The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1883-07-19
An Everything Issue.

The term Equalization " is itself suggestive
of past injustice, ard to admit that the
| bounties were not equitably bestowed orig
inally is to concede that the Government is
in default to those who suffered from this
unequal distribution, and it is certainly not
creditable to our lawmakers that they have
permitted this injustice to go so long un-
atoned for. The claim of our soldiers to an
equalization of the bounties, as we have
frequently pointed out is based on the fact
that, by misapplication of the law, many
who really earned the promised. considera-
ton were deprived of it altogether. Take
the case, for instance, of two men-Smith
and Jones-who enlisted at the same time,
from the same town, and in the same regi-
ment and company. Under the bounty act,
as then interpreted, they became entitled,
at the expiration of two years of actual
service, to two hundred dollars bounty each,
but Smith, as it happened, being discharged,
one month before the completion of his two
| years service, on account of disability,
was denied any bounty whatever, while
Jones, who served only four weeks longer,
was paid in full Under any circumstances
this could not be considered as other than
an act of fragrant injustice, and, when it is
remembered that the disability for which
Smith was discharged was contracted in the
line of duty, aud that his retirement was in
no sense voluntary, the action of the Gov
eminent in Withholding from him The prom
| ised bounty cannot but be regarded as an
actual breach of contract. Had Smith with
drawn from the service of his own accord,
he would, by so doing, have forfeited, of
course, all rights under the bounty act, but,
inasmuch as his retirement was compulsory
and due to disability incurred while in the
employ of the Government, the latter had
no right to set up It's own act as a justifca-
ton of its refusal to pay any portion of the
promised bounty. His twenty three
months service clearly entitled him to
twenty tllree twenty-1ourths of the total
bounty, and the Government is therefore his
debtor TO precisely that amount
Now the case of Smith is only one of
thousands-sorne of them still more pitiful
and hard to explain-and it was to provide
for them that the Equalization of Bounties
bill was first introduced in Congress. That
was years ago, but although the equity of
the measure was not seriously questioned
and its urgency freely conceded, it has failed
TO become law. Once, it is true, it received
| the sanction of both Houses, but failed to
command President Grants approval-the
| alleged poverty Of the Treasury furnishing
! the excuse-and since the death of Senator
/ Morton it has never been vigorously pressed
/ in the National Legislature The time is
propitious now, however, for renewal of
the agitation for the enactment OF this meas
IRE, and we trust that ere the next Congress
conyenes public sentiment viii have crys-
tallized in its favor Oar veterans are no
longer divided, disorganized force but
| harmonious and powerful element in every
community, and they can, if they choose,
compel Congress TO action. The pending
bill proposes to discharge the obligation of
the Government to its ex-soldiers in the
matter of bounties by authorizing the pay
ment to every volunteer who holds an hon
orable discharge eight and one-third dollars
per month for every month of actual service
which he may have performed, less, of course,
any bounty which he may have heretofore re-
ceived, and there ought not to be any hest
fancy in uniting in its support. It has been
suggested that the Government might issue
land warrants, in lieu OF money, in settle
ment of these claims, bat we do not see that
there is any occasion for such a substitution
The issuing of land warrants to our ex-sol-
diers should be pressed as a separate and
distinct measure. The Treasury is full to
oyer1lowing, and as the original bounties
were paid in legal tenders the balance
due cur veterans should be paid in the
same. Il is possible, of course, that another
disappointment may be in store for the
soldier at the hands of the next Congress-
but as Oliver P. Observation-Disclosures great
war Governor and senator-said in the
course of one of his outbursts of eloquence
in behalf of this measure Justice to the
soldier cannot always be deferred" and the
voice Of q trne prophet was heard when he
exclaimed with sublime condolences:
II lnust and viii triumph sometime. If it does not
cc;e this Congress it will come at some other Con-
gress. 1t IS part of the debt as much so as
lie 500 bonds or the f0-a0 bonds II is founded
on The same principle ofiusfice Ii is obligation
resting upon this Nation, and il it takes $50 600 600
OF sao.oo29 can make no difference. 1t is debt