Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-04-28
Time to Retrench

The Presidents Commission on Vet
erans' Pensions has produced facts and
figures which should give pause to vet
Grams organizations that seek even bigger
and better benefits for former Servicemen
The commission has found that veterans
and their families today are better off
economically, on the average, than nom
veterans and their families; that men
who have had military service now consti-
tute, with their dependents, 40 per cent
OF the population, and that unless the
trend toward larger privileges for vet
Grams Is checked the annual bill for
veterans BENEFITS will soar far beyond the
present $4.5 billion. And veterans and
their families before long will constitute
a majority of the taxpayers who must
foot that bill.
AS the commission, headed by Cen
eral Omar Bradley. pointed out, benefits
for war veterans began in the Nations
early days under the theory that those
who had sacrificed jobs, or homes, or
health in defense of their country de-
served help from their Government in
re-eStabliShing themselves in the commu-
nifty The emphasis then was on individ-
ual sacrifice for the safety of all. Times
have changed, however. There is increas-
ing pressure nowadays to lay more stress
on the Governments obligation to take
care of" the veteran than on the citizens
obligation to serve and to sacrifice. AS
result, we not only are generous to vet
Grams who engaged in combat-as is
proper-but afford liberal benefits to vet
Grams who were never under fire, includ-
ing those with nonService- connected all
ments.
Now the country faces a long "cold
war" period of military alertness that
will require virtually universal military
service from our young men. The pro-
portion of veterans to nonveteranS will
rise with each passing year And the
costs of giving preferential treatment to
veterans will mount correspondingly. 1t
is time, therefore, to review what we are
now doing and see where we are headed.
The Bradley Commission, in the first Of
several reports, has made it plain that,
with few exceptions in the case of war
disabled veterans, we are doing all that
could reasonably be eXpected-and more.
Furthermore, with social security SyS-
tenn designed to aid all citizens, it would
be more equitable to correlate the vet
Grams and social security programs so
that citizens generally would be entitled
to equal benefits. But the commission
still would have the war-disabled taken
care of adequately
The commissions philosophy-one
that any good citizen ought to subscribe
to-was well summed up thus: "The per-
Torrance of the duties of citizenship
cannot be expected to be painless or free
from sacrifice. Military service, in par
ticular, may require sacrifice on the part
of those who serve This does not mean
that it must be rendered without fair pay
or redress for major handicaps or in
1urieS. However, 1t cannot justifiably be
contended that all sacrifices, however
small and transient, by those in the
Nations military service should establish
entitlement to monetary claim and
special privileges" That is the just
principle which guided the commission
in recommending gradual retrenchment
in the veterans program, rather than the
pensions for-all and other costly pro-
posals being advocated in some veterans
circles.