The National tribune., 1882-09-02

ont their full term of enlistment, still re-
main unsatisfied 1t is burning disgrace
but it is nevertheless the plain, unvarnished
truth, that the Government took advantage
of technicality in the law to escape the
payment of bounty to its soldiers in all cases
of this description, and has steadily refused
to be influenced by any consideration of
equity. 1t exacted from the soldier all that
was nominated in the bond" and, like
ShylOck, insisted that it was itself under no
obligation beyond that expressed in the
letter of its contract When one considers
that the injustice of this action has been a
matter of public discussion during all these
years it seems almost incredible that it
should not long ago have been corrected
but such, as we have said, is the humilating
fact, and we cannot but feel that this shame
full delay now constitu tes one of the most
potent elements of the claim which our ex-
soldiers have upon the Government
The responsibility for the delay rests, of
course, with Congress, but it should be said
that there has never been wanting in either
House brave and earnest advocates of the
rights of the soldier, and the inaction of that
body cannot be imputed to any want of zeal
on their part Once, as our readers are
aware, a presidential veto prevented the
recognition of those rights but as rule the
opposition manifested in the Senate to the
equalization of bounties has been the imme-
diate cause of the repeated failure of the
bill Senator Logan put the case tersely as
long ago as July 8th, 1876, when, after
vain attempt to call up the bill in the SEN
ate, he said:
II desire to say to the Senate that this
bill has passed the House since the year
1868 fire diferent times, and the Senate once,
and it is now before the Senate again. having
passed the House by great majority at this
session the first session Of the Forty-f0urth
Congress l deem it just to the soldiers of
| the country who were defrauded out of their
bounty, that this Government should pay it
at same time, and I think that they have
waited long enough for it,"
That was six years ago. and the soldiers
of the country are waiting still. The Equal
ization of Bounties bill has never reached a
vote but once in the Senate.
Now, we should not have word to say
against this delay, hard as it has been to
endure, were there any reasonable doubt
remaining as to the equity of the principle
| involved in the bill, but the record shows
that for the last ten years there has been no
dispute on this point, the Representatives
of both political parties having affirmed
! their belief in its righteousness by their
votes, and the conclusion is irresistible that
the moral cowardice of Congress and nothing
else has been the cause of the delay. Our
Senators have neither dared to DENY
the justice of the bill, nor to 90 on
record in its favor. They have persist
emily and Intentionally lodged the issue
1t is this fact which makes the delay unen-
durable and which gives the demand of our
soldiers for the enactment of the bill such
force at the present time. They have right
to be indignant when Congress refuses either
to pass or reject the measure, and we say to
them that the time has come to compel
Congress to take decisive action Pa
tience long since ceased to be virtue on
their part, and they should now assert their
right to have the question settled at once
and forever. If our Senators and Repre-
sentatives do not believe that their
| claim to the bounty, out of which, /
as Senator Logan says, they have been
defrauded" is a valid claim, let them so
declare by their votes. If, on the other
hand, they think it is an equitable claim, let !
them make provision for it's payment No |
middle course is open to them The claim
is either unjust or just; if the former, it +
ought to be promptly rejected, and if the |
latter, it ought to be as promptly allowed
That is the direct Issue and Congress must
be made to face it. How? By bringing to
pC"A upon IL IAHuSuCe WHICH our
soldiers have at their command. Let them
exert this influence at the polls at the coming
congressional elections by casting their votes
solidly against every candidate who is afraid
to declare his position on this question. Let
them exert it in the form of petitions and
memorials to their Representatives and
Senators. And last, but not least, let them
exert it through THE NATIONAL TRIBUNE
by rallying as one man to its support and
endowing it with their own strength and
influence It's subscription rolls should
contain the name of every ex-soldier in the
land. When it speaks it will then speak
for hundreds of thousands, instead of
thousands, and Congress will listen. Ave.
and it will heed, too, for in this country
legislators are still the servants, not the mas
ters of the people!
THE International ReUietc for August con-
tains very interesting article, entitled On I
Some Changes in the Legal Status of the