The Greedy Few

Public spirited, unselfish veterans from all sections of the country will approve the action of Missouri's Governor Phil M. Donnelly, who last Saturday refused the demand of a horde of aroused bonus-marchers that he call a special session of the state legislature to consider their claims for a World II bonus. However, the satisfaction derived from Governor Donnelly's stand is dimmed by the realization that the "gimme, gimme" spirit is on the rise among veterans' groups and that agitation for a bonus is increasing.

Boston's own Faneuil Hall, where last spring a mob of 500 raging, stomping veterans asserted their claim to an extra $900 windfall, was the scene of one of the earliest and most vociferous bonus rallies. Since then the question of bonuses has been an issue in almost every state or national veterans' organization. Happily, there has been no indication that a majority of veterans feel a bonus is desirable. While the VFW has announced itself as favoring the bonus, the new but active AVC is definitely in the opposition, and the American Legion, so far non-committal nationally, has expressed similar views through several state and local conventions.

Many, perhaps a majority of veterans, realize that the supposed benefits of a bonus are dubious indeed. Few families and few wage earners are not closely tied to one or more veterans; and the astronomic sums necessary to give each veteran even a few hundred dollars would have to be taken in taxes from the families or relatives of ex-servicemen. Veteran groups, anxious to serve the nation as well as themselves, have decided that their efforts can be most advantageously directed toward securing a sufficiency of low cost housing or suppressing the current inflationary boom. These too have been the aims of able and sincere politicians who have refused to court the veteran vote by yielding to selfish, shortsighted demands.

The only way the American people can offer veterans any real compensation for their sacrifices is by assuring them a free and prosperous nation in which to live and work. The mentally and physically sound veteran asks no more than a fair opportunity to reach the position in American society for which his talents qualify him. If self-seeking "grabbers," like the bonus marchers from the Ozarks, persist in their demands, many conscientious ex-servicemen may be shamed into renouncing the title "veteran" for a simple, less exclusive "citizen."