"PATRIOTISM BOUGHT & PAID FOR IS NOT PATRIOTISM"

NEW BONUS BILL WILL AVERAGE $2.65 A DAY FOR MILITARY SERVICE & COST $2 BILLION

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On March 12, 1924, The Evening Star reports "the paid-up life insurance policies, which will be given veterans under terms of the new soldier bonus bill*, will be valued at $1 a day for home service & $1.25 a day for overseas service."

This was decided today by the House of Representatives Ways & Means Committee.

The average value per policy will be $2.65 per day of service with the total cost coming in at two billion dollars.

The first sixty days of service cannot be included in total service credits.

*Bonus Bill (HR 7959, World War Adjusted Compensation Act) was vetoed by President Coolidge (like Harding before him) but the veto was overridden by Congress on May 19, 1924.  Coolidge said "patriotism bought & paid for is not patriotism."

JFK+50 NOTE

The Great Depression hit veterans particularly hard so in 1932 they marched on Washington to ask for early payment of their bonuses (not due until 1945).  Known as the Bonus Army, they encamped in the District of Columbia & were attacked by the US Army by order of President Herbert Hoover.  It was one of the key events that led to Hoover's defeat for re-election.  The Bonus Bill was a basis for the G.I. Bill of Rights of 1944. 

SOURCE

"Bonus Will Cost U.S. $2,000,000,000," The Evening Star, Washington, D.C., March 12, 1924, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/

 

 

Adjusted Service Certificate

Photo by Editor993

www.wikipedia.org/

"DEMOCRATS SHOULD POUND THE TRUTH INTO THE PEOPLE"

MCADOO CONDEMNS MELLON'S 'DISTORTION' OF HIS POSITION ON BONUS

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) Former Secretary of Treasury William G. McAdoo has issued a statement condemning current Treasury chief Andrew Mellon of distorting his position on the Bonus*.

Mr. McAdoo, who is a candidate for the Democratic nomination for POTUS in 1924, charges republicans in general have flagrantly misrepresented his position.

According to Mr. Mellon, McAdoo's bonus proposal would cost $4,000,000,000.  Mr. McAdoo counters that according to Senator Joseph S. Frelinghuysen's** estimate cash payments under the McAdoo plan would total only $1,548,000,000.

The former Treasury secretary calls on Democrats to "pound the truth into the people." 

*The World War Adjusted Compensation Act, a.k.a. Bonus Bill, passed on May 19, 1924 granted financial benefits to veterans of WWI.

**Joseph S. Frelinghuysen (1869-1948) was born in Raritan, New Jersey & served in the Spanish-American War.  JSF served in the US Senate 1917-1923 but was defeated for re-election in 1922.

SOURCE

"M'Adoo Bitterly Assails Mellon," by Frederic William Wile, The Evening Star, Washington, D.C., January 9, 1924, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/ 

 

 

William G. McAdoo

"A Long Man With A Long Head"

by Carlo de Fornaro (1914)

Library of Congress

"PUTS A BURDEN OF $4-5 BILLION ON AMERICAN PEOPLE"

PRESIDENT HARDING VETOES SOLDIER BONUS BILL; CITES FAILURE OF CONGRESS TO PROVIDE REVENUE 

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On September 19, 1922, President Warren G. Harding vetoed a bill which would have provided "adjusted compensation" to America's servicemen of the world war.*

In his veto message sent to Congress 100 years ago today, the President states...

"Congress fails...to provide the revenue from which the bestowal is to be paid.  It puts a burden (of)...four and five billions...upon the American people.

We are expending $510,000,000 on hospitalization and care of sick and wounded...vocational training for the disabled, and for insurance (as well as) $35,000,000 on hospital construction.

I...appeal to the candid reflections of Congress and the country, and the ex-servicemen...as to the course better suited to further the welfare of our country."

*Harding's veto was overridden by the House 258-54 but the Senate failed to override by 4 votes.  Coolidge vetoed another Bonus Bill in 1924 saying "patriotism bought & paid for is not patriotism," but this time both houses of Congress overrode the veto.  

The World War Adjusted Compensation Act became law on May 19, 1924.  It did not provide immediate compensation as most veterans received an "Adjusted Service Certificate" equivalent to a 20 year insurance policy.

Demand for early payment of their bonus certificates in the face of the Great Depression led to the Bonus March of 1932. 

