The National tribune., 1882-02-18
On File.

brave fellows fought their country's battles and
supported the dear ones left behind them for the
paltry compensation of fifty cents per day apiece.
They braved death in every form-on the battle
field in the bitches, on the march, in prison-pens,
constantly in peril yet never faltering in the face
of danger-and all as we have said, for the paltry
sum of fifty cents per day. At the same time
the millions who stayed at home were making
fortunes out of their necessities. The sleek con-
tractor wept when the war was over!
Of the grand army, 335, 900 never came back;
and think how many hundred thousands more
came back wounded and disabled Well do we
remember the tears that welled up to the eyes
of the populace and the cheers that rent the air
when our dear invalids came home! The Nation
adored its heroes in the days of tumultuous re-
ioicings that Immediately followed the close of
posed for a moment that twenty years later more
than two hundred thousand pension claims would
still remain on the files of the Pension Bureau
unallowed and unsettled?
Up to the present point in its session the Forty
seventh Congress has done absolutely nothing
for the soldier On the contrary, two bills have
been introduced by ex-confederates and one by
an extreme Democrat for the repeal of the Pen
sion Arrears Act, and Senator ingalls, has been
compelled to take the floor in defense of the act.
Even the increase of the clerical force in the
Pension Office, so vital to prompt action upon
the multitude of pending claims and so strongly
urged by Commissioner Dudley, has not yet been
authorized. although we cannot believe that
Congress will withhold its sanction much longer.
Surely the time has come for aggressive action
to secure those rights for which the soldier has
contended so long in vain. The estimates re-
Gently transmitted by Commissioner Dudley to
the House of Representatives show that it will
cost 81 ,347 ,651 ,593 during the next twenty-five
years to pay all the rebellion pensions that may
be granted up to June 80, 1888, and the Mexican
pensions that may be granted at the end of that
period, and there are those who hold up their
hands in holy horror at the magnitude of the
sum, although the hugeness of the public debt
never gave them the least concern. The fact is,
start only be 6O,OOO,OOO-the amount is now
S2S, 7G9, 967 .46, (see Commissioner Dudley's re-
port for 1881, p. IA whereas the surplus revenue
of the Government over and above all ex-
penses, including the present pension list, is
in the neighborhood of S15O,000,000 per year,
and even the New York Herald admits that
it is ample for all possible demands upon
the Treasury. Under these circumstances sound
public policy as well as justice to the soldier
quires that the pending pension claims should be
disposed of as speedily as possible. There can be
no justification for extending their adjustment
over period of seven years when the ultimate
cost to the Government will be the same in any
case, and the available funds in the Treasury are
abundantly sufficient now to meet these obliga-
tons Why should any soldier who is entitled
to pension, and who has filed the necessary
proof in the Pension Office to substantiate his
claim, be kept out of his money, when the
bondholder's legal demands have been satisfied
anu tuc IcNCuuc ID oouH-
dainty sufficient for the purpose? The only
reason that the enemies Of pension legislation are
able to give is that "t costs too much" as if good
faith did not require the fulfillment of the Gov
ernment's contract with the soldier just as much
as it's contract with the bondhOlder! Mr. Ingalls,
put the question in its true light when he said
IN the floor of the Senate last week:
at is true that the sum is large, but who is
injured by it? Shylock gets his pound of flesh
and his drop of blood if he wants it, The inter
est on the national debt is paid the public credit
is sustained, the army and navy are supported,
and all branches of the public service Of the Gov
eminent are amply remunerated; and still, not
withstanding all these exactions, an overlooking
revenue continues to pour into the Treasury.
Why shonld not this most sacred of all our ma
tional obligations be paid even if the sum is stu
pendous? 1t does not 90 out of the country it
does not deprive the public creditor of what is
due him; it goes to that class of people who keep
it at home to pay off the mortgage upon the farm.
1t aleviates the condition Of poverty it saves old
age from distress, and instead of going abroad to
enrich those who are rich enough already, it re-
mains among the poor and needy to bless and
nourish and fertilize the whole structure and
fabric of society"
Something more is required of this Congress,
it seems to us, than that it should not undo the