The National tribune., 1882-08-26
Equalization of Bounties.

close of the rebellion none has rested on a
surer foundation in equity and justice than
that to the equalization of bounties, yet
none has been so persistently and bitterly
arrears of pensions have been granted to
! the invalid survivors of the Union army
their right to an equalization of bounty is
! still unrecOgnized; but such is the, hard
! cruel fact 1t is an Inconsistency which no
amount OF argument can explain away, and
it would be idle to attempt an explanation
| The fact that measures embodying the prin-
ciple have repeatedly passed one House of
! Congress- and that one of them actually
passed both Houses and would have become
law but for President Grants veto, is of
| little weight when we remember that other
claims of less inherent merit have been
allowed by Congress in the interim. The
record is Of value as showing that whenever
our Representatives and Senators have been
brought face to face with the issue they
have been compelled to admit the justice Of
the principle involved, but that is all.
Nothing can atone for the cowardly neglect
which has been the real cause of congress
! sional inaction. To put the case plainly, the
reason why the Equalization of Bounties
bill has never become law is because Con-
gress has shirked its duty.
We shall take occasion at some future
time to review the history of the various
attempts that have been made by the friends
OF the soldier in Congress to procure the
passage of this bill. The vital question now
is: Is it too late to make another effort for
| its passage? We think not In the first
place, the claim of the soldier to the bounty
which the Government contracted to pay him,
but which it withheld from him on purely
technical grounds is as valid now as it ever
was, and the delay which has attended its
recognition but makes it the more impera-
tive upon the Government to settle it with
out further loss of time. In the second
place. the only plausible pretext which Con-
gressmen were ever able to find for voting
against it, namely, the poverty of the
Treasury, no longer exists. In explaining
his opposition to the bill when it was under
consideration during the second session of
the Forty-third Congress Senator Sherman
said: "If we were in a condition to pay to
the soldiers who served in the army of the
United States S100,0 100000, or any other given
sum of money, there is no man who would
be more ready 10 give that vote than l."
We are at last in that condition. The an
nual surplus in the Treasury of the United
States is $150,000000, the refunding opera
tions have been carried almost to the
furtherest point practicable, the annual in
terest charge has been reduced to COM
paratively trifling sum, the currency of
the country has been restored to specie
basis, and if Senator Sherman were. now
called upon to vote on the equalization of
bOunties bill he could not withhold his sup
in the Treasury. In the third place, the
sentiment of the country generally is more
strongly than ever in favor of discharging
to the full every just obligation Of the Gov
eminent to the soldier. 1t has manifested
itself in the hearty approval given to the
Arrears of Pension bill, and more recently
to the bill increasing the force in the PEN
sion Bureau. 1t is true that some influential
Journals which have always treated the
claims of the soldier with contempt, delight
to antagonize all legislation in his interest,
but the great heart Of the people still beats
in accord with his own. In the fourth place,
our ex-soldiers are better able to battle
for their rights than they have ever been
before. Hitherto they have lacked organi-
zation, and they have had no representative
newspaper to plead their cause. In THE
NATIONAL TRIBUNE they now have an
advocate at once powerful and fearless.
Through it they can reach the ear of Con-
gress and the public, and make their int1u-
ence felt as never before. They are no
longer mere individuals, but great, organ
lied force, speaking through the most potent
Of all human instrumentalities- great
newspaper They are in position to COM
pei Congress to listen to them whether it
wishes to or not. Congress, which has so
often conceded tho righteousness of their
claims, will not dare TO ignore their de-
mands, and if they are united and deter
mined and persistent, they will triumph
just as surely as they overcame and con-
quered in the war, by virtue of these self
same qualities.
Lastly, there are still in the Senate and
House of Representatives some brave and
trusty friends of the soldier to champion
their cause. We have not forgotten that
Senator Logan, when advocating the passage
of the Equalization of Bounties in the Forty
third Congress, gave this eloquent pledge of
his fidelity: