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1 title shall have a preferred right of entry under the homestead

2

or desert land laws, if qualified therete thereunder, except as 3 against prior existing valid settlement rights and as against 4 preference rights conferred by existing laws or equitable 5 claims subject to allowance and confirmation.

6 Such preference right for such period shall also be 7 accorded on all reclamation projects now in existence or 8 hereafter established, whether such reclamation is made by 9 irrigation, drainage, or other method.

10

Upon certification from the Secretary of War or the 11 Secretary of the Navy, as provided in section 5, approved 12 by the Secretary of the Interior, there shall be paid by the 13 Secretary of the Treasury, on or after January 1, 1922, to 14 the veteran designated therein, in one payment or in install15 ments, an amount equal to his adjusted service pay increased 16 by 40 per centum. Such payment shall be made for the purpose, and only for the purpose, of enabling the veteran 18 to make payments in connection with the lands as to which 19 preference has been given under this section, or for the 20 improvement of any such land, and shall be made only if the 21 Secretary of the Interior has suitable assurance that the money will be expended for such purpose.

17

22

23

TITLE 7 VII.-MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS.

24 SEC. 701. The officers and boards having charge of

25

the administration of any of the provisions of this Act are

PAGE 23.

1 authorized to appoint such officers, employees, and agents 2 in the District of Columbia and elsewhere, and to make such 3 expenditures for rent, furniture, office equipment, printing, 4 binding, telegrams, telephone, law books, books of refer5 ence, stationery, motor-propelled vehicles or trucks used for 6 official purposes, traveling expenses and per diem in lieu of 7 subsistence at not exceeding $4 for officers, agents, and other 8 employees, for the purchase of reports and materials for 9 publications, and for other contingent and miscellaneous 10 expenses, as may be necessary efficiently to execute the pur11 poses of this Act and as may be provided for by the Congress from time to time. With the exception of such special 13 experts as may be found necessary for the conduct of the 14 work, all such appointments shall be made subject to the 15 civil-service laws, and preference shall, so far as practicable, 16 be given to veterans.

12

17 SEO. 702. If any provision of this Act or the appli 18 eation thereof to any person or circumstances is held 19 invalid, the validity of the remainder of the Act and of 20 the application of such provision to other persons and eircumstances shall not be affected thereby.

21

22 SEC. 703 702. Whoever knowingly makes any false or 23 fraudulent statement of a material fact in any application, 24 certificate, or document made under the provisions of Title 25 2,8,4,5, or 6 1, II, III, IV, V, or VI, or of any regulation

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1 made under any such title, shall, upon conviction thereof, be

2 fined not more than $1,000, or imprisoned not more than 3 five years, or both.

4 SEC. 704 703. There is hereby authorized to be appro

5 priated such amount as may be necessary to carry out the 6 provisions of this Act

Senate Report No. 133, Sixty-Seventh Congress, first session.

VETERANS' ADJUSTED COMPENSATION BILL.

June 20, 1921.-Ordered to be printed.

Mr. MOCUMBER, from the Committee on Finance, submitted the following

REPORT.

(To accompany S. 506.)

The Committee on Finance, to whom was referred the bill (S. 506), to provide adjusted compensation for the veterans of the World War, and for other purposes, report favorably thereon with certain amendments, and as amended, recommend that the bill do pass.

Any discussion of this bill, its provisions and purposes, would be lacking in fairness and justice if it failed at the outset to correct a general misnomer of the bill itself. This proposed legislation is generally referred to as the "Soldiers' bonus bill." No name could be applied that would be more irrelevant. It is worse than erroneous. It stamps upon a just and unquestioned national moral obligation the designation "gratuity." The purpose of this bill in no sense seeks to express a national gratitude by a money gift to our soldiers. It is not so intended by its supporters and the veterans of the World War would not so accept it. It is just what its title reads, a bill to provide adjusted compensation for the veterans of the World War. It is not a bonus bill, and fairness to country and soldier alike requires that we should exclude the word "bonus" in referring to it.

In simple, plain English, the purpose of this bill is to give to the soldier who offered his life with his services a compensation that will more nearly approach that of the laborer who remained at home, secure from danger, and whose compensation increased from 200 to 300 per cent and, measured by the amount of labor actually performed, far beyond those figures.

For many years preceding the Civil War, and up until about the time of the World War, the wage of a private soldier was $13 per month. It was estimated that the cost of maintenance of each soldier for food and clothing added to this meager pay brought his wage up to about the average paid for common labor.

During the World War we paid our soldier $30 per month, or $1 per day. A fair estimate of the cost to the Government for his

maintenance and clothing would be about $2 per day. We might, therefore, say that the private soldier received a compensation for his services equivalent to about $3 per day which was very much less than that received by the lowest class of labor at home.

EXPLANATION OF THE BILL.

The purpose of this bill being to correct the inequalities suffered by those who performed actual soldier duties and received meager soldier wage, there are excluded from its benefits all those who were given commissions while performing merely clerical service in the departments. Its benefits are also limited to those below the grade of captain in the Army or Marine Corps and lieutenant in the Navy and like grade of officers. For detailed statement of all those so excluded, see section 203 (a) of Title II.

While your committee believes that justice demands this adjust ment of pay to the veterans of the World War, it does not believe that the privileges and benefits of this legislation or the war risk insurance act should be extended to persons other than such vet

erans.

By act of Congress at the time of the discharge of our soldiers they were given two months' extra pay, or $60 each. Therefore, in the bill which passed the House in May, 1920, as in this bill, 60 days are deducted from the service of each soldier and sailor at home or abroad. If he had such service both at home and abroad, the 60 days are first deducted from his home service.

The bill then gives $1 per day for each day's service in the United States and $1.25 per day for each day's service overseas exclusive of the said 60 days. This is the cash plan provided in Title II and is called "Adjusted service pay." The cash payment, if $500 or over, is to be made in 10 quarterly installments. If less than $500, it is to be made in quarterly installments of $50 each.

Title III, "Adjusted service certificates," gives the veteran the option to take insurance payable at the end of 20 years. If he chooses this insurance plan he will receive as the basis of his adjusted pay a sum 40 per cent greater than the cash plan, and this sum will bear interest at the rate of 4 per cent per annum, compounded annually. In the event of his death prior to 20 years, his estate will receive the amount of such adjusted pay and interest, compounded annually for 20 years. The veteran can borrow against this insurance. The bill provides that the adjusted service certificate shall become effective as of the 1st day of January or July next succeeding the date of filing the application for the benefits under the adjusted service certificates title, but not before July 1, 1922. If a loan is made during the third to fifth years, inclusive, after the certificate becomes effective, he can borrow 90 per cent of his adjusted service pay, with 4 per cent interest, compounded annually up to the date of the borrowing; if a loan is made during the sixth to twentieth years, inclusive, after the certificate becomes effective, he can borrow 80 per cent of the amount of the adjusted service pay increased by 40 per cent, with 4 per cent interest, compounded annually. On these borrowings he will pay 4 per cent interest, the same as he is allowed on his adjusted service certificates.