(New York Times.)
To beat the bonus in Congress, the President
will have to fight. Doubtless he is aware of it. His
letter may be interpreted merely as the opening
manoeuvre in opposition to a project which, it l1
jammed through Congress over his veto, would either
involve direct inflation of the currency or smash
his budget plans. He has wisely chosen to make
this first manoeuvre a clear and unimpassioned,
explanation of the whole question. With such a ' i
statement as he puts the case on record, appeals
for a wider public understanding of the issue and
arms his friends in Congress with something more
than indignation. '(
Without waste of words, Mr. Roosevelt demolishes j (
the three principal arguments of those who demand |,
immediate payment of the bonus—namely, that the t
Government now "owes" something like $2,000,000,000 j ]
to its ex-soldiers, that payment of this sum is neces- j \
sary to aid those in distress and that the expenditure i
of the amount thus distributed would hasten the
recovery of business. i
With regard to the Govenment's obligation, he i
points out that it is not due until 1945; that the t
present value of all of the veterans’ adjused-service (
certificates now outstanding is only $410,000,000
above the amount already borrowed on them and
that some ex-soldiers have actually “borrowed more : ]
than the present worth of their certificates." With i
regard to the question of relief, he notes that all j j
citizens (ex-soldiers included) share equally in the';
generous relief funds distributed by the Government
while in the matter of employment “a very definite i
and distinct preference is given to veterans.” In
this connection he asks whether the ex-soldier would ]
really gain by sacrificing his insurance policy for
the sake of immediate payment, when the Govern
ment has found that approximately 85 per cent t
of its war veterans, upon death, leave no legacy to ;
their wives and children except their service certifi- i
cates. Finally, so far as the stimulation of business
is concerned, he points out that no such effect
followed the distribution of approximately $1,000,
000,000 to ex-soldiers in 1931, when the loan value of
their certificates was increased. This is no new
finding. 