The collection consists of printed items relating to bonus compensation legislation for World War I veterans from private organizations, states, and the Government Printing Office. The materials date from 1919 to 1935 and are arranged chronologically.

There is a booklet from the State of Minnesota which provides a synopsis of the act passed in September 1919, and where applications for the benefit could be obtained (2 copies). The State of Missouri passed its benefits bill in 1922. There is a blank Missouri soldiers’ bonus application for the relatives and/or widows of deceased soldiers and two blank filing cards presumably used to record the bonus applications.

There are two Government publications in the collection. The Government Printing Office printed Soldiers’ Adjusted Compensation: Hearings before the Committee on Ways and Means, House of Representatives, Additional Statements and Addenda, Part 12, 1920. The second Government document in the collection is a four-page pamphlet from the U.S. Veterans Bureau, Adjusted Compensation for Veterans of the World War: Explanation Concerning the Provisions of the World War Adjusted Compensation Act, Information for Veterans and their Dependents, 1924.

The remainder of the collection is comprised of publications from various interested individuals and organizations both opposed to, and in support of, the soldiers’ bonus. There is small pamphlet, The Bonus by William Kimberley Palmer (1856-1938), supporting the soldiers’ bonus dedicated to Constantine Veniopoulos Nestor who died at Argonne on October 17, 1918. Publications opposed to the bonus include: Militant American journalism : the fight of the New York Herald against the $5,000,000,000 Bonus Raid by Ervin Wardman, 1922; The Soldiers’ Bonus or Adjusted Compensation for Soldiers: Special Reports Number 24 by the National Industrial Conference Board, 1923; two 1933 pamphlets from The National Economy League entitled Facts about the Bonus and What We Will Pay Veterans this Year; and a pamphlet from the American Liberty League in February 1935, The Bonus: An Endorsement of the Position Taken by President Roosevelt in His Letter of December 27, 1934, and an Analysis of Proposals for Pre-payment of the World War Adjusted Compensation Certificates.