The National tribune., 1883-01-04

sacrifcial Offering upon the altar of patriot
ism. He was the guardian angel Of the
Capital"
Don't Waste Your Ammunition.
The possibility that the present Congress
Will adjourn without doing ything for the
soldier is much less to be dreaded than the
possibility that it win not adjourn without
doing him positive injury 1t is all very
well TO petition for the passage Of the $40
pension bill, and we are glad our comrades
are giving it such solid support but we
say to them in all seriousness that they could
much better afford to have that measure laid
over to another session than have the inter
nal-revenue taxes reduced or repealed. The
$40 bill is undoubtedly meritorious meas
ure, and THE TRIBUNE has from the first
advocated its passage with all the eIoquence
at its command, but it cannot shut its eyes
to the fact that there is something more i'm
portant than the adoption OF rejection of this
measure at stake in the present Congress,
namely, the future of all pension and bounty
legislation. It does not require the gift of
prophecy to foreten what viii be the conse-
quence of reduction or repeal OF the inter
nal-reyenue taxes. By just as much as the
income of the Government is decreased
thereby, by that much the chances Of secur-
| ing any further extension of the pension and
bounty laws viii be diminished and should
it be cut down to such point as to wipe
out entirely the annual surplus in the
Treasuary, nothing is more certain than that
these chances would vanish altogether. That
has been the experience Of our ex-sOldieTs in
the past, and the fact that the emptiness Of
the Treasury was the pretext upon which
President Grant vetoed the Equalization of
Bounties bill ought to serve as warning
against the danger which now threatens them
| 1t is scarcely worth while at this time to go
into the question of the motives which act
uate the advocates of tax reduction, but it
may be said in passing that they are to
great degree, if not wholly, selfish. Some
Congressman, for Instance, are anxious to
bring about the aboIishment of the internal
revenue taxes in order to checkmate any
movement in the direction of tariff modi-
fcation; others-chisfy Democratic poll
ticians-are anxious to secure it in order to
lessen the number of Federal Offices and
| thereby strip the administration of part Of
its patronage; still others, among VIII ON
Senator Beck is conspicuous, are disposed TO
urge it as an effectual and convenient way of
| killing all the pension and bounty measures
that are pending. They all claim, of course,
that the internal-reyeuue taxes are griev-
| Gus burden upon the industries Of the cOun-
try, but none of them have as yet been able
to furnish any proof of the fact. On the
contrary, it has been demonstrated, time
! and again, in these columns that the reduc-
ton or repeal of these taxes viii only benefit
private interests-such as the manufacture
of patent medicines-and that the public at
large will be no better of than before. The
fact remains, however, that the advocates of
tax reduction are numerous and aggressive,
and it viii require something more than the
power of argument to prevent the accom-
pIishment of their plans. They viii IN
doubtedly endcavor to force vote on some
one of the revenue bills before Congress at
the first opportunity, and while our comrades
are congratulating themselves on the pros
pect of securing the passage of the $40 bill
they may execute a flank movement and
make an end not only of the $40 bill, bat
pension and bounty legislation of every
kind
1t was not without reason, therefore, that
we remarked at the outset that what Con
gress might fail to do during the present
session was not so much to be dreaded as
what it might actually accomplish, and we
trust our ex-soldiers will not voluntarily
close their eyes to the danger which con-
fronts them. It is against any modification
of the internal-revenue system, and not in
the interest of any particular pension meas
ure that they should now write to their Rep
resentatives in Congress, and they should lose
no time in making their wishes known Now
is the time to act. a month hence their
appeals may avail nothing.
SOME weeks ago THE NATIONAL TRIBUNE
received letter from Fred. F. Compton, an
ex-soldier confined in the insane asylum at
Willard, \. Y, protesting against his incar-
ceration as an act of injustice, since his