SOURCE

"President Vetoes Soldier Bonus Bill," The Evening Star, Washington, D.C., September 19, 1922, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/ 

   

 

Adjusted Service Certificate

$1561

Issued Jan 1 1925

Payable Jan 1 1945

Image by Editor993

www.wikimedia.org/

"BILL CANNOT PASS OVER PRESIDENT'S EXPECTED VETO"

SENATE PASSES SOLDIER BONUS BILL, GALLERIES FULL

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On August 31, 1922, the United States Senate passed the Soldier bonus bill by a vote of 47 to 22, but, according to the New York Tribune, the margin of passage shows that the bill "cannot be passed over the President's expected veto."

27 Republicans were joined by 20 Democrats in voting for the Soldier bonus while 15 Republicans and 7 Democrats voted against it.

The vote followed four hours of floor debate with the galleries filled with many soldiers.

Senator Henry Cabot Lodge* (R-Massachusetts) "delivered an eloquent plea for the bonus bill."

*Henry Cabot Lodge (1850-1924) held 4 degrees from Harvard, was a widely published historian & served in the US Senate 1893-1924.  Historian George G. Mowry describes HCL as an "excellent parliamentarian" but "opportunistic, selfish, jealous, condescending & supercilious."  Well, I guess nobody's perfect.

JFK+50 NOTE

As predicted, the Soldier bonus bill was vetoed by President Warren G. Harding and his veto was not overridden.  Two years later, however, the World War Adjusted Compensation Act, a.k.a. Bonus Bill, was passed over President Calvin Coolidge's veto.

SOURCES

"Bonus Bill (1924)," encyclopedia.com, www.encyclopedia.com/

"Bonus Bill Passes 47 to 22, Harding Veto Will Beat It," The New York Tribune, September 1, 1922, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/

 

 

World War I Doughboy

1917

"EVERYTHING RESTS WITH THE PRESIDENT, WHY WORRY?"

SENATORS SEEK HARDING'S SUPPORT FOR BONUS BILL

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) In a front-page editorial, the New York Herald comments on a visit to the White House on May 6, 1922 by Senators McCumber, Lodge, Curtis and Watson in which they hope to get President Warren G. Harding's support for the McCumber Bonus Bill*.

The Herald reports that while "they got no encouragement...neither did they get turned down flat."

The Herald comments...

"The truth of the matter is that so far as the bonus is concerned everything now rests with the President, so why worry?"

*The Bonus Bill providing extra payments to veterans of WWI was passed by Congress in 1922 but vetoed by President Harding.  

A second attempt was made in 1924 & although vetoed by President Coolidge was over-ridden by Congress & became law.  The measure, however, deferred payments to WWI veterans until 1945.

The issue became heated during the Great Depression when veterans demanded early payment of the bonus.  This led to a march on Washington & subsequent U.S. Army attack ordered by President Hoover on the camp of the bonus marchers. 

SOURCE

"The Bonus Up in the Air," New York Herald, May 7, 1922, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/ 

   

 

Truck Delivers 1 Million Signatures

Demanding WWI Bonus

May 2, 1922

Harris & Ewing Photo

Library of Congress

www.flickr.com/

"NO LACK OF REGARD FOR SERVICEMEN IN POSTPONEMENT"

CONGRESS FOR EITHER PAYING SOLDIER BONUS WITH SALES TAX OR POSTPONEMENT OF BONUS

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On February 16, 1922, both houses of the United States Congress officially expressed the view "that either the funds to pay the (soldier) bonus* should be raised by a general sales tax or else consideration of the bonus should be postponed."

President Warren G. Harding, who recommended the bonus, had "dismissed every other source of revenue except the sales tax."

As to the idea of postponement, the President said...

"I can see in such a postponement no lack of regard for the servicemen."

*The Bonus was granted in 1924 by the World War Adjusted Compensation Act in the form of certificates redeemable in 1945.

In 1932, veterans marched to Washington, D.C. (Bonus Army) to demand their bonus be paid early due to unemployment in the Great Depression.

SOURCE

"Congress In Quandary As Harding Advocates Sales Tax for Bonus," by Carter Field, The New York Tribune, February 17, 1922, Newspaper Archive, Newspaper of The New York Tribune, February 17, 1922, page 1.

 

 

1932 "Cinderella" Stamp

by SteveSrummer

www.wikimedia.org/