The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1865-02-24


] ]. i Nm ..e Arlis ]. 10. P.,a.
NE sSsihnspt Us pursued . short
sighted ppl1ss ID read to our officers and
soldiers q the 6sld. Private letters from
4innesota soldierr disclcseS the. fact that
they sRet bssn paid for many months.
A soldier at Fort snalling called on as the
other day and stated that the government
was owing him ten months pay, that biz
family was in Ga seatest need, and asked
what steps hemui Me to get relief. An
officer at thu tont, cent home . few days
ago money to pay his current expenses,
and intimated that he would have to re-
sign and come home solely because he
could not get his pay. 4 - 4 : O. q - - ,
In debate in the Senate on the 10th
inst. Mr.. WnsoH, Chairman of the Military
Committee, said: -
; We owe to the armies of the United States
millions Of dolle-s. Many of our officers have
not been paid f6f months; many of them have
put into the hands Of their commanding
officers their resignation, and are imploring
the government to accept their resignation for
the reason that their. families are suffering at
home while they are not paid even what the
to support them. This is the condition Of our
armies. This is the condition of the families
of our soldiers and officers, We have not paid
them, and we have not the means to do it, at
at any rate as rapidly as wrought to do.
In the face of the fact that you
owe tens of millons of dollars to our armies,
and that many Of our officers have been unpaid
for months; in the face Of the fact that the of.
fcers of our army are sending in their resigna-
tons, and some of our Generals hold them by
the handful, asking to resign that they may
take care of their families; in the face of these
facts that We cannot help and cannot relieve
owing to the financial difficulty of the country,
we have an issue raised here in Congress by
the laws of the country, to increase the com.
pensation of their clerks and the persons they
employ twenty per cent. 1t is utterly and
wholly indefensibe. ...a-| - '..a
This state Of things ought to be correct
ed at once. In few months hence every
effort will be made to induce our veterans,
the men who entered the service in 1862,
to re-enlst for another term, but the
chances are against success, if they are
not paid regularly and promptly. There
is a higher motive than this but We men
ton the lowest first; for in the corrupted
current that is now sweeping rs onward,
the lowest is often most forcible. The
soldier fairly earns his wages; often be
has family dependent on him for sup
port, and it is gross injustice and crime to
cause him or them to suffer unnecessarily.
The reason why the soldierbare not paid,
and why the market is glutted with gov
eminent vouchers, may be attributed sole
ly to the efforts of the Treasury Depart
ment to get along without further issues
of legal tenders. The attempt has neces-
sarily been failure. The enormous ex-
penses of the government cannot be met
by the sale of bonds, by internal revenue,
by imports, or through any source than
further dilution of the currency, and the
sooner these facts are realized the better
it will be for all hands.