The Evening Star SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1936. A PRESIDENT’S TROUBLES.

Evening Star, Issue 22252, 1 February 1936, Page 14

The Evening Star SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1936. A PRESIDENT’S TROUBLES.

On Thursday the United States honoured President Roosevelt’s fifty-fourth birthday. It was celebrated in a novel nay, dances being held throughout the country, by means of which a sum of a million dollars was raised to help children who had been stricken with infantile paralysis and to continue research work in connection with this dreaded disorder. The President himself is a sufferer .from the effects of this malady, so that the allocation of the money raised to such a purpose is particularly appropriate. Air Roosevelt has been the centre of political storms since he took charge of the ship of State in 1933. He has shown courage and resource, but most of his “ New Deal ” innovations have come to nothing, for the reason that they were held by the highest judicial body in the land to be unconstitutional. One cause of bitter controversy in Congress has been the soldiers’ bonus proposal, and it is before that body now. A leu’ days ago the Senate voted by 74 votes to 16 in favour of the scheme. Air Roosevelt promptly vetoed the Bill, but the House of Representatives overrode his decision by 324 votes to 61. The size of the vote in both. Houses was more than adequate to overrule the Presidential veto. This means an' expenditure amounting to 1,500,000,000 dollars. Further heavy expense is involved in meeting contracts entered into by the Agricultural Adjustment Administration, and it is indicated from Washington to-day that an-acri-monious discussion is proceeding in Congress on the question of raising the huge sum required. The inflationists are putting forward the view that the President should issue nevy currency to that amount, on the ground that “ taxes are out of the question.”

The movement for a soldier’s bonus for United States soldiers who fought in- the Great War started the day the war ended. Bonuses and various forms of relief were granted at intervals, but unrelenting pressure has been kept up ever since for payments to every soldier. There developed the theory on which the present scheme is founded—that adjustment should .be made to the veterans for the small pay they received in the army in contrast to the higher wages and profits reaped by those who stayed behind in tho factories, munition plants, and private business. Presidents Harding, Coolidge, and Roosevelt have in turn vetoed the measure brought in, but the relentless pressure exercised by the world war veterans has succeeded, at last, and the Treasury is now faced with the problem of finding the money. President Roosevelt predicted that if what has now happened came to pass the “ pestiferous pension graft ” would be upon the nation, and that every candidate for election to the Senate or the House of Representatives would in the near future be called upon in the name of patriotism to support general pension legislation for all veterans, regardless of need or age, and it might be added no matter how slight their service had been.

Another political development in the United States is the extraordinary growth of what is called Townsendism. It has aroused fervour among millions of Americans. Congress last session voted against it decisively, but that has not damped the enthusiasm of its supporters, and they are carrying on an active campaign in view of the elections this year. The Townsend programme is simplicity itself. It has one plank. This calls for the payment of 200 dollars a month to every citizen sixty years old or over. There is no catch in it. The pensioner is required only to spend the money by the end of each month, and to do no lucrative work. It can be imagined that the scheme will be approved by the proposed beneficiaries, for the conditions are most attractive; but it is rather surprising to read that the movement is reported to have a strength of eight million voters, and is planning a third party campaign for the Presidential election this year. The sponsor of the plan is Dr F. E. Townsend, a Californian physician. Like Major Douglas, Mr Aberhart, and other benevolently-minded individuals, he desires the State to give much for nothing, but in the ultimate those who would have to “pay the piper” lor these chimerical plans will make their influence felt.