The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-01-12
PENSIONS AND FRAUDS.

fENSlONS AND FRAUDS
The paying out of hundreds OF millions of
dollars as pensions to tens of thousands of sol
diers and their dependents is vast under
taking, and the fact that it is accomplished
without the loss of dollar while passing
from the Treasury to the recipient is greatly
to the credit of all the officers concerned. The
example OF our country in this respect is I'M
paraleled in the worlds history. No govern
ment ever remunerated its defenders so lib
orally, and perhaps none other ever had such
cause. Our citizen-soldiers deserve every
cent they receive. They let go the plow-
handle to voluntarily take up the husket;
and when the war was over went back to
their fields and farms, to the factories and
workshops as though their heroic services
had been but holiday vacation. Our pension
system is not munifcent charity-it is but
the feeblest expression of the Nations
gratitude and obligation for work well done.
Stripped OF the sense of duty and separated
from the feeling of patriotism which actuated
our soldery, who would undertake what
they underwent and expect in return the
paltry pension? America does not produce
Hessians of that type. But now we have on
our hands thousands of brave fellows who
volunteered in the war; and who received
wounds or contracted diseases from which
they never fully recovered in addition to
thousands of widows and orphans of other
brave men who never came back from the
front Plainly, it is as little as we can Go
to tender them pecuniary aid-not as gift,
but as due them and those who were de-
pendent upon them. 1t is proud distinction
to be honestly entitled to such pay, and no
man deserving of it should be ashamed to
have it known. A wound is badge of
honor an empty sleeve is nobler than dec
grafton, and a body broken down
in the service of the country is
entitled to this meager allowance.
But as in all cases where vast sums of money
claimants and pretenders, who not only OBJ
tain this money, but cast discredit upon
others too honorable to resort to deceptive
tricks. They shamelessly trade on the repu-
tation of the soldier, and enjoy the fruits of
his hard-earned victories. 1t takes mean
man to do this, and the inevitable result is
that an undeserved shadow is cast on others.
So great has this evil become that it is esti-
mated by proper officials that not less than
from 90 to % per cent. of the amount of
money paid out for pensions goes to persons
result great injustice results to the govern
ment and to its soldier-servants and millions
of dollars go into the hands of those who
are INSCRIPTIONS enough to obtain
money under false pretenses. This evil is of
a character that calls for immediate inves-
tigntion. We owe it to deserving pensioners
to strike from the list every dishonest and
fraudulent claimant. There are thousands
of such, scattered throughout the entire
country, and the work of ferreting them
out will require great patience and persever-
ance. For this purpose Commissioner Dud-
ley asked Congress for the appointment of $50
agents. The saving thereby effected would
be enormous, and for the credit of all hon
estly entitled to pensions, it is to be hoped
that some plan for purging the pension rolls
and preventing them from future fraud, will
be put into operation at once. Duty to the
government and honor to the deserving PEN
sioners alike demand this