B. E. F. (Cont'd)
Last week the House of Representatives surrendered to the siege of the Bonus Expeditionary Force encamped near the Capitol. It voted (226-to-175) to take up the bill by Texas' Patman for immediate cashing of Adjusted Service Compensation certificates at a cost of $2,400,000,000 in printing-press money. This first test of the Bonus boosters' strength indicated that the House would probably pass the Patman bill and send it to the Senate. In that body 56 Senators—a majority—were said to be lined up against the Bonus. But even should the measure somehow get by Congress an insurmountable veto awaited it at the White House.
Largely ignorant of legislative processes, the B. E. F., bivouacked some 15,000 strong on the Anacostia mudflats, was delirious with delight at its House victory. Its tattered personnel, destitute veterans who had "bummed" their way to the Capital from all over the country, whooped and pranced about among their crude shelters. Most of them had left hungry wives and children behind. They had gone to Washington because, long jobless, they had nothing better to do. In camp with their A. E. F. fellows again, they seemed to have revived the old ganging spirit of Army days as an escape from reality. They convinced themselves that they were there to right some vague wrong—a wrong somehow bound up in the fact that the Government had opened its Treasury to banks, railroads and the like but closed it to needy individuals. When the House voted to take up their bill, they slapped one another on the back and were quite sure they would be getting their money in a few days to take home.
During the week the B. E. F.'s ranks were more than quadrupled by new recruits. Leaders predicted 50,000 more were on the march to Washington. Seven thousand of them paraded one evening in quiet order up Pennsylvania Avenue. The discipline at "Bonus City" continued good, despite the fears of alarmed Washingtonians who helped to spread unfounded Red scares. Crude shelters were built from old lumber, packing boxes and scrap tin, and thatched with old straw. Several hundred secondhand Army tents were provided. Company streets were laid out. Latrines were dug. Regular formations were held daily. Campers were organized for field sports to keep them out of mischief. Newcomers were required to register after proving that they were bona fide veterans with honorable discharge papers. A military morale permeated the whole raw, rough encampment, with no larking out of bounds.