tudes attendant thereon; if you yourselves were, from actual experience, about to meet with the many and varied problems which are the inevitable outgrowth of the transitory period through which they are now passing, I feel sure that there would not be a moment's hesitation, on your part, in reporting this bill out. May I, then, look for prompt and decisive action from you? I am, gentlemen, BRICKLAYERS' AND MASONS' UNION, No. 37, Hon. CHAIRMAN WAYS AND MEANS COMMITTEE. Thanking you in advance. Fraternally, yours, DEAR SIR: Will you kindly see that the committee gives a favorable and prompt report on bill H. R. 7923, so that it will at once come up before Congress. Just what the delay is caused by no one can see, but it is evident that this bill is receiving little or no attention. The Veterans of Foreign Wars are backing this bill heart and hand, and they would appreciate a little immediate attention. As long as this bill has been pending, it is certainly high time that some action was taken on the matter, as the delay is certainly not improving the public opinion of the way these matters are being handled by the Ways and Means Committee. I thank you. JAMES E. BALCOM, Senior Vice Commander Equality Post 284, Mr. JOSEPH W. FORDNEY, 226 WEST ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTH STREET, Chairman Committee on Ways and Means, House of Representatives. DEAR SIR: Just received the statement of ex-Representative Walter M. Chandler in behalf of the non-Russian Republics of Esthonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Azerbaidjan, and Georgia. I always understood that Mr. Chandler and other Members of Congress and the House of Representatives were Americans and for America, but of late all we ever hear of them is something regarding "Poor Europe." Will you kindly tell me why there is so little said about these United States of ours? Before I went "overseas" all I had drummed into me was "Pour la France." All the newspapers told of the starving people. Where were they? I was in France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and Germany, and I never yet saw anyone starving, unless perhaps it was some of our own troops that were hungry for the white bread that was supposed to come over to us. Please tell me who on the "other side" got all of the sugar that was sent over and the flour? "Pour la France," I suppose. While my mother was trying to get along on the money I allotted to her and had to pay high prices for everything, along with a war tax, food was going over to Europe. Did our troops get it? Very little. But during part of the Meuse-Argonne offensive I had occasion to visit the town of Bar-le-Duc, which then was about 40 kilometers from the front. I had been fed on corned "Willie" so much that I thought I would try to get a real meal. Going to a "Froggie" hotel, I ordered dinner; here is what I got: Roast chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, salad, olives, bread and butter, coffee, beer, and a lot of other things, all for less than a dollar, and most all American products. "How come," and my mother would have had to pay more than twice that much? And yet most of our Representatives, who were elected "by the people and for the people" of this country, are forever trying to dope out some way to loan money to a bunch of people thousands of miles from here on practically no security, while right at home here there are some four or five million men who have been in service and were presented with a bonus of $60 by the greatest and richest country in the world. It sure is a funny system. This Government taxes its people, including the ex-service men, gets a lot of money, loans it to a foreign country, that country gives it to its ex-soldiers and gives them a new start in life, while here we pay the taxes and are S. O. L. as usual. However, there are more elections coming and there are those same four or five million men, over half of whom were overseas, who saw conditions and are wondering about certain things, such as, why the cost of clothes is so high, higher even than in Germany, and why there is so much interest by certain of our Government officials in foreign countries. Where is the plum? Oh, why haven't we got a man like Teddy Roosevelt, some one who is not afraid to say "To h- with Europe," and then go ahead and clean things up in this country. Perhaps at the coming elections there will be a few millions of us coming out and saying just that. At any rate I think it would be advisable for quite a few of our officials to start now to look for another job. What do you think? Mr. Fordney, I wrote this to you because you are chairman of the committee. Ordinarily I would have written to a New York Representative, but I think it will do more good to address it to you. In closing I think I can feel quite safe in saying that I express the opinion of the men of the A. E. F. in this, that we are getting sick and tired of Congress meddling in European affairs; that it is high time that they turned their attention to this country; that instead of advancing so much money to other powers some of it be expended in a substantial bonus to the ex-soldiers; that they be Americans and be for America first, last, and all the time; and "To with Europe, think of the United States." In all sincerity, I am, h CLIFFORD W. HEARD, but now controlling one vote, and that vote is for America. H. R. 7923, JOHNSON BILL. FEBRUARY 9, 1920. COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS, House of Representatives, Washington, D. C. GENTLEMEN: Organized efforts on the part of soldiers of the World War are being made everywhere to bring about the reporting out of the above bill. Action on bills favoring the veterans will be closely scrutinized, and it is quite possible that in the next elections the "soldier vote" will be more successfully mobilized than is generally anticipated. The substitute bills recommended in place of the "staggering" provisions of the Johnson bill are halfway, half-hearted