The Lobby Gets to Work

Veterans of World War I moved on Washington. Their purpose: to get everything in sight for veterans of World War II.

Within the week, the American Legion's hard-driving National Commander Warren H. Atherton had presented Congress with a new "omnibus" veterans' bill, appeared twice before Congressional committees, hired a public-relations firm to publicize his bill, had a 45-minute chat with Franklin Roosevelt at the White House.

Commander Atherton's bill calls for mustering-out pay, unemployment compensation for idle veterans, education allowances for returning servicemen, loans for home building.

The Veterans of Foreign Wars were no less busy. V.F.W. Lobbyist Omar B. Ketchum advised against putting mustering-out pay too high. Said he: after all, its purpose is only to tide a man over until he gets a job. A further reason: it might block passage of a bonus bill. Twice he appeared before Congressional committees advocating a veterans' bonus like the last war's.

A House committee tentatively fixed the maximum mustering-out pay at $300; the Senate upped it to $500. At week's end a group of Congressmen, led by North Dakota's grizzled William Lemke, proposed a $700 maximum. Said Lemke: "Why be niggardly?" In an election year, few Congressmen would want to be.

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