Evening star., 1935-12-31
PARLEY ON BONUS
PROVES GENERAL
Byrns and Patman Fail to
Evolve New Suggestion
for Compromise.
RACKGROUND-

BACKGROUND
Wild elephant OF American poll
tics for past is years, question OF
bonus atDdrd to World War Oeterdns
has plagued eUery administration
since that OF President Harding.
Political pressure OF reterans be-
came SUFFICIENT in 1922 to force
passage, but peto OF President
Harding i0GS upheld by Senate. In
1924, ouer Deto OF President Cool
idge, Congress passed adjusted
compensation measure by Which
notes issued Mould fall due In 1945.
Boom days brought relief, but de-
preston brought bonus army"
and narrow defeat Of bill for tmnre-
didte payment of certificates dur
ing HooDer administration.
Last Spring Congress passed the
Pdtman bill, calling for $4,000 .000.-
900 paper money. President Roose-
Delt petoed measure and Dds up
held By Senate.
BY the Associated Press.
An hours conference between
Speaker Byrns and Representative
Patman, Democrat, of Texas, House
bonus bloc leader, ended today with
no new suggestions for compromise
of the ticklish cash bonus issue.
Author of a measure to pay of the
bonus with $4,000, 100000 of new
money-the one President Roosevelt
vetoed last session-Patman left the
Speakers Office with only one terse
phrase for reporters:
II have nothing to say-see the
Speaker"
Byrns said no suggestions for ham
ding the bonus question when 1t
comes up early in January were ad-
vanced during Gne discussion. He
added that none would be until after
a Steering Committee backing the
Patman bill meets Thursday.
There was no specific discussion
OF the bonus" Byrns said. 1T was
entirely general. There were no sug-
gestions made or anything of that
sort. That will be left until after the
Steering Committee meets"
He said the question of attempting
to frame a compromise measure that
might be acceptable to the admins
tration was not canvasSed.
The bonus question came up at the
Presidents press conference yesterday,
when he was asked if he had changed
his mind on the Patman bill. He
turned the query aside by asking in
reply if there was such bill. AS
sured there was, Mr.. Roosevelt sug-
geSted the best policy would be to
wait and see what sort of bonus legis-
lation was put forward.
Some members of Congress are talk
ing about knocking the inf1ationary
elements out of Patman's bill. but
Senator Thomas. Democrat, Of Okla
homa, leader of the Patmanites in the
Senate, is promising a fight on any
orthodox method of payment.
There is an, element of support fol
the Byrnes-Steiwer bill, which woulc
leave the method of financing to the
Treasury. Under this plan, however
veteran who collected Immediately
would get about 81 per cent of the
value of his adjusted service certifi-
cate. If he waited until 1888 he woulc
collect in full, This, however, has M
appeal to proponents of immediate
payment in full.
Representative Rankin, Democrat
of Mississippi, came forward yester-
day with a proposal for payment by
using some of the 40 billion dollars
worth of gold" that lis simply lying
idle in the Treasury while soldiers &C
unpaid and the country suffers for
want of an adequate circulation
medium"
Rankin said $4,000 900, 900 of the
gold surplus could be set aside anc
currency issued against it to pay the
bonus. That, he contended, woulc
get rid of a perplexing issue, restore
commodity prices, diminish relief roll:
and bring back general prosperity
more than anything that could bt
done.