TYPED LETTER TO MERIDEN GRAVURE ABOUT THE BONUS ARMY SIGNED BY CONNECTICUT REPRESENTATIVE JOHN Q. TILSON.

The Bonus Army was a group of 43,000 demonstrators consisting of 17,000 U.S. World War I veterans, their families and affiliated groups who gathered in Washington, DC in mid 1932 to demand early cash redemption of their service certificates. Many of these veterans had been out of work since the beginning of the Depression and had been awarded bonuses in the form of certificates which could not be redeemed until 1948. The principle demand of the demonstrators, who called themselves the "Bonus Expeditionary Force" was immediate cash payment of their certificates. Three and a half months after the date of this letter Attorney General William D. Mitchell ordered the veterans to be removed from government property. There were clashes with police, shots were fired and two veterans were wounded and later died. President Herbert Hoover then ordered the army to clear the marchers' campsite, an order carried out by Army Chief of Staff General Douglas MacArthur with a contingent of infantry and cavalry and six tanks.

John Q. Tilson [1866-1958] was an American politician who served as Republican representative from Connecticut for almost 22 years and was House Majority leader for 6 years. Tilson here writes that he is happy to receive Parker Allen's letter, especially as he notes that Allen is himself a veteran. "It is my purpose to continue in my opposition to this measure and to favor the reduction of expenditures wherever practicable."

Parker Allen was the president of The Meriden Gravure Company.