OCR Text |
Show BONIS GOES BEGGING. Service men continue remarkably ! slow in taking advantage of the federal bonus. Their attitude is unexpected. un-expected. It contrasts strongly with that of the veterans of previous wars with regard to public pensions or gratuities, and contrasts no less with what was represented as the attitude of these very men. j They were supposed to be clamor-1 fng for a bonus. A bonus was granted grant-ed them. It was not all that they wanted, or of such a sort as most of them might have preferred. Nevertheless it represented a grant of substantial value to every man, such as would hardly be turned down if offered to employes by any private corporation. And after several months' opportunity to apply for it, hardly one-third of the eligible eligi-ble men have presented themselves. According to a recent statement of the adjutant general in charge of the enrollment, nearly 3,000,000 are still to be heard from. A twenty-year paid-up endowment endow-ment policy is surely nothing to be despised, in this period of enthusiasm enthu-siasm for thrift and insurance. Cash in hand would naturally be more attractive than payment deferred de-ferred many years; yet the policy is a good busienss proposition. It may be that many veterans are holding aloof from this grant in the hope of getting something better. But if they do not avail themselves of it iu larger numbers, they will rather create a public impression that they are not interested in any kind of bonus. |