The National tribune., 1882-10-05
THE SO PENSION BILL.
NJ.
Yours, with respect,
BALTIMORE, MD, Sept. 20.


THE SO PENSION BILL.
To the Editor NATIONAL TRIBUNE:
am reader of your most valuable Of all
papers published in the interest Of soldiers and
their living representatives. I also received
your circular of the LIST inst in relation to the
bills for the equalization Of bounties, the pen
siOning Of ex-Union prisoners of war, soldiers of
the Mexican war, and the Forty-dollar bill l
am interested in all Of these bills. / hope they
will be followed by bill for the increase of
the pension of soldiers widows. But | am per-
sonally interested in the Forty-dollar bill. l do
not believe however, that it viii or ever should
become law. The spirit that evoked-pro-
duced it, is all right. But the bill itself as it
passed the House about June s. does not recOg-
nize the distinctions existing in the past legis-
lation of Congress upon the same subject-matter.
The Ferry bill, introduced about the I'd of
March by Senator Ferry, of this State, and very
handsomely discussed by him at the close of the
last session of the Senate, embodies, in my juds-
ment the best views for the relief of the soldiers
of the class aimed at by the Forty-dolIar bill.
The Ferry bill, you viii recolIect, provides for
the payment Of so per month to the soldiers of
the class who have lost an arm or leg so high up
that they cannotb be benefited by artificial means;
$40 per month for those who have lost an arm
above the elbow or leg above the knee, and
who can be benefited by artificial means, and $50
per month for those who have lost an arm below
the elbow or a leg below the knee. This recog-
nizes the distinction existing in the former acts
OF Congress- while the Forty-doIlar bill wipes
them out, and aims at relief without any refer
ence to the degree Of disability. l write you
this believing that.the efforts being concentrated
in favor Of the Forty-dollar bill will be but
waste Of ammunition; and that if the same
efforts were expended in favor of the Ferry bill,
it would prove success and benefit more
largely the class aimed at by the Forty-dollar
bill. And / also believe that you can, with a
paper as influential and far-reaching as THE
NATIONAL TRIBUNE change the current of
efforts IN favor of the Ferry bill, if you deem it
expedient 50 TO do.
l am, very respectfully, yours
DOUGLASS MCKENZIE,
Co. b, LIST Mich Cav.
PETosKEY, MICH, Sept. 10, 1582.
FEW WORDS ABOUT SOUTHERN PRISON PENS.
To the Editor NATIONAL TRIBUNE:
Some people think that all measures for the
relief Of soldiers are steals. To such would
Say that the hardships to which prisoners were
exposed cannot be fully realized by any one that
has not been there and seen in how many ways
a man could meet death. 1t was death to live
in q hole in the ground as we did at Salisbury
where We had to bale the water out with cup
TO keep it from filling up; it was death to many
10 live in dirt and be covered with vermin and
red clay until PERSONS color could not be dis
tinguished it was death to many to be exposed
to the wintry wind without sufficient clothing;
and it was death to many to be without fire.
Ia the midst Of forests we could not get wood to
burn in the coolest weather. but these are not all
of the death-dcvouring causes. Starvation was
written on every human being in the stockade.
And then, as if all Of this was not enough as
though death did not come fast enough, the
guards had to shoot into the stockade once in a
while to make sure that death was at work l
have seen line Of 100 men stand for hours,
stopped and pinched with cold, shivering, their
teeth chattering, waiting for the cook-house to
be swept, so they could pick up a few crumbs,
and several bullets that were fired at the crowd
passed through the old fly Of a tent that l was
under at the time. But still that hungry crowd
came every day to wait for sweeping time.
None Of that crowd need have suffered thus
Almost any day, by cnlisting in the rebel army,
a man could get all he wanted to eat at least,
but they had sworn fidelity to flag and they
knew they were right, and they died there
not few, not tens nor hundreds, but Thousands
died. And what does Congress propose to do
for the survivors, those that did not freeze did
not starve, and that filthy water and bad medi-
cine did not kill-whO came out skeletons?
think, If there was but one prisoner that
bill would be got up and Congress would de-
bate that bill for about a week, and finally it
would pass, because think they know that it
is just claim; but l notice they try to kill