The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1858-12-21
BALTIMORE.
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 81, 1853.

sentatives which proposes to grant pensions to the
soldiers who served ten days in the war of 1872,
and an amendment has been moved extending its
provisions to ali those who did similar service in
the Florida and Creek wars of 1887 and 1888, and
in the Mexican war of 1916. We think may
safely predict that this Bill will pass the House
1t is, however, Objectionable on many grounds. 1t
is extending and confirming policy that has been
pressed too far already, and which was erroneous
in its inception 1t is an unnecessary compliance
with demand which is unreasonable in principle,
and also, because it is made upon Government
whose outlay on this same score has been heretofore
more than muuifcent Pensions, bounty lands,
and extra-pay have of late years been dispensed
with lavish hand. The soldiers Of the Reyolu-
ton, and of the war of l8l2-the men who fought
against the English and the Mexicans, the Greeks
and the Choctaws, BLACK HAWK and BILLY BowLEGs,
have all, in way another, been made the
recipients of the country's bounty. Forty
years ago it was deemed proper to pension
those who had enlisted in the Revolutionary
army and served to the end of the war
Now-it is thought that ten days service around
Loudenslagers Hill entities him who performed it,
to gratitude and pension for life from his coun-
trymen Up to June, 1857, Revolutionary SOL
ders had received, under the Acts of 1918, 1928
and 1882, from the public treasury, the sum OF
S43.0ll 900, and there had been paid to their
widows under the Acts of 1886, 1885, l949 and
1853. SI8 3O2 $50, besides large additional dona-
tons of land and money under other Acts, on
account of Revolutionary services Nor have the
soldiers of later days been less gratefully remem-
80 ,,,il1; nf
land were issued in the year 1857 alone, and
nearly 81 OOC 900 acres have been parted with, in
the shape of bounty lands, since the Revolution;
while under other Acts, pensions and extra-pay
have from time to time been literally granted.
We do not group these facts together because we
consider them all equally Objectionable. The
soldiers of the Revolution, for instance, based
their claims upon different grounds from those ON
which similar demands are now founded The
country was then but thinly settled, the odds
against us were fearful, and the Continental army
was only maintained at the price of sacrifices on
the part of the citizens, unparalleled since that
time They who had not stopped to count the
cost, nor dreamed of pensions, before they strug-
oiled through that summers day at Monmouth, or
wntered amid the SHOWS of Valley Forge, found
when their honorable warfare was over, that they
had never received even the miserable plttance
which was their due. The deprecated currency
in which they had been paid scarcely deserved
the name of money, and if they had been with
out lofier claims to compensation, yet sheer
Justice must have lifted an omnipotent voice in
their behalf Since that period no like cases have
arisen There has been no lack Of volunteers, nor
have they been defrauded, or disappointed of their
paw Notwithstanding this, they have had addi-
tional provision made for them, and that in no
nigeardly spirit nor stinted measure. We would
not abate one 1.-THE of the applause or ignore sim
gle obligation due to the soldiery of our later
wars. We recognize their many gallant services,
and admit their title to high and generous consd-
Grafton on that account. But while rendering I'M
to CESAR his rightful tribute, cannot afford to
forget that there other interests to be cared for
of vast and vital Importance. Enthusiasm towards
the soldier is proper enough, but justice to the
citizen is imperative. 1t is well to reflect before
we go farther, on the enormous extent to which
the pension list is now swollen, and upon the pres
ent condition of that treasury from whose Golfers
such princely grants have already been drawn.
If there is much to be said against the leading
features of this BILL there is still more to be object
ed against some of the shallow arguments by
which it has been supported. Mr.. BURNET, in ad-
vocating it, brings prominently forward ''the
thousands of poor men who are relieved" by pen
sions; and Mr.. SAVAGE is actuated by de-
sire, through such means, to 'keep alive
''patriotic ardor in the breasts of the people,
1t is of course very unpopular among US to dispute
ANYTHING demanded in favor of "poor man. or
''gallant soldier" 1t is certain, nevertheless,
that ''poor man. has no more right to draw relief
from the Government Treasury than any body
else. 1t is no more the business of this Govern
ment to support the INDECENT or furnish work to
the artisan, than to advance capital to the mer-
chant or to grant especial privileges TO the wealthy
planter It is but miserable bid for popularity
on the part of the politician who insinuates that
the State can recognize any distinction be-
tween such classes, and the man of narrow for
tune wrongs his manlness when he accepts
of such a plea in his behalf 1t is time
that demagogues had done playing with these
empty theories. As the wealthy citizen of to-day
was but the poor laborer few years back, so the
struggling workman has his chance to be the
millionaire of the morrow; but the one is entitled
to no more fattery than the other from the guile
less tongues of the servants of the people. MOI
will we believe these pensions to be necessary t.
keep alive the patriotism Of the nation. We doub
whether it was ever aroused in the bosom of {
volunteer by the hope of extra-pay, or the prom
Use of an eighty acre lot to his widow. Surel,
millions of acres and millions of dollars ough
not to be lightly squandered, even though som
poor soldier may be thereby comforted, and tn
popularity of some honorable representativ
doubled in his district 1t may be eminent,
proper to for the widow of the hero who ha
lost life in his countrys cause, or to pension hin
whom the tide of war has left, when it receded
sick, wounded and disabled. But the robust wal
rior who has returned in safety to his home
must ever find his chief reward in the need {
fame that he has won. While we accord hir
that, we cannot permit other men to traffic wit
it in the mart either for popularity or a more sui
fio1 ,,r;na