Evening star., 1935-01-01
Bonus Not Due.


soldiers bonus. In q letter to a
Texas Legionnaire the Chief Execu-
tive gave his reasons for believing
that there should be no immediate
cash payment Of the bonus. He
pointed out that there is no sub
stance to the claim that the face
value of the bonus certificates IS
due the veterans under the law pro-
viding for the bonus 1t will not be due
until l945. The President also gave
convincing reasons to prove that the
payment of the bonus now, even to
the extent of s2,20O,00000 would
not prove a stimulus to business as 1t
has been urged it would by bonus
payment advocates. When the latest
law was passed permitting the vet
Grams to obtain more money through
loans on their adjusted service GER
tificates, q billion dollars was re-
leased. It's effect on recovery OF
business was practically nil.
When Congress put through the
soldiers bonus law in 1924 over the
veto Of the late President Calvin
Coolidge, it provided that the pay
ment of the adjusted service certifi-
cates-bonus certihcates-should be
delayed for twenty years. Because Of
this delay, the principal sum OF the
bonus was to be arbitrarily increased
twenty five per cent over what it
would have been had the bonus been
paid without delay. In addition, in
terest on the principal sum was to
run and be compounded for the
period of twenty years. The certifi-
Gates, instead of bearing the amount
of the principal sum which was due
the veterans at the rate of 81 a day
for service in the United States and
SIPS a day for service abroad, carried
the maximum sum which would be
due at the end of the twenty-year
period That is, they carried the
twenty-five per cent increase of the
principal sum granted because Of the
delayed payment and the compounded
interest. To say that the total face
value of the certificates is due the
veterans today under the law then
enacted, when only one-half Of the
period Of delay has expired, is entirely
beyond the facts.
The President is convinced that the
payment of the bonus now would
not be in the best interest of the
veterans themselves. He backed up
this statement with the argument
that nearly all of the veterans die
without property to leave their wild
ows and children except their bonus
certificates, and that these certifi-
Gates act in the place of life insur-
ance.
The announcement again of the
Presidents stand on the bonus on
the very eve of the opening of Con-
gress is interpreted as meaning that
the Chief Executive will make an ag-
gressive fight against the payment
of the bonus at this time. The ad-
vocates of the bonus payment have
waged an unsuccessful fight for sew
eral years. They have recently pre-
dicted, however, that in the new Con-
gress they will have votes enough to
pass their bill, even without the ap-
proval of the President. They will
have the support of those members
who argue that, since the admins
tration is spending billions Of dollars
for public works and proposes to spend
several hundred millions of dollars
for projects like the st. Lawrence
Waterway, there is no good reason
why the veterans Shoulo pe oenleo
of their adjusted service
certificates. 1t is like arguing that
because one end of the house has
fallen in, the whole structure should
be demolished.
The Congress should give first con-
to what is in the interest
of all the people, veterans included.
If it is guided by selfish motives Of
its own and permits itself to be
intimidated by an organized minority
the country is so much the worse off.
1t seems incredible that the Congress,
which was elected largely on the plea
of its own members that they be sent
to Washington to uphold the hands
Of President Roosevelt, should turn
against him on this issue.