The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1883-02-15

comrades and we may be sure he will not
fail them in the hour of need.
at Must and VIII Triumph Sometime"
The New York Sun of the 5th inst, in the
course of an editorial on the Equalization of
Bounties bill, remarks:
"Preposterous as this bill may appear It would
not be safe TO assume that il has chance of ever
becoming law
This is certainly a remarkable admission
for the Sun to make, and it calls to mind
the prophetic words of the late Senator
Morton, Indianas patriotic war Governor.
In his last great speech in support of this
measure he placed on record this solemn
declaration:
Justice to the soldier cannot alwaysbe deferred.
1t must and will triumph sometime. fit does not
come this Congress it viii come at some other Con-
gress 1t is part of the war debt, much so as
the go bonds the 1910 bonds. 1t is founded on
the same principle of justice. 1t is an obligation
resting upon this Nation and if it takes 900
or $50 100000 make no difference 1t is a debt
this Nation honestly owes and ought to be paid In
other words, let the bounty be equalized; put all
pay them at the rate. They entitled to it.
The justice of it dispute, and that is all
that this bill contenpates l am for it. vote for
it with all my heart"
As the Sun says, it would not be safe" to
assume that the Equalization of Bounties
bill has no chance of ever becoming law,
and for the all-suficient reason that GUST
ICE TO THE SOLDIER CANNOT ALWAYS BE
DEFERRED"
1t is only to the lifelong enemies of the
soldier that the Equalization of Bounties
bill appears preposterous it is only men
like the editor of the Sun, in whose eyes all
payments to the soldier are a robbery of the
Treasury, that oppose it. The failure of the
bill to become law years ago was due to
no dispute as to the merits of the bill. The
sole ground upon which General Grant
vetoed the measure was the alleged inability
of the Treasury to meet the demands which it
would have made upon it without leopard
ling the rights ofthe bondhoiders. Ofall the
claims growing out of the war there is none,
indeed, more surely founded in right and
justice than that of our ex-soldiers to an
equalization of bounties, nor is there any
which more closely concerns the honor of
the Republic. The obligations Of the Gov
ernment to keep faith with the men who
risked their lives in its defense is quite as
sacred as the written bond which it gave to
the men who risked their money in its
hands, and, although such thing as literal
/ equalization of bount;es may be no longer
possible, owing to the fluctuations which
have occurred in the purchasing power of
money, it is due to the soldier creditors of
this gTeaa and prosperous Nation that they
should be paid the balance that is clearly
/ due them. 1t may be true, as the New York
! San is very careful to point out, that the
| long pending bill will mot secure. real
/ equalization, but because exact justice can
not be insured in this settlement between
/ the Government and its late defenders is
certainly no reason why approximate justice
! should not be done them. If they are
willing to accept as a full satisfaction of
/ their claims the bill which proposes to equal
! ize bounties by giving each honorably dis
charged soldier Or sailor eight and one-third
/ dollars per month for every month of
actual service, less the amount OF
bounty which he may have heretofore
received, the Government, it seems to us,
has good reason to congratulate itself ON the
reasonablcness of their proposition. The
bondholders, we believe, have never shown
any disposition TO abate any of their claims
notwithstanding that they paid for their
bonds in deprecated paper money and drew
their interest in gold.
But we agree with the Sun that it is not
safe to assume that the Equalization Of Boun-
ties bill has no chance Of becoming law.
Nay, we will go further, and say that we be-
lieve it is certain to become law, and the
foundation Of our belief is the equity of the
measure itself If justice does not come this
Congress it will come, as Senator Mortar said
atsome other Congress; the sooner, the more
resolute and determined our ex-soldiers
show themselves in the assertion of their
claims, the more vigilant and fearless in the
| dafauSa Of THAR rich+s and tho r, oro aar,oct
and united in their support of THE TRIB-
UNE.
Bribing the Press
| II is aftnr all not very stranne that nm.