measures and not calculated to alleviate the pinch which is being felt more to-day by war veterans than any other class of citizens. Immediate, potent action of some kind is necessary, and is not, as some would have the legislators think, "a charity," but a positive duty. Very truly, yours, H. B. FREDERICK, Late Captain, One Hundred and Eighth Machine Gun Battalion, 173925-20-44 165 BROADWAY, NEW YORK CITY, February 27, 1920. CHAIRMAN COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS, House of Representatives, Washington, D. C. SIR: I am informed that the House has referred all bills dealing with soldiers' bonuses to your committee with instructions to report a measure for the payment of bonuses to soldiers of the World War. If it should be decided to pay such a bonus I respectfully suggest to you the advisability of paying it not in the form of cash or bonds, but in the form of credits which can be used by the soldier for the payment of his premiums on his war-risk insurance as they fall due. If the bonus be paid in cash it will, in many cases, immediately be spent and the soldier and his dependents will not derive the maximum good from it. If. on the other hand, the bonus is used for the payment of premiums it would seem to me that the following benefits will result: 1. The dependents of the soldier will derive a direct benefit, inasmuch as they will be protected in the event of the soldier's death. 2. The soldier will be enabled to carry his insurance protection without cost for a considerable time (if the bonus be $50 for each month of service the minimum time will probably be about 10 years, but, of course, this will depend upon the amount of insurance which he has and the number of months which he served). 3. It will result in billions of insurance being reinstated, as the soldier will be enabled to carry his insurance protection without cost during the time when be is rearranging and reconstructing his personal affairs. 4. It will relieve the War Risk Insurance Bureau of much detail work during the next five years and that time can be devoted to putting the records of the bureau in a more accurate condition. 5. It will obviate the necessity of the issue of another loan by the Government to take care of these bonuses (in a newspaper before me it is stated that the amount of such a loan would be $2,000,000,000), as the necessary disbursements and funding operations could be extended over a period of years and a large flotation would not be required at this time. I have given considerable thought to the necessary steps to make such a plan practical, and if in the opinion of your committee the idea possesses sufficient merit to justify further consideration I would be glad to be of such assistance to you as I can. Very respectfully, S. H. WOLFE. Formerly Colonel, Quartermaster Corps, and Assistant Director of Finance, United States Army. CHAIRMAN OF THE WAYS AND MEANS COMMITTEE, NEW YORK, March 1, 1920. The House of Representatives, Washington, D. C. HONORABLE SIR: I understand your committee now has under advisement the question of what is to be done about the ex-soldiers' bonuses. I do not belong to the American Legion, and am not tooting their horn." but I was a soldier in the war, and through the failure of the United States to pay my wife the allotment that I made for over a year I lost what little I had accumulated previous to the war, and as I received barely enough to take me home when I was discharged and not nearly enough to buy me a civilian outfit of clothes I have been living from hand to mouth ever since. I have talked to many ex-service men since I was discharged, and in 9 cases out of 10 their predicament is the same as my own; some of them, and not a few, are veritable "Bolsheviki" in their denunciation of the Government for failure to make any provision for them, and call attention to the fact that even the French and British Governments did not discharge their men with barely a railroad ticket to the place of enlistment. To my own personal knowledge, the French Government, in addition to paying a liberal bonus, gave to each discharged soldier a good woolen suit, made to his measure, that would cost you in this country not less than $85 at the prevailing prices. I have not been in favor of the American Legion for the reason that it appears to have been organized for political purposes; at least, it was conceived by a politician, who, no doubt, will have occasion to use it later on. But I want to say to you that, in my opinion, the United States Government has more to fear from that organization if something is not done to satisfy the just claims of the ex-soldiers than they have ever had or will ever have to fear the Bolsheviki of the European variety. I mean the soap-box variety, a great many of whom were recently deported; and I am not alone in this belief, for in addition to their resentment that was and is still felt by the draftees there is now added the ill feeling caused by the failure of the Government to do anything for them after the war was won. In other words, they feel that they were regarded as all right and fine fellows as long as the Government needed them, but when they need the Government it is not there. I was a corporal in the war-was for a year, and the hardest year of the war, chief operator in the telegraph office at Chaumont and later chief operator for the press section, charged with the responsibility of getting news from the front back home to almost 90.000.000 readers, a job that in civil life would pay you in the neighborhood of $350 a month, or about that of a lieutenant colonel in the Army. But I have no grumble on that score. I think it was a higher honor than a rauk, and I asked nothing better than to be able to serve my country in a time of need. Now I need the country. as do some millions of other ex-service men. Is it there when we need it? It seems to be up to your committee to decide. Sincerely, yours, JAMES P. WILSON, Formerly No. 202140, Twelfth