BONUS AND DOLLAR PATRIOTISM
Bonus and Dollar Patriotism JULIUS H. Barnes, president of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States, officially commending President Harding for his veto of the soldiers' bonus bill, utters a...
...With what is the war service of such men as Mellon of the metal trades, of Du Pont of the powder mills, of Munsey of the steel stocks, of a hundred "dollar a year" men, of thousands of "cost plus" war contractors, of millions of wage earners, branded...
...And they lost it while their feet were near freezing in the mud of the trenches, their stomachs were empty, and their bodies were agonized in the service which maintained the safety and comfort of representative business men of the United States Chamber of Commerce, engaged in piling up the greatest fortunes in the history of the country...
...It is not the first time, and it will not be the last, that we shall hear such holy sentiments...
...The bonus is designed, not to brand anything with any mark, but to help in a small way to reimburse the soldiers for actual money lost in wages and business while they served their country...
...It has been placed permanently upon the big business which opposes this justice.—Chicago Tribune...
...With what, the world may ask, is the patriotic service of members of the United States Chamber of Commerce branded...
...The dollar brand can never be put upon the patriotism of the army...
...With all the symbols of true piety, peace, and patriotism...
...But Mr...
...Barnes, as spokesman for much of the big business of the country, succeeds in putting the idea most offensively...
...Talk of dollar patriotism, of branding the unselfish service of the soldiers with the dollar mark, comes very poorly from such a source...
...Such men as Secretary of the Treasury Mellon, and the lesser but still wealthy Frank Munsey, whose fortunes soared by millions through the war, have been loud in similar expressions...
...With the cross...
...Bonus and Dollar Patriotism JULIUS H. Barnes, president of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States, officially commending President Harding for his veto of the soldiers' bonus bill, utters a bit of sentimental buncombe which is becoming nauseating...
...The service men have earned the money which they have not been paid...
...Patriotic service branded with a dollar mark, forsooth...
...Every uninjured veteran," he says, "should thank you that his patriotic service is not stamped with the dollar mark...
...Business has been paid the money which it did not earn...
...With the dove...
...There can be no question that they did lose money in such service...
...The Chamber of Commerce of the United States has expressed them before...
...President Harding reflected the thought in his veto message when he said "a peace bestowal on the ex-service men, as though the supreme offering could be paid for with cash, is a perversion of public funds...
Vol. 14 • October 1922 • No. 10
