Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1942-06-23
Service Men
Need Pay
After War
One-Year Bonus Urged
for Soldiers
By DAMON RUNYON

A FTER the first world war
"A came an appalling era OF
crime in the United States. AS
ex-soldiers were occasionally in
volved, some said il was because
our young men had been
schooled to the business Of kill
ing and to a.hard-boiled way OF
life generally and therefore had
developed contempt for law and
order, but that was gross libel.
The direct cause of the erasof
crime was prohibition and its by
product of bootlegging, fostered
and encouraged by many OF our
leading citizens and even the
officeholders who refused to
obey the law. The percentage OF
eX-soldiers concerned in the
graft and murders that rose out
of the bootlegging was quite
small compared to the number OF
men who had been in the war.
II was the custom in those
days to exaggerate the war serv-
ice of any OF the prominent
criminals of the period who may
have been in the army or navy.
| remember that one distin-
guished cut-throat OF Chicago
usually was reported 10 have
been machine gunner IN
France and some argued that his
experience there had influenced
his subsequent bloody career,
but I do not recall that II was
ever definitely established that
he had been a gunner, or IN
France, either.
I believe il was just popular
rumor which some writer OF the
period cooked up to lend little
color to the murderous gentle
man. OF all the thousands oil
desperadoes of the prohibition
period. only a few were former
soldiers. They were mainly young
civilian buZzards following the
wake of the war.
However. there is no uouDt
that there was great discomfort
and unrest among the men VINO
were suddenly thrown back into
civil life after long stretch OF
service and found themselves
iobless and broke. There Is no
doubt that those who did finally
fall into crime were driven 10 il
by their poverty. which in those
days was perhaps accentuated TO
them by the spectacle OF the
profiteers, who did not go TO
war, rolling in wealth.
II was enough 10 make any
man who had offered his life to
his country plenty sore, espe-
cially when his only reward on
discharge was the outgoing pay
of about 60 dollars. They found
their old jobs in the possession
of fellows who had craftily
lodged service. The civilian pop
ulation engrossed in new inter-
ests and eager TO forget war,
elbowed the former soldiers
aside.
IT IS always the same story.
Il The men who went out in SO
had similar experience. The
soldiers Of the COS especially in
the North, likewise were disre-
garded after the war. Probably
il goes back 10 the revolution.
There is no greater reproach TO
the civilian public than its atti-
tude toward former service men
after the cheering hasdied away.
That is why / would like TO
see the pay Of the soldiers and
sailors in this war continued
for a year after thier discharge
from service. / think II would
give each and every man the
opportunity of looking around
at his leisure and getting his
bearings. II would provide Sc
curity against financial distress
during this period. II would
eliminate unrest 10 a great
extent.
I THINK this continuance OF
pay would be accepted by the
men in lieu of the bonus that
they are sure 10 eventually de-
mand. There is no difference in
paying il Immediately after the
war or years later. except that
il would be more welcome inn
mediately.
A young fellow without the
worry of finding a job and pro-
viding for his dependents on his
mind is certainly more of an
asset 10 the nation than one en-
FILTERED by the ingratitude OF
his country.
l realize that my plan in
wolves a large sum Of money.
But what is money against the
sacrifice the average man makes
for his country when he enters
the service? And il you are
commercially minded, let me
suggest that almost every dol
lar that would be paid under my
plan goes back Immediately into
the channels of business.
Copyright. 1912. by King Features
Distributed by International News Service
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Ok WEARS AGO TOnAY