United States Engineers (Railway), First Depot Battalion, Signal Corps, General Headquarters, and Second Censor and Press Company. ABSTRACT OF MATTER RECEIVED AFTER HEARINGS BEGAN. In Since the hearings began on March 2, and up to March 24 when they were closed, the committee received 1,332 communications, letters, telegrams, and petitions, exclusive of a petition from the veterans of foreign wars containing several thousand names. addition, approximately 1,500 communications from individuals and organizations were referred to the committee from the House of Representatives or by Members of Congress direct. Of the 1,332 communications received by the committee, 755 of them favored a cash bonus, while 102 were opposed to a bonus in any form for able-bodied ex-service men. The balance of the communications, 475 in number, favored adjusted compensation in some form. the majority urging the $50-bond-per-month idea and loans for the purchase of homes or farms. It might be stated that of the communications received favoring the Mondell bill, nearly all of them were from commercial organizations. The city of Cleveland, Ohio, through its council adopted a resolution favoring adjusted compensation. With but fewe exceptions this latter propaganda came from or was inspired by the American Legion posts throughout the country, the Private Soldiers' and Sailors' Legion, the World War Veterans (Inc.), and the Rank and File Veterans' Association. The Veterans of Foreign Wars, through their national headquarters, were instructed to cease temporarily their endeavors in behalf of the Royal C. Johnson bill when the date of the hearings was announced. Outside of this organization and the American Legion, the other associations for the most part urged a $500 cash bonus over and above the $60 bonus given on discharge. While the posts of the American Legion throughout the country are considerably divided as to the form the adjusted compensation should take, the communications to the committee indicate that the majority of them favor either cash or bonds on the basis of $50 per month for each month of service. It would be impossible to print all of the thousands of letters, telegrams, petitions, and other communications received, but the subcommittee has made a careful examination of them and believes that the matter appended herewith reflects fairly well the sentiment of the various sections of the country. Two interesting letters-one from a Civil War veteran opposing the bonus and the other the reply of a World War veteran in favor of it-which were submitted to the committee by the writers after the letters had appeared in the Indianapolis News, are appended because of the interesting contrast they present. The balance of the material is divided into two groups-those favoring adjusted compensation in some form or other and those opposed to it. Of the first group, no explanation is necessary. The second group, however, does not necessarily mean that all the communications are opposed to the bonus in all respects. THE CIVIL WAR AND THE WORLD WAR-A CONTRAST. [From Indianapolis News, Mar. 5, 1920.] A CIVIL WAR VETERAN'S VIEW OF SOLDIER BONUS DEMANDS. To the editor of the News: SIR: By way of contrast between the ex-soldiers of the Civil War and the ex-soldiers of the late war, who were America's contribution in defeating the Central Powers, I will enumerate some of my personal experiences as a soldier of the Civil War, bearing in mind that thousands of my old companions in arms had a similar experience. The pay, food, clothing, arms, munitions, medical, and surgical equipment were very inferior as compared with the late war. I served with a regiment that left a trail of blood on many battle fields. It fell short by a small per cent of being listed among the 300 fighting regiments. I wore coarse, ill-fitting clothes and shoes. My regular fare was crackers, meat, coffee, and sugar. At rare intervals I feasted on beans, rice, and desiccated vegetables. My only shelter for fully two-thirds of my time was a little shelter tent that would turn a very light rain, but was not of much benefit during a heavy rain. Many a farmer to-day is taking better care of his hogs than the Government took of us during the terrible years between '61 and '65. No sanitary precautions for us, no Red Cross, no butter or milk, no cigarettes, no candy, no movies, no high-salaried actors or singers to entertain us, no dentists to care for our teeth. Sometimes our stomachs would rebel against the monotonous diet. We would fast a day or two, then outraged nature would assert itself and we would relish hardtack and sowbelly. I never had any of my equipment hauled, never missed but one roll call, consequently I participated in every engagement or march in which my regiment took part after I joined it. I served a little less than two years; was too young when the war began. I was fortunate, or unfortunate, according to the viewpoint, to escape wounds and disease. Consequently I was mustered out without a hospital record. I received my first pension, $8 a month, June, 1896, more than 31 years after the end of the war. After the small remnant of my old company was mustered out, we contributed $100 to buy an artificial leg for one of our comrades (a poor, destitute boy), who had left one of his on the firing line. Those who lost limbs had to buy one or go without, unless sweet charity came to their relief. We didn't expect pensions except for wounds received in action. I didn't come home with suitcases bulging with the best quality of Government clothing, shoes, and blankets, my breast bedecked with crosses and medals galore-only my old Fifteenth Corps badge. The next day after I got home I went to work binding oats, I didn't ask the Government to give me a job. I did not ask for a $50 bonus a month for every month I had served. I didn't ask the Government to pay my way to finish my unfinished education. From '61 to '65 the cost of living was about as high as it is to-day. I was |