A Beginning

The post office of the District of Columbia must have been a bit rushed on the morning of Jan. 1, because on New Year's eve someone went to numerous postboxes and dumped in 600,000 letters.

The 600,000 letters contained 600,000 insurance policies dated Jan. 1, 1925, and addressed to 600,000 men who served in the Army, Navy and Marine Corps during the War. So was the payment of the second bonus begun. So far, about 2,000,000 applications have been filed. Of these, 400,000 were returned because not properly made out (lacking signatures, etc.). Only about 15,000 applications were disallowed on the grounds that there was no valid claim. It is estimated that there are some 1,000,000 veterans of the Army alone who have not applied for their bonuses. The applications are coming in in increasing numbers, at a present rate of about 12,000 a day.

Those entitled to $50 or less bonus credit will not be paid until Mar. 1 or later, if their applications do not arrive in time. So far, about 30,000 checks have been prepared for mailing on that day.

The time for making applications does not expire until Jan. 1, 1928.