The National tribune., 1883-09-20
Is the soldier PLAYED out?

for justice the unconcern with which the
Government ignores his right to preference
in appointments to office, the recklessness
with which the secular press makes sport of
his services, and the contempt with which
the politicians evidently regard him as a
factor in politics, would, indeed, seem to
indicate that he had ceased to exert any
perceptible influence in public affairs.
1t is proposed, for instance, to post our
pensioners, after the manner of posting horse
thieves, as persons suspected of fraud upon
the Government Do we hear of any great
soldiers uprising to prevent the consumma-
ton of this burning outrage?
In defiance of the statutory law, and at
the dictation of unscrupulous, selfseeking
politicians, our veterans are removed
from public offices which they have filed
with honor and distinction to make room
for party pets and official favorites. Yet
the indignation which these shameful acts
arouse among our veterans appears to be
no deeper or more substantial than the
effervescence of glass of soda.
Politicians do not fear it-they laugh at
it, even, for they know it will quietly pass
away and be forgotten. Now and then the
victim of such injustice shows fight" He
rallies his friends around him and stands up
boldly for what he knows to be his rights.
But to what purpose? What can hand
ful of veterans, unversed in the tricks of
politics and unacquainted with the influ
ences that control the distribution of party
patronage, do to compel redress at the hands
of the Government if the great mass of their
fellow-soldiers show no concern in the mat
ter, or, at the most, manifest but a faint
interest in it?
Yet the fact is that there are still surviv-
ing more than million ex-soldiers, whose
votes, cast as unit, would be sufficient to
determine the result of any Presidential cleo
ton and in many districts the issue of the
Congressional elections. Is it not clear, then,
that if the soldier is played out it is because
he has deliberately abdicated the controll-
ing position which it is within his power
to occupy in public affairs? What party,
venture to trample upon his rights at the
risk of alternating the support of one million
voters? In the face of such formidable
array, the scheming officials and