The National tribune., 1880-02-01
The Mexican War Pension Bill.

Secretary the Interior be- hereby authorized and
oeeTs enlisted men including militia ana volunteers q
sixty days 1919 with Mexico; who served
thirty days in the Greek war OF ls and so or in the F9rd
@ nG er oDS So a. snq ee to
any Congress specific service in
than sixty days and who shall subscribe oath to support the
Soh ocds and enlisted men P%ocded That such widows
Ct igs ss rs q sS ssEs who
nor to any peIs01 @ m 3 Tor @ tagn eight
received eight dollars per month Pensions this
provided receiving pension for less
be an p S rom a & S 6e passage h ac e d % dng 3 M
natural lives Ives Of the persons % ms @ emteG IL thereto m o 90
@ m the secretary o S Of the R eo anne a soch @
scribe Of the right OF the appap t. pension and any per
this shall be deemed guilty Of PerSry and and the Secretary Of
person whenever shall be made appear by
false auduldnt ana that such Is
66ss f m a h 81 {hG may S % s
ucent and that when any person has has been land
in grant shall be priao evidence his
eryee and h930oe m qehge h 9 Ien eye9cs h & sba not 1
cSne@svf, f @ a1 @ granted or ebtaned ~ '
4a Of the Revised Statutes hereby made
or law now force which any way cohdc with the provs
above mentioned deprive them the
SEC g. That section hereby
the provisions ISL g this shal
ofhe Constitution the United States
An able and interesting report accompanies the bill
from Hon A. II. Coffroth Chairman Of the Committee
Invalid Pensions from which extract the following:
1T has been the settled policy of Government for
more than hundred years to grant pensions to it's
aged veterans This policy proclaimed in the act of
Congress of May 1S which promised half pay for
years all commissioned officers who should to the
close of the revolutionary This extended by the
act of 1880 TO half pay for life BY the act of 1913 passed
thirty years after the close of the for lndepend
Congress granted pensions to officers and enlisted
men alike.
"The acts of May 10 1898 and June l. 1882 were still
more liberal to the old soldiers of revolutionary war
ssWher the soldiers of the Indian volunteered,
upon the call OF the Government to defend early
Elements against the incuTsions OF pess SayageS and
when the shattered veterans of Mexico tain
inc against terrible odds the honor and glory of their
country on foreign fields they might we'll have expected
that country which they served well in their early
manhood, would assist them in their needy old age
Especially should this bill receive the cordial support
of all patriotic members of both political parties in Con-
gress slight recognition of the vast material benefits
conferred upon whole country by the skill and yalor
of veterans OF the Mexican war Those soldiers fought
ten general battles and nearly hundred
mens and achieved unbroken series of victories with
out the of single regmenta standard crownng their
splendid achievements by marching triumphantly with
less than 1000 men, into the capital of foreign nation,
and there debating the terms of peace in walled city of
600 inhabitants.
BY that conquest the boundaries of Texas estab
sbed and that great State with its 26O 600 square miles
OF territory forever assured the Union BY their arms
we secured California, Nevada, Utah. New Mexico, Ar
zona Colorado, and Wyoming of 937,875 square
miles and greater than that embraced within the twenty
nine States which then constituted the Federal Union
According TO the reports of the Bureau of Statistics
not less than eleven hundred millions of dollars gold
and silver have been taken from the mines in the Terrific
res thus acquired which still continue to yield their APP
parenty nexhausbe stores of the precious metals
during the past thirty years have given renewed impulse
to every department of American industry No army of
such inferior numerical strength secured vast
territory and such imperial wealth for the country that
served
''The objection has been urged that sufficient time
has not elapsed the veterans of the Mexican war
in N
them pensions. This objection might have force if
whole generation had not passed since these services
were rendered and if these veterans could still continue
to grow old and thus live sufficiently long to meet the
requirements of this economical system which would only
accord pensions those who shall evince that they are
fully qualified pensioners by dying after pensions
have been granted TO them.
''We satisfied that the general judgment of the
country would not sanction such national system post
qaorten gratitude which, while has the virtue of econ
omy yet excludes every other virtue that should com
mend it to the approval of Congress.