Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1949-01-09
Vets Bonus
Approaches
WO Billion
Fifteen States Are
Either Paying or
About to Pay

The mountain of money piling up
for veterans bonuses is near the 49,
600, 900, 900 MARYLAND it may go
higher in 1949.
A survey by the Associated Press
at the start of a new legislative sea-
son shows:
Nine States now. are paying out
81, $40, 256, 900 to 4,750,Oo0 World War
II, vets or their survivors.
Voters in six other States have
approved plans to give about $452,-
100000 to approximately $4,000 for
mer GIs, but the cash has not yet
been distributed.
Bonus programs involving around
$640, 100000 have cleared the first
hurdles on the legal tracks of two
more States, but they still have a
lap or two to 60.
Thus, as the new year begins, Is
States are paying or preparing to
pay 1892, 256, 900 to 5,706,000 living
veterans or the next of Kin of their
dead buddies.
Approved by Referenda
If there is fast and favorable &C
ton in the two States where the
bonus already has passed the first
tests-Indiana and Pennsylvania
the total could be raised to about
81, 632 ,256, 900 in 1949.
These tWo-and other States-may
get into the bonus column. Or they
may not. Bonus propositions got ap-
proval Of voters in six States in last
November's election, but were de-
feated in Nebraska, Oregon, Wis
consin and Missouri.
The nine States already paying
bonuses are Vermont, New Hamp-
shire, Massachusetts,, Rhode Island,
Illinois. Michigan, New York, Con-
necticut and Ohio. A recent tally
showed they had distributed 4,112,-
543 checks for a total of $1,207,-
100000.
Bonus plans have been approved
in referenda in Iowa, Minnesota,
North Dakota, South Dakota,
Louisiana and Washington. But.
before payments can be made, Leg
islatures must iron out financial
and other details, or officials must
set up machinery to handle claims.
Indianans voted in favor of a
bonus last fall, but the result was
not binding on the men who hold
the States purse strings. Thus, the
lawmakers must decide If they want
to make grants and, II so, where
they will get the funds. The State
Chamber of Commerce figures q
bonus would cost about $4,000, 900
Programs Vary in Detail
The 1s47 Pennsylvania Legisla-
ture approved q s500,0oo, 900 bonus
bond issue proposal, but, before the
plan can 60 into effect, it must be
approved by the 1949 Legislature
and in a Statewide vote.
Bonus bills or petitions are ex.
pected to be laid before lawmakers
this year in Arizona, California
Colorado, Maine, Maryland, West
Virginia and Delaware, and may
be presented in Tennessee, Texas
New Jersey and Missouri.
The programs already in opera
ton vary in detail. Under most OF
them the checks 60 to men ano
women who served in the armed
forces and who were bona fide resi-
dents of the State before they en-
tered the service.
Amounts authorized range fror1
81 ,256 900 in Vermont to 100000
900 in New York. The maximum
sum that can be collected by 9
vet runs the scale from 500 in
New Hampshire to 1903 in Illinois
The Illinois average is 1915.
Twenty States provided bonuses
in the wake of World War I. But
the total came to only a bit more
than $40O,0O0,00O.
Distributed by the Associated Press)