AMERICAN SOLDIER BONUS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18202, 22 September 1922, Page 6

AMERICAN SOLDIER BONUS.

By Presidential veto, supported by a vote of the Senate, the Bill to provide a bonus, or gratuity payment, to those who served in the United States forces during the war has received its quietus. The President had indicated early in the bitter controversy centring round this measure that he would exercise his right of veto unless Congress made provision for raising the necessary revenue, himself suggesting a sales tax. No such provision was made. In accordance with the Constitution the measure was returned to Congress. If both Houses had carried it again by a two-thirds majority it would have passed into law despite the veto. The House of Representatives carried it the second time by 258 votes to 54, but the Senate, rejecting it, caused it to lapse until possibly reintroduced. The idea for paying a bonus did not differ materially from that adopted in other countries. A maximum of 50 dollars, or roughly £10, was payable, in cash, the estimated cost of this being" dollars, or £3,200,000. Those entitled to more than this sum were given the option of accepting one of four things, a 20-year paid-up endowment policy certificate 1 with compound interest at per cent., vocational training -aid, farm or home aid, or land settlement. It was estimated by a Congressional Committee that the proportion of certificates choßen would call for the payment in 1943 of 3,155,000,000 dollars, or £631,000,000. The certificates would be immediately negotiable for loan purposes. Thus, by advancing the scheme without ways and means, Congress contemplated creating a vast paper credit system with no reserve td back it. The majority of the certificates would have matured simultaneously, and the authorities of the future were to have been given the task of finding means to meet the obligation. The Senate, after passing the measure, recanted and associated itself with the President in killing it. The whole scheme, with the carelessness regarding finance, appeared an elaborate piece of political propaganda. The Senators, many of whom will be facing an election before long, appear to have realised that the plan would not be good platform matter in its present shape. Therefore, they have shared responsibility., with the President for refusing the demands of the soldier.