The Portland daily press., 1876-10-24
Discharge Certificates.

Discharge Certificates.
The Philadelphia, New York and Boston
papers come to us WITH notices that the
Government officers have been for sometime
past, and are now, at work on matter re-
lating to soldiers discharge certificates, with
a view to having all documents OF this char
acter, not now in the hands of their rightful
owners, brought into the custody of the
United States, and lodged in the War Office
at Washington.
This work in now going forward in all the
principal centers in the Country, including
this city, and is certainly step in the right
direction, especially when we consider that
there are very many thousands of these certi-
ficates in various parts of the United States,
notably in all large cities, which are not in
were originally issued, and every one of
which may be made the basis of fraudulent
and fictitious claim against the Treasury.
In allnding to this phase of the subject the
New York Times says:
The importance of such measure is ap-
parent when it is understood that soldiers
discharge certificate is, in one sense, draft
issued in advance upon the Treasury, it being
the document of all others required by the
Government officers in the settlement of claims
made by the soldier or his heirs for back pay,
clothing, bounty, or pension money, and the
only paper upon which claim of this charac-
ter can properly be based
1t is estimated that there are in New York
City upward of fifty thousand soldiers dis
charge certificates that are not in possession of
= fbar riohf ffnln hor haav,
from all parts of the state, and some of them
have been brought from longer distances.
Other metropolitan centres possess them in
about an equal ratio, swelling the aggregate
number in all parts of the country to
hundreds of thousands. Every one of these
papers can be made the base of fictitious
and fraudulent claim against the Gov
eminent when presented by unprincpled par
ties having no rights to ownership in them
whatsoever. In the hands of the brave and
resolute men who shouldered the musket and
carried the knapsack over every battlefield
these papers would be secure from any fraud or
attempted fraud. The trouble is that the sold
ier is liable to lose, and in thousands of nstan-
ces they have lost their discharge papers. In
other instances they have died, leaving no
heirs. and the discharge certificates have fallen
into the hands of men who have not hesitated
to use them for fraudulent purposes. This has
heeu carried to such an extent as to render the
subject one of serious thought upon the part of
tuo 0UNtIumcub OuC6IS, anu tue UnONtLueub
LOOKING to the bringing of all such papers into
the custody of the United States has been the
result. Once lodged in the War Office, they
will always be accessible to the soldier or his
heirs, and will forever cease to be the instru-
ments OF fraud in the hands of others.
While tho above is unquestionably true,
there is another and equally important point
in connection with the matter which the
journals above alluded to seem to have entire
ly overlooked. Under the act of Congress ap-
proved in 1862, any person of foreign birth
who has served in the Army of the United
Ssates, may in the event of his desiring to be
naturalized, and thus entitled to vote, present
his discharge certificate in lieu of having
taken out ''frst papers" and upon the
presentation Of such certificate, supported by
the proper oath of identity, final papers may
be issued to him and he become voter at
once; subject of course to the registrations of
the State, County or city in which he may
happen to reside.
1t can readily be seen how the unlawful
possession Of certificates of this kind may
lead to the perpetration of election frauds in
cities or districts where the foreign element
largely predominates, and this may afford
partial explanation of the enormous registry
which has thus far been made In New York
city. The War Office seems to be the natural
and proper repository of all such papers, and
it is to be hoped that efforts of the Govern
ment officers to gather them up and deposit
them there may meet with the success which
is in every way due to so laudable an effort.
The great registration in New York at
first alarmed the Republicans and encouraged
the Democrats. Close investigation of the
lists however developes the fact that the
Republican gain is this registration is greater
proportionally than that of the Democrats,
and that the latter cannot probably throw
over 10000 majority in the city, which would
leave the state to the Republicans. More
than $4,000 names were entered in the first
two days of registration, a number utterly
unprecedented in the history of the city.
Great frauds will evidently be attempted, but
the United States authorities are making
extraordinary efforts to detect and prevent
them.
THE advertisements in the Charleston News
aud Courier which are so narrowly bigoted
and partisan in trying to conduct business
wholly among the Democrats indicates tine
same principle held by some of that party in
the State of Maine A few days after our
fi.e in '66 an eastern man came to this city
tosee. as he said ''if there were. any good DEM
ocrats that needed help"
JANE SHORE is the latest historical charac-
acter who is getting whitened up and made
presentsble in good society. A London play
wright has discovered that she was chaste
wife and prosecuted saint, and stands ready
to call any critic hard names who questions
the historical accuracy of his portrait.
THOSE of us who are Mortified because the
oath of a Christian is not regarded in Turke5
will do we'll to remember in what estimation
the testimony of Chinaman is held in San
Francisco. There seems to be no call to 90
into Mysteries over Turkish intolerance in
that regard.
In his last book OF poems Robert Browning
has perpetrated the most extraordinary
rhyme on record, "Tommy-make-room-fo
your -Uncle-us'' and "homunculus." This
mixture of Latinity and slang is more strik-
ing than commendable.
UP to the closing of the gates on the 10Th
inst. the total admissions to the Philadelphia
Exhibition were 1920, ,213, and the total re-
ceipts at the gates $2,914,136.