Evening star., 1946-10-20
UNCLE SANS SOLOMON
Continued from page five

Continued from page five
out he really married The Army can't change that
questionable lads such as trial marriages and mail
oroer divorce have no standing in the VA. Many a
iedr rt-oroKen woman has discovered too late that
Mexlcan mail-order divorce usually isn't worth
ue postage Odom has warned innocents about shv-
seefs VINO take $500 to provide Mexican divorce.
Out hundreds OF women keep getting burned
odom feels the best advice he can give veterans
ana wives to keep their marital records STRAIGHT
sidifiage and divorce papers. like bank books and
olth certlhcates, ought to be kept in a safe place
50 they can be hauled out when necessary.
IN much OF the veterans legislation Congress has
passed SINCE the war, Odom has been called n as one
senator puts it, Ito help write bill 80 we can agree
on IT, When Congress was revising the CT loan
legislation, the VA was given 80 days to work out
the panstaking detail that would eventually affect
every oank insurance company and other financial
mouse IN the country Odom got his team around the
conference table for marathon session and came up
with the regulations in three weeks
What's a NNcs.vsy..ee"?
MASSACHUSETTS Congresswoman Edith Nourse Rog-
ers and delegation of CTS recently asked Odom to
neip on bill to grant automobiles to veterans who
nao lost legs He sat down in the House vestbue and
wrote the legislation, which, after going through the
meat grinder of several committees came up in quite
oherent form and was passed in August
The law, as passed. provides that the legless vet
eran may have an automobile cor other conveyance"
mat last clause Odom feels sure going to bring in
some veterans who yearn for motorboats or arpanes
ne PROBABLY have to decide sooner or later, just
what other conveyance" means.
Under the VAS job training program which pro-
vldes allowances up to $50 month for veterans who
trade hacI I,1
training leaves off and monkey business begins He
gave short shrift to the bank vice-president who
was training to he president. He also turned
thumbs down on lawyers who saw on-the-iob
training as cheap way to get office help. And
ne uttered quiet if exasperated. NO." to baseball
clubs who wanted to fill their farm teams with vet
Grams Learning the trade of baseball at Uncle Sans
expense Odom insisted defining jobs as Jobs and
training as training.
On the other hand. Odom heartily approves Job
training for veteran who buys his own farm and
learns how to run it. Many veteran will be able to
buy small farm with the aid of CT loan He may
then draw UP to $50 month job-training allowance
while studying modern, scientific farming.
I'm country boy myself" Odom remarks 81
think it's fine thing for some of veterans to get
back the land and learn to farm scientifcalv.''
Hes Frou Missouri
ODoM now 60. grew up on farms in Henry and
Webster Counties. Missouri and was schoolteacher
studying law in night school, until he entered the
Amy in 1917. He joined the Veterans Administra-
ton. formerly called the Veterans Bureau in 1920
and became Solicitor in 1889. He organized the
Guardianship Service which looks after the interests
of 10000 mentally ill veterans and 80 600 children of
veterans. Having served in World War and hav-
ing sent two sons to World War II Zone was
killed in Italy,, Odom doesn't have to reach out
for the veterans viewpoint. He has it.
Some veterans think they coming up against
bureaucrats in the VA, who out to prevent them
from getting what they entitled to-" Odom says
Actually. not single one of us has that idea not
even the messenger boys We charged with repre-