu-
ture pensions for the veterans, where
disability is not traceable to war
service-and then the veteran will be
cared for not by pension but through
the compensation features of the ex-
isting law.
The possibility Of former President
Hoover entering the contest for the
Republican nomination next year is
discussed by the Wheeling Intelli-
gencer editorially. 1t is said in in
formed quarters that the editorial re-
fleets rather correctly the attitude OF
West Virginia Republicans. After
stating that the InteAigencer has seen
nothing in any thing that Mr.. Hoover
has said or done to justify the assump-
ton he will be candidate next year,
the editorial continued:
"As a candidate for the presidency,
however, Mr. Hoover is out Of the
question, and undoubtedly Is aware
of the fact. No matter how sound he
may have been as a President, he Is
not the man to lead the Republican
party IN this campaign. Nor is any
other figure who was prominent in
his administration the right man.
Justly or unjustly, the American peo-
pie rejected the leadership of such
men as Mr.. Hoover. Mr. Mills, Mr..
Reed, Mr.. Mellon, Mr.. Watson, ct al.
The fact that they now have lost faith
In Mr.. Roosevelt, doesn't necessarily