The Veterans' Bonus
On Monday Congress overrode, by crushing majorities, President Roosevelt's veto, and the Veterans' Bonus Bill became law. The President has asked for an appropria- tion of $2,250,000,000 to finance the measure, but the immediate cost of the Bill to the Treasury is not yet known. Not more than half of the veterans are expected to cash their $50 and $100 bonds ; the remainder will hold them as investments paying 8 per cent. interest. Strong pressure will be put on the President to finance the Bill with the, profit the Treasury would make by a further deviluation of the dollar, though, since the payment is non-recurring, there is no reason why the cash for immediate payment should not be raised by loan. The President, saddled with an unwelcome Bill, is not likely to reduce his election chances by raising the money through new taxation, and he might well be dismayed by the international as well as the domestic effects of a dollar- devaluation, which would finally drive Fran.-e off the gold standard. The embarrassments of the Bill are indeed many, but, given its electoral appeal and the support it has commanded in Congress, the President is to be commended for his resistance to it, and its supporters, who have formed as insistent and rapacious .a lobby as any in American politics.
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