Hat & Handkerchief

Last week Chairman Pat Harrison and his friends on the Senate Finance Committee put a white handkerchief into a hat and pulled out the same handkerchief with a rabbit painted on it. In short, they took the Bonus Bill passed by the House (TIME, Jan. 20) and wrote an entirely new bill, almost identical in effect. That was magic for it removed the political curse of the House bill, which had been frankly dictated by the three powerful veterans' lobbies, and substituted a bill that the veterans had not dictated but which satisfied them just as well.

Whereas the House promised veterans who turned in their bonus certificates the right to demand cash payment on the face value, less borrowings, the Senate bill promised them the same amount in $50 bonds which veterans might cash at any time.

Whereas the House gave veterans who did not cash their certificates 3% interest for holding on, the Senate bill gave them bonds bearing 3% interest.

Whereas the House forgave interest on loans veterans had secured against their certificates, the Senate bill forgave such interest if accrued after Sept. 30, 1931.

As most veterans are expected to cash their bonds at once, the cash required next June 15, when payment is made, may be anything up to $1,924,000,000.

Only thing the Senate had to do when Senator Harrison and his friends had finished their trick bill was to rubber stamp it. The bill went smashing through with a vote of 74-to-16 Only four Senators up for re-election in 1936 voted against it: Glass of Virginia, Conzens of Michigan, Hastings of Delaware, Keyes of New Hampshire. Triumphant were veterans' chiefs who calculated that the House would approve the bill, send it to the President before this week ends.

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