The Soldiers' journal. (Rendezvous of Distribution, Va.) 1864-1865, 1864-05-11

service rendered, it being supposed that those
who would compose our armies assumed the OBJ
legations of military service from higher motives
than pecuniary northumberland that this is a
correct view of the case none will fail to admit
Men, in many cases, forsook lucrative employ
ments and comfortable homes and enlisted for
the holy purpose of preserving the nation from
the danger with which treason and rebellion had
encompassed it, the matter of pay, bounty, etc.
never for one moment entering into their calcu-
lations They had no other object than, and
were willing to submit to any privation and face
any danger for, the preservation of the nation
For one, two and three years, these men have
borne the fatigues of the march, exposed alike to
the scorching rays of the sun and the peltings
of the storm e have endured hunger, thirst
nakedness, wounds, sickness, imprisonments,
and we might include stripes-added to which,
in many instances, the appeals of families but
partially provided for-to say nothing of the
danger of battles, which they have fearlessy con-
fronted, and yet these things have not moved
them. They have submitted to it all unmurmur-
ingly, not for a moment entertaining the thought
that the value of their services could be compu-
ted in dollars and cents, their only wish being
that the thirteen dollars per month promised
should be paid promptly, so that it might be de-
voted to the relief of those who depended upon
rU.
cles of clothing and subsistence have increased
double, and in some instances treble, in value,
the currency has deprecated, and yet the soldier
has not asked for the advance of pay necessary
to meet the augmented demand upon his salary.
While his former associates in the different de-
partments of domestic industry have asked for
and received an advance of pay commensurate
with the demands of the times, the soldier accepts
his thirteen dollars per month without COM
plant at it's insuffciency to meet the require
ments of those dependent upon him.
All classes concur in the belief that the me-
chanic who, before the war, received one dollar
and fifty cents per day, requires two dollars and
fifty now in order to pay the expenses which the
soldiers family must incur in common with him,
but when the matter of increasing the pay of the
soldier so that he may receive an amount equiv
alent to that paid the mechanic or laborer is sug
gested, great ado is made about increasing the
I" national debit Generous taxation" etc., and
it is predicted that if the government increases
it's expenditures by adding to the pay of the
soldier, bankruptcy" and "repudiation must
inevitably follow. If the foundation of Ameri-
can patriotism is laid upon SO unsound bottom
as that formed by the quicksands of parsimo-
NOUS, unpatriote fear of taxation, we are great
ly mistaken in the character of our people, and
only wish that policy could be adopted by
which these GROWERS could be placed in the ar
my, and their places in civil life supplied with
men who have learned lessons of practical patri-
otism at the mouth of the cannon and the point
of the bayonet. We congratulate fellow
soldiers upon this action of Congress- and while
we do not expect that they will be more earnest
in their efforts to accomplish the work assigned
to them by reason of this slight increase of pay,
we doubt not it will be appreciated merited
and needed concession of that body to the men