The National tribune., 1882-03-25

sons in poor circumstances who would never
have applied for Government aid but for
the fact that their own eXertions are no
longer sufficient to provide the means Of
support. Many of the claims have been on
file for very long periods and the failure OF
the Government to settle them has unques-
tionably entailed widespread suffering upon
a class which it was the intention Of the
pension laws to spare. 1t is not claimed by
! anybody that these unadiusted claims are
/ aUght but just and equitable, and there Is
no reason for supposing that the percentage
/ Of fraudulent or incomplete claims is any
! greater among them than among those which
| have already been settled. That percentage,
/ in spite Of the clamor of ignorant dema-
gogues, like Senator Beck, and sensational
/ newspapers, like the New York Herald,
/ has never reached serious proportions. In
deed it is insignificant compared with
/ the percentage of fraud in other Departments
! OF the Government. 1t could not well be
/ otherwise, in fact, considering the safeguards
/ which the law provides. The stipulations
! concerning the character of evidence by
/ which pension claims must be supported
/ are such as TO make it much more likely
! that deserving claim will be rejected than
that an unworthy one will be passed. Doubt
&c,
/ the operations of the Pension Bureau are at
+ present conducted anticipated such a rapid
they would have provided better machinery
for its execution, and all that Congress is
nov asked to Go is to make good that
omission The claimants who are.. now
waiting to have their pensions granted are
fully as much entitled TO prompt action by
the Pension Bureau as those whose peti-
tons were acted on ten years ago. That
they did not sooner take advantage of the
ucnsion law Is rather TO their credit than
otherwise That they endeavored to sup
mort themselves without recourse to the
Government at a time when they were
entitled to its aid is an evidence of their
courageous, manly, character, and it ought
not 10 dehaT them now from its support,
when they are no longer able TO earn their
bread with their own hands. If justice ten
years ago required that the claim of the
disabled soldier and sailor should be settled
promptly, still more does it demand that no
unnecessary delay at the present time
should take place in hearing the petitions
Of those who have only applied for pensions
as a last resource against poverty and
! disease. Indeed, every day that passes
increases the obligation Oh the part of the
. Government TO lend an attentive ear to
these claimants, for the reason that as time
advances their helpiessness must necessarily
/ increase The men who were in the prime
Of life at the close Of the war are almost in
their dotage now, and the avenues Of
employment which were open then have
been closed TO them forever. At sixty it is
impossible for anyone, even the bravest and
most selfrcliant, to begin life anew, and the
veterans who managed TO struggle along
unaided Immediately after the close of hos
tilitics find it no longer possible TO secure
profitable employment. congressman, bus
led with private aillirs and personal inter
/ ests, are much too apt to think Of eX-soldirrs
. IS if they were still as young as in the days
when they came marching home to tie
music of the bands Some of them, too, we
recret to say, are too much disposed TO
regard them in the Light Of beGgars-fof.-
/ getful, apparently, Of the services which
they have rendered to their country and
which must make the nation eternally their
debtor
Ought the settlement of these claims to be
expedited? In the light of the facts which
we have presented there can be but one
answer and when it is further considered
that if these claims are not expedited it is
certain that many of the claimants viii be
deprived, by death, Of the possibility Of ever
receiving that aid to which they are entitled,
/ it seems to us that Pity must fight their
cause with even greater eloquence than
Equity.
As TO the second point there can be but
one answer. The country cgn afford the
expense which the employment Of these
additional clerks will entail upon the
! Treasury. The annual revenues of the
! Government ut present exceed its ordinary
! expenditures by the vast sum Of $3.50, 600 600,
and this surplus is steadily growing. Ofall
the public improvements that have been
/ proposed there is not one that could not
/ better be postponed than the settlement of
/ these pending pension claims. The amount
required for additional clerical service is
pitilully small in comparison with that which
| Congress is asked to vote for such projects as
that of the Lads Ship Canal, or the improve
ment Of the Mississippi River. There is not
| a Member OF Congress who dare affirm on
| the floor Of either Senate or House, that any