Veterans Relief Scandal: A Billions-Dollar Black Hole

In 1932, a shocking statistic emerged that sent shockwaves through the halls of American politics: if the trend of government income and war veteran expense continued at its present rate, veterans relief would swallow the United States treasury in just 21 years. That’s the stark reality revealed by a painstaking statistical charting of the trends of treasury revenues and expenditures for veterans. The numbers are nothing short of staggering. Last year’s bill for veterans relief clocked in at a whopping $1 billion, a sum that dwarfed the estimated expense of the Japanese government for 1932 and was more than twice the total assets of the Canadian government in 1931. To put it into perspective, it was even equivalent to 75% of the assessed valuation of all land in Colorado, one of the richest mining states in the world. Talcott Powell, a staff writer for the Indianapolis Times, broke the story, pointing out that one in six men who had served with the army in the World War was now receiving benefits. Demobilized service men from all countries’ wars had already received almost $15 billion in relief by the time Powell wrote his exposé. The implications were dire: if the trend continued unabated, the US treasury would be bankrupt in just two decades, with veterans relief absorbing the entire income tax and more. The question on everyone’s lips was: how had this happened? And what would be the ultimate cost to the American people?