40 Minutes

The bonus bill, reported by the Ways and Means Committee (TiME, March 24), came before the House and was discussed for 40 minutes. Discussion was limited to 40 minutes by a suspension of the rules, which Chairman Green of the Ways and Means Committee obtained by unanimous consent.

Only 40 minutes of debate, but 40 minutes of heat. Time was precious. Mr. Green for the Republicans and Mr. Collier for the Democrats doled out speaking time in fragments; two minutes to one member, three minutes to another, one minute to another, 30 seconds for a few, 15 seconds to one man. Every request for unanimous consent to extend remarks in the Record (i.e., have printed what was not spoken) was objected to by Congressman Begg of Ohio, who rose seven times for that purpose. Excerpts from the speeches:

MR. GREEN OF IOWA: "The basis of the bill is the same as in the bill which heretofore passed both Houses: $1 a day additional compensation for home service and $1.25 per day for "oversea" service, not to exceed in any event $625. This basis is called the adjusted service credit. As under the former bill, the first 60 days are not considered, for the reason that the Government paid for that period on discharge of the soldier, also those to whom $50 or less is due will be paid in cash the same as before. The bill makes an important grant which was not conferred under the previous bill by providing for the payment of the adjusted service credit to the dependents of those who have died before application is made, providing the Government has not paid insurance or compensation to them. To the remaining soldiers there will be given the equivalent of a paid-up 20-year endowment insurance policy for the amount of the adjusted service credit plus 25%, with interest of 4% compounded annually. This certificate has a borrowing privilege after two years. . . . The time has now come for action, not mere words and gestures. [Applause] Let us do something for the soldiers instead of talking about what we would like to have done. We have debated that subject over five years. Is not that enough?"

MR. FISH OF NEW YORK: "Mr. Speaker, I desire to indorse this bill wholeheartedly and sincerely as being the best adjusted-compensation measure that has ever been presented to this House."

MR. TILSON OF CONNECTICUT: "Much as I regret to oppose what is claimed to be for the soldier, there seems to be no good reason why I should support a bill that will be entirely unsatisfactory to most of the soldiers and which at the same time will produce economic and other effects harmful and far-reaching in their con-equences."

MR. BACHARACH OF NEW JERSEY: "This bill is framed along the lines of good common sense and good business judgment."

MR. GARRETT OF TENNESSEE: "It is a parliamentary outrage. . . . You propose in this tremendous legislation to devote only 20 minutes to discussion and permit no amendment whatever, and you do it in a form demanded neither by the soldier nor the tax-payer."

MR. HOWARD OF NEBRASKA (who afterwards voted in favor of the bill) : "To vote for this bill will be to give the recognition of legitimacy to a legislative bastard, conceived in the fertile brain of a professional profiteering patriot, and accouched on a damask divan in the gold room in the house of Morgan & Co., attended by a galaxy of accoucheurs appointed by Treasury Secretary Mellon and approved by the President of the United States."

MR. TAGUE OF MASSACHUSETT: "We must go on record as either opposing a bonus bill or accepting this gag rule. ... I want to say without fear of contradiction that in my ten years as a Member of this House this is the most cowardly piece of legislation that has ever been put to the country."

MR. BANKHEAD OF ALABAMA: "We have been dragooned, so to speak, by this parliamentary manoeuver, which is a species of immorality, into having no choice, those of us who differ with the provisions of this bill."

MR. DEAL OF VIRGINIA: "I shall vote against this bill, and if I had 1,000 votes I would cast them all against the bill."

MR. DOMINICK OF SOUTH CAROLINA: "Mr. Speaker, I have just enough time, I presume, to say that I am opposed to this bill and to ask that I have leave to extend my remarks in the Record and have objection made by the gentleman from Ohio."

THE SPEAKER: "The gentleman from South Carolina asks unanimous consent to extend his remarks in the Record. Is there objection?"

MR. BEGG: "Mr. Speaker, I object."

MR. CASEY OF PENNSYLVANIA: "Mr. Speaker, what a farce this whole proceeding is."

MR. JEFFERS OF ALABAMA: "Mr. Speaker, we are being forced today to vote on a 'gold brick' under a 'gag' rule."

MR. MACLAFFERTY OF CALIFORNIA: "Is a Member who knowingly hands a 'gold brick' to his constituents, a confidence man?"

MR. RANKIN OF MISSISSIPPI: "Ah, Mr. Speaker, say what you please about this bill, this is the Mellon compensation bill. It is the product of the 'hand of Esau and the voice of Jacob,' and the ex-service men of this country are going to so regard it."

MR. GALLIVAN OF MASSACHUSETTS: "All I want to ask is whether the gentleman believes that, instead of this bill coming from the Committee on Ways and Means, it comes from Joe Miller's joke book."

As the 40 minutes drew to a close the leaders appealed to the Speaker to determine how much time each had left. Then, as in the final moments of a football game, they made their most spectacular efforts. Hardly any one spoke more than a sentence without interruption. The time keeper's whistle blew. Mr. Green moved a vote. The yeas and nays were taken.

Result: 175 Republicans, 177 Democrats, 1 Socialist (Berger of Milwaukee) 1 Independent (Kvale, successor of Volstead), 1 Farmer-Laborite (Wefald of Minnesota)--355, in all, favored the bill. Opposed were 34 Republicans, 20 Democrats--54 in all, most of them from Eastern states.

So the bill went on to the Senate which may possibly 1) put in a cash alternative to the insurance bonus; 2) pass the bonus before tax reduction. But one thing may be expected of the Senate--it will surely pass the bill.

A few days after the bill had been passed by the House, the Treasury Department furnished estimates on the probable cost of the bill. Mr. Green had declared that the cost would be $2,119,600,000. The Treasury declared that the total outlay by the Government would amount in 20 years to $4,856,750,087. The present value of the proposed insurance certificates, according to the Treasury, would be, alone, $2,264,757,591, not to mention $109,607,517 in cash payments to relatives of veterans deceased since the War and $172,000,000 for costs of administration during the next 20 years. It calculated that in order to meet the necessary payments, interest of from 13% to 15% would have to be obtained on the amounts proposed to be set aside as a sinking fund. Mr. Green on seeing the Treasury estimates asserted: "Anyone could see how absurd the Treasury estimates are even at a casual glance."