SOLDIER'S COMPENSATION AND WAR PROFITS
Soldiers' Compensation and War Profits THE fight to secure an additional meas-ure of compensation for the ex-service men of this country again failed in the Senate during the consideration of the...
...New Jersey, $12,000,000...
...Thirteen states have already recognized the obligation which is owing to these men who made untold sacrifices during the war, by voting the following sums respectively to be paid to the ex-service men: Maine, $3,000,000...
...To that end it was proposed in Senator Reed's amendment that we should continue to tax the excessive profits of corporations and apply the money derived from such tax to the payment of additional compensation to our soldiers...
...In Ohio, the people have just passed upon this question, the referendum vote having carried in the recent election over three to one in favor of the payment of additional compensation...
...for, Shields, against, Cummins...
...We were able then to get a true measure of the kind of a "tax reduction" which President Harding says is essential to a "RESTORED ORDER OF THINGS...
...If the ex-service men are to be justly compensated for the great sacrifice they made, it is preeminently fair that the corporations which profited so enormously out of the war and are still profiting from the high prices which they continue to exact from the public, should contribute a part of their excessive profits to pay some measure of just compensation to the soldiers...
...And it was this kind of a bill which President Harding wanted passed before we were to consider a soldiers compensation bill...
...Michigan, $30,000,000...
...PAIRS: For, Jones, against, Crow...
...Great Britain imposed more than twice as high a tax upon war profits as we were permitted to levy in this country and our profiteers have no claims upon the country to be dealt with tenderly by this Administration...
...There is NO OBLIGATION, in his view, to the men who served this country during the war, unless they are "disabled and dependent...
...Missouri, $15,000,-000...
...Ohio, $22,000,000...
...that there is any additional OBLIGATION TO BE DISCHARGED...
...Our "first obligation" is to care for our disabled and dependent soldiers and pay a just measure of compensation to all ex-service men...
...Soldiers' Compensation and War Profits THE fight to secure an additional meas-ure of compensation for the ex-service men of this country again failed in the Senate during the consideration of the revenue bill...
...The amendment offered by Senator Reed to pay this additional measure of compensation to the ex-service men from excess profits taxes was defeated 28 to 38 by the following vote: FOR SENATOR REED'S AMENDMENT-YEAS: Ashurst, Broussard, Capper, Caraway, Fletcher, Gerry, Harris, Harrison, Heflin, Hitchcock, Johnson, Jones (N...
...for, Norris, against, Nelson...
...It should be provided for by Congressional action...
...The amendment contained the identical provisions for the payment of this compensation which were contained in the so-called "Adjusted Compensation Bill," favorably reported from the Finance Committee early in this session, but, at the demand of the President, later sent back to the committee where it has been pigeon-holed ever since...
...for, Culberson, against, Lodge...
...for, Stanley, against, Ernst...
...He said: "I have commended the policy of generous treatment of the Nation's defenders, not as a part of any contract, not as the payment of a debt which is owing, but as a mark of the Nation's gratitude...
...Our "first obligation" is not to reduce taxes upon the rich who have large incomes and upon those who harvested fortunes while the country was involved in war...
...for, Underwood, against, Elkins...
...But that bill was before the Senate when Senator Reed's amendment, to tax the war profi-teers to pay the soldiers additional compensation was offered as above stated...
...to make up to them in EVERY POSSIBLE WAY for the great sacrifice which every one of them sustained...
...Kansas, $25,000,000...
...for, Sterling, against, Smith...
...Does it follow that if we meet our obligations to the disabled and dependent, that we cannot also recognize and meet our obligations to all soldiers...
...The Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee of the House, Mr...
...What are our first obligations to which he refers...
...Had this been retained in the form proposed by Senator Reed as an amendment to the pending Administration bill "reducing taxes" it would have been ample to provide for every dollar of money necessary to pay the soldiers their additional compensation...
...for, Ransdell, against, Dupont...
...The President was making it clear that he was not committed to any legislation for general compensation...
...THIS FIGHT WILL GO ON until some measure of JUSTICE IS FINALLY ACHIEVED...
...Mellon, and is plainly to be deduced from the President's own words when he secured the defeat of the former measure...
...The sums provided in these states are as follows: Illinois, $55,000,000...
...The administration's bill for the "revision" and "reduction" of taxes had not yet been introduced when the President delivered his address to defeat the soldiers bill for compensation...
...or that the soldiers are en-ttled as a MATTER OF RIGHT to a compensation which will in some measure place them on an equal footing with those who remained at home and enjoyed the opportunities for lucrative employment which were offered to those in civil life...
...Kendrick, Kenyon, Ladd, La-Follette, McKellar, Overman, Pittman, Pomerene, Reed, Sheppard, Simmons, Swanson, Trammell, Walsh (Mass...
...It is because we recognize the OBLIGATION in so far as humanly possible to give them an even chance in the world...
...Or does he refer to the obligation to reduce taxes...
...Wel-ler, Willis.—38...
...for, Owen, against, McCormick...
...The repeal of the excess profits tax on corporations gives the war profiteers a "tax reduction" of more than FOUR HUNDRED AND FIFTY MILLION DOLLARS...
...The failure of the national government to meet its responsibility accounts in some measure for the action taken in so many states to levy special taxes to make such payments to the soldiers in the several states as the exigencies of the situation at the time seemed to require...
...Vermont, $3,000,000...
...New York, $45,000,000...
...Massachusetts, $20, 000,000...
...The fairness of this proposition will be recognized by all right-minded people...
...And then he follows with the statement that: "Even without such reservation, however, a modified view would be wholly justified at the present moment, because the enactment of the compensation bill in the midst of the struggle for readjustment and restoration would hinder every effort and greatly imperil the financial stability of our country...
...for, Williams, against, Page...
...This is a national obligation...
...It was defeated in the Senate on the 7th of November, but it will be a LIVING ISSUE before the people-of this country...
...In that speech which he delivered for the purpose of defeating the "Adjusted Compensation Bill," he made it perfectly clear that he does not believe that the government owes any additional compensation to the soldiers of the country...
...It is little less than a NATIONAL DISGRACE that corporate influence should have been strong enough in national affairs to postpone the recognition of this obligation until the tax laws could be so amended as TO LET THE CORPORATIONS OUT by repealing the excess profits tax...
...This action by these states is to be most highly commended, but on the other hand it stands as a terrific indictment of the federal government and especially of the party in power that its failure to meet its responsibility should have forced the states to pay from their treasuries these large sums in order that at least some recognition of this obligation to the defenders of the Republic should be no longer delayed...
...The struggle to make the war profiteers bear the burden of this obligation to the ex-service men is NOT PERMANENTLY LOST...
...Rhode Island, $2,500,000...
...This scheme to LOAD ON TO THE PEOPLE of this country THE PAYMENT of this just obligation to the ex-service men was foreshadowed by the Secretary of the Treasury, Mr...
...Every obligation is to the disabled and dependent...
...Upon this proposition I take issue with the Administration...
...This administration tax "reduction" bill, reduces the taxes on large incomes, and repeals the excess profits tax on corporations...
...Minnesota, $20,000,000...
...The President's attitude as plainly indicated by the language of his address is that if we do anything for the soldiers at all it will be merely as an expression of gratitude and special favor and not in recognition of an obligation...
...Kellogg, King, Lodge, McCormick, McLean, Nelson, Norris, Owen, Page, Ransdell, Robinson, Shields, Smith, Stanley, Sterling, Sutherland, Underwood, Williams.—30...
...And that compensation should in all fairness to the other taxpayers of the country, be taken by a tax levy from those who PROFITEERED DURING THE WAR AND ARE STILL MAKING EXCESS PROFITS out of the defenseless public...
...for, Dial, against, Kellogg...
...In the very next paragraph of his address he says that "the revision including REDUCTION, of our internal taxation" is one of the first "essentials at the very beginning of the restored order of things...
...New Hampshire, $1,000,000...
...Senator Reed, of Missouri, offered an amendment to the pending tax measure which provided for the payment of this additional compensation from the taxes to be collected on the excess profits of corporations...
...and Wisconsin, $15,000,000...
...Mark the words—"for such action IF it is taken...
...The President's meaning is plain...
...NOT VOTING: Calder, Colt, Crow, Culberson, Cummins, Dial, Dillingham, du Pont, Elkins, Ernst, Harreld, Jones (Wash...
...This makes a total of $168,500,000...
...28...
...South Dakota, $6,000,000...
...In six other states the legislatures have authorized the payment of additional compensation subject to popular referendum...
...Upon what theory do we give in full measure to the disabled and dependent...
...He said further: "In such reference as has been made to general compensation, there has been a reservation as to the earliest consistent time for such action IF IT IS TAKEN...
...The proof is overwhelming that the great mass of the people are in favor of paying to our soldiers an additional measure of compensation...
...He does not say WHEN such action is taken but "IF it is taken...
...Washington, $11,-000,000...
...More, this menacing effort to expend billions in gratuities will imperil our capacity to discharge our first obligations to those we must not fail to aid...
...Walsh (Mont...
...Clearly then this obligation rests upon the national government and upon it alone, to raise and pay this additonal measure of compensation...
...They so controlled in legislation from the day we were plunged into the conflict that they escaped the payment of a just proportion of the tax burden incident to the war...
...Montana, $1,500,000...
...Watson (Ga...
...No one will take issue with the President that it is the duty of the Government to discharge "every obligation to the disabled and dependent...
...If there is any meaning to be attached to all the words used by the President of the United States when he so improperly intruded himself into the debates of the Senate last July in opposition to the then pending "Adjusted Compensation Bill," it is that he does not recognize ANY OBLIGATION upon the part of the government to provide additional compensation for the ex-service men...
...for, Robinson, against, Sutherland...
...What is the attitude of the Republican party and the administration toward the payment of this additional compensation...
...It was the federal government that declared war and enacted conscription which raised an army of 4,000,000 men for a foreign war...
...AGAINST SENATOR REED'S AMENDMENT-NAYS: Ball, Borah, Brandegee, Bur-sum, Cameron, Curtis, Edge, Fernald, France, Frelinghuysen, Glass, Gooding, Hale, Keyes, Lenroot, McCumber, Mc-Kinley, McNary, Moses, Myers, New, Newberry, Nicholson, Norbeck, Oddie, Penrose, Phipps, Poindexter, Shortridge, Smoot, Spencer, Stanfield, Townsend, Wadsworth, Warren, Watson (Ind...
...Fordney, has announced that he intends to introduce a measure to pay this additional compensation by a SALES TAX...
...But should we stop there...
...Does he refer to our obligations to the disabled and dependent...
Vol. 13 • November 1921 • No. 11
