Milford chronicle., 1883-01-19

ID u cnrpers Of this generation. all Of you that Il
N Government aud the people paid 10 this soldl'
10 for his services In the field, and for the suppo
s Of bis family at home but FtUe Dollars a Mondl
r Il was s1S IN dollars not worth forty cents eacl
So {, was for sixty dollars year that this ma
u risked his life and lost health and his famil
!. Suffered at hons. to save this great Republic an
o all its public and private property.
d That was the first perod-the period OF in
/ periled Republic and endangered property. No'
we are on the second period-the Republi
Z saved, stronger and more prosperous tina
I, ever, private property more valuable than evei
D and the people more prosperous and maxim
more money than ever. The government /
strong at every point and in every step. It wa
never so strong aud never so nch. It ha
immense revenues which astOnish the world
and are not felt in their gathering by its people
Its financial credit is the equal and its bonds a
the highest credit in the world. II has me
every obligation, Is speRding money lavishly ir
every direction and on every object, aud it,
Golfers groan besides with three hundred
millions Of dollars of idle money.-not the thirty
and forty cent dollars In which It paid the soldier
and his family five dollars month, but dollars
that ring true to the faithful metal Of a hundred
cents in gold. The business men, with the
property the soldi ers saved, and with the
additions that they made to it, while the soldier
and his family had only five dollars a month be-
tween them and starvation, are also making
more money than ever.
All, what time OF splendor and luxury It is
Money, money, money, everywhere-ior every
thing-for any luxury-for every iancy--for
every healthy scheme. and even for every wild
scheme-public or private-and prosperity for
every body-and every body getiiog more oomior.
table-and everybody happier AMI better situ
everybody, everybody, except one. He is
The Invalid Soldier; he who made all this posi-
bic; who put his life between the nation and de-
struction, between the rich mans property and
its destruction, and sacrificed his strength and
broke down his health to do t-so that in this
sensuous era Of unexampled prosperity he alone,
in his weakness, is not able to exult and be
happy, and make his family happy as the others
are. Think Of
It is dark Picturei To the shame Of great
Nation and great people be It said that it is |
To the shame Of a Nation that has more money |
than it can spend, and to the shame Of people /
who have more money than they can spend, it /
is a true picture. Restitution is being made 70
everything and everybody else. The bond
holder, who loaned the Government thirty cent
money IS being paid back IN hundred cent
money. Every form and phase Of Governmental
tebt Is being paid and paid in money worth
hoe 10 - !
Every form Of it but one-and that the ore Of all
others that should have been paid first. Not
even good faith has made the thirteen dollars a
month thirteen dollars. Itstill remains as it was
i've dollars. The beggar dollars Of an iinperiled
Republic have been made good full dollars 10 all
md every body save to the soldier who saved It's
ife.
Let us tell you, timid public men, corrupt pub
c men, tmd newspaper or damagogue news
aper, or patronage-fat newspaper, that this
must change. The soldier asks no charity. He
mseli asks nothing. Heis too proud to do that,
I'd is dying with his grief in his own heart. But
be quickening conscience OF the nation is be.
inning TO ask something for him. It is begin
ing to say that the Government has nothing 20
i've to its pensioners in charity, but that il has
debt to pay to them in justice. Ant It is a
ebt that is a lien and first mortgage on every
hing that the Government owns and on every
,ot and dollar Of public and private property-a
en- and mortgage for a debt due TO the men
hose valor and sacrifice saved it all. It must
nd will be paid. For a while the public con-
,ence at first tried to pay it by bestowing a I
lblic Office here and there on a soldier-and
enerally on those who least needed it, But now
lat old age and want are Overtaking the rank
I'd file Of the great army, and it is getting TO be
besides to laugh at the mention of a
ldier for office, the time has come for the Orgi.
Il and sacred pledge-as sacred as that made 70
mother on her dying bed-to be redeemed. It {
needed to be redeemed in honor; it IS needed
keep the soldiers Of the Republic from dying
beds Of want and starvation, and to keep their 90
miles out Of the almshouses. It is needed TO
pease the National conscience, and to save the
public from open shame before the world.
nd let us tell you, who in your own comfort
ock at it, that for every soldier Of the Union
my who is now begging for bread through the
public he helped to save, and for every tear
-ung from his eyes by his own or his iamilys Fl
INT while the Government is spending money
IN even criminal lavishness on any scheme of
ng public spoil and private robbery and has
rec hundred million dollars of unused money
its treasury, this great nation will yet be com
led, under God, to atone for Il is little worth 7
ile and but little peace to our shifting con.
ence, that we are mocking the surviving SOL O-
RS Of the Union army with eulogy in every
ech and praise in every paper, and with
endid monuments Of granite in every State
nearly every county, while they and their
niles are needing money for bread It does w
eive them; it will not deceive history.