Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 118, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 May 1919 — PAY SOLDIER WORKERS [ARTICLE]

PAY SOLDIER WORKERS

Millions Coming to Men Who Helped in Roadbuilding. To Be Given Difference Between Soldiers’ Pay and, Wage of the Civilian Laborers. Washington. D. C.—American soldiers from northern states who were kept on this side of’the Atlantic and forced to construct an elaborate highway system in the South have several million dollars coming from the federal government They will get it as soon as the department of agriculture can figure out the difference between S3O a month, a private’s pay, and the amount paid to colored laborers who received $5 and day working side by side with them. The total will be charged up against the states which got their roads built

for a song through the use of American fighting men, and will be deducted from their share of the $200,000,000 provided in the post office appropriation bill for federal aid to the states in highway construction. The law insuring this just treatment of the soldiers passed congress amid the confusion of the closing days of the last session, and members are going to see to it that the full amount due to* each soldier road builder is paid. One of the notable examples of road building Is the model highway connecting Washington with Camp Humphrey. Vn. One of the principal units engaged was a company of engineers enlisted from Wisconsin university. These men, according to Senator La Follette, worked 12 and 13 hours a day. . • It is believed that nearly 30 per cent of Canada is still unexplored