SOLDIERS’

f. or a bonus to s strongest support in the American Legion. A bill was finally formulated _by the officials of the Legion and others, and introduced into Congre . By the terms of the bill a cash bonus was to be given which amounted to about $500 for each of the four million persons who served in the war. According to government experts, the total cost of the ‘bonus under the provisions of this bill would have been, by the year 1946, nearly four billion doilars. The bill was strongly opposed by President Harding and by the Secretary of the Treasury, A. W. Mellon. In Congre several amendments were made. Among these was one to provide for the reclamation of swamp lands for the creation of homesteads for war veterans. This amendment pa ed but was omitted in the conference between the two houses. President Harding had insisted that any bonus measure should carry with it the means of payment and as this had not been done on the bill his veto was practically a ured. The measure pa ed both houses by substantial majorities and was vetoed by the President. The House pa e 1 it over his veto on September 20, 1922 by a vote of 258 to 54. it was, however, lost in the Senate by a vote of 44 to 28, or four le than the requisite two-thirds. Many of the States pa ed bonus acts giving sums of money and other benefits 2 ee who had served from those ates.