Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1882-03-24
lallcasteI tlrtelIiqencer.
FRIDAY EVENING. MARCH a. 1852.

AAsS&~0<Ss HSS$<%$sA SS<<ks
FRIDAY EVENING. MARCH a.. iss2.
An Ungratelul Country.
Republics are not always ungrateful.
Witness the muni6cence of our own
great republic in doubling the salary and
voting gratuities and pensions to Gen.
eral Grant in subsidizing railroad and
steamship corporations !; in establishing
and literally paying for star mail routes
and in passing back-pay pension acts for
the benefit of crippled and disabled SOL
diers, many of whom have only recently
been made aware of the terrible injuries
they sustained while in the service of
their country eighteen or twenty years
ago.
Of the last named class of patriots
there are few in this good city of. Ian
caster, whose claims upon the govern
ment should not he overlooked. Take
Major Elwood Griest, the distinguished
editor of the Lancaster Inquirer, as an
example: When the war broke out he
was engaged in the honorable avocati0n
of forging horse-shoes and gate hinges.
The bugle sounded to arms: In a pa
triotic frenzy he threw down the ham
mer, kicked over the anvil, and entered
the service as a suffers clerk. The prow-
ess and genius he displayed in disposing
of tobacco, whisky, and other sanitary
supplies at remuneratjveprices, attracted
the attention of high officials in the COM
missary department, and the suffers
clerk was speedily promoted to a lucra-
tive position therein. So admirably did
he perform his dangerous duties in this
capacity, that long years after his term
of service, it is said, the venerable ex
secretary of war, Simon Cameron, pre-
sented him with collar, which he con-
tinues to wear with as much honest
pride as the illustrious 3O6" will wear
Don's big bronze medals.
Flushed with victory Maj. Griest re-
turned from the war, before it was
over, and demanded a public recognition
of his services. A grateful governor ap-
pointed him county treasurer to fill an
apparent vacancy, and he fulfilled the
duties Of the Office, if not in the interest
of the taxpayers: at least to his own
satisfaction and profit. Ambition
pointed to higher honors. Thad. Stevens
was dead. Why should not he pick up
the whip that the "old commoner had
laid down and flourish it over the heads
of subservient Republican congressman ?
He thought he would but he didn't.
With blind infatuation and overlooking
his superior merit, the Republican man.
ayers set up and elected, term after term,
such third-rate fellows as o. J. Dickey
and Herr Smith, leaving the suffers
clerk out in the cold. No; Republics
are not al1ays ungrateful, but in this
case ours was.
Hope deferred maketh the heart sick.
Despairing of congressional honors, Maj.
Griest has been casting his eyes about
for something else. His vision rested on
the arrears of pensions act-an act passed
for the benefit of soldiers who had been
wounded or otherwise disabled while in
the service of their country. The major,
having snuffed the battle from afar, had
escaped sabre cut and bayonet thrust,
rifle ball and bursting shell. Even rheu-
matism, camp fever, diarrhea, piles or
other diseases incident to a military life,
were unknown to him. But he was not
rs one without hope. He remembered
that he was once thrown from the back
of an intractable government mule, and
that his wrist was thereby sprained and
for this mishap he might perhaps secure
a pension and back pay. The accident
had happened SO long ago that he had
quite forgotten which one Of his wrists
was injured, and 50 when he flied his ap-
plication for pension he included both
of them. When the dayof examination
came, the surgeons critically examined
the disabled soldier. His wrists ap-
peared to be as round and muscular as
a prize-fghter's or blacksmith's,
and the surgeons could at first see little
amiss with them. But the major
averred that his wrists were so seriously
disabled that he was unequal to the
task of inditing good editorials. This
the surgeons acknowledged after having
examined the files of the Inquirer and,
not wishing to reject the majors claim
entirely and thus cut him off from all
chance of getting pension, they recon-
mended that he be granted 81 per
month. 1t is not at all likely, however,
that he will be given a tenth part
of the sum recommended We have
heard of cases where the surgeons re-
commended full pensions of $50 per
month ,and the heartless pension commits
sioner cut them down to 81. The same
ratio of reduction applied to the majors
case could reduce his monthly allowance
to about l3 cents, and this amount can
not he regarded as exorbitant when CON-
pared with the allowances made to Gen.
Grant. Contrasting the services and
sufferings of the two soldiers, the sums
already awarded Grant and those likely
to be awarded Griest appear to be quite
sufficient.
()ur RelafIons With Chflf..