The National tribune., 1882-03-18
Whore the Responsibility Lies.


Pension Bureau, as we have frequentl
shown. more than two hundred and sixt
thousand unadjustcd claims. Some of thes
have been there for years, and unless some
thing is done-and nothing can be don
unless Congress authorizes the employmer
of additional clerks and appropriatcs III
money with which TO pay them-to cxpedt
their settlement, several years must elaps
before they can receive attention. At tn
risk Of being charged with appealing to sen
timent-a crime which the matter-of-fnc
generation which has grown up since tn
war Is not disposed to toleratc-we ventur
90 raise question or two as to the efiec
which this delay must necessarily have upor
what widespread suffering would result If
from any cause, the payment of interest or
the public debt should be suspended, oil
through the lack of proper clerical force in
The Treasury Department quarter OF q
million Of the Governments creditors should
he unable to secure a settlement of their
claims. The newspapers would be filled
with savage attacks on the parsimony of
Congress and the wall of the widow and the
orThsn would be brought to the attention of
thai body by the infuriated editor, in italics
and double leads. And yet we fail to see
that such state of things would be any
more lsmentable than which it is reasonable
TO suppose has been brought about by the
delinquency Of the National Legislature in
falling TO provide the necessary machinery
for the prompt settlement of these deferred
pension claims. The families of our ex-
soldiers ard sailors have to be fed and
clothed as well as those of the bondholders,
and if the means be not forthcoming we
suspect that they feel the pangs Of hunger
and poverty quite as kecnly as would the
latter. As matter of fact this delay on the
part Of the Government in paying over to
thcse claimants the pension money that is
unnecessary suffering upon a class which
more than any other is entitled to its care
and support. 1t has deprived the children
of the soldiers, in many cases, of the educa-
tional advantages which should have been
theirs: il has robbed many home Of the
small comforts with which our veterans
should he surrounded during their declining
years, and too often it has compelled the
cripple and the invalid to engage in hand
to-h7nd struggle with Poverty for his daily
bread Scarcely day eoe. by that does not
furnish an illustration of the cruel effect of
this default on the part of the Government. !
The majority Of applicants for pensions
whose claims remain unadiusted are fully as
deserving of national support as those whose
names have been on the pension rolls ever
since the close of the war, yet cases are being
reported where soldiers who
served during the whole of the rebellion
with conspicuous gallantry have died in
actual want after struggling vainly for years
TO obtain the pittance due them from the
Government. 1t is enough to melt an icicle
Ike Senator Beck to think that after all the
sacrifices which were made to preserve the
Union, the authors Of these sacrifices should
be compelled to wage single-handed con-
test with paupery. 1t rather aggravates
than excuses the negligence of Congress to
pretend that in making a general provision
for the pensioning of those who are fit sub
ects for the Nations care it discharged its
whole duty. To authorize such payment
without at the same time providing effective
machinery therefor is hollow mockery of
equity and justice. Ignorance might excuee
'uch procedure, but nothing short of igno-
-ance could, and it is notorious that Congress-
s thoroughly informed as to the cause.
which obstruct the operation of the pension
avs. 1t has been demonstrated time and s
tGain that the lack of proper clerical force in
he Pension Bureau makes if a nbvs;o,, 7
to pass upon claims as RAPIDLY e
IS they are presented and that so far as :
concerns the claimants whose applications i,
annOt be reached, it amounts virtually to = :
ullification of these pension laws for the /
ime being Yet in spite of all this Congress v
efuses 70 apply any remedy, indifferent. !,
pparently, as to when this class Of the r
governments creditors receive their money. t
t is impossible to reconcile its position with
hat which il has always taken in regard to
nc proPriety of paying pensions at all, for if
he Government is under any obligation
7hatever to support IFS ex-defcnders, it is !, =
ound 70 do so without unnecessary DELAY. o
nd certainly delay which is due solely to p
he want Of a Sufficient number Of clerks 81
dispatch the business Of the Pension =
'nrean cannot be termed unavoidable. 1t j. n
lear, therefore. that for whatever discomfort n
affering, and distress the tardy operation of te
nc pension laws may entail upon the two u
undred and sixty-odd thousand claimant. -
ho still remain to be heard. CONGRESS mu.t
e held strictly accountable, and our e,.
'ldiers should sec TO il that their Renro.e,.. =.
lives and Senators are made 10 e., ~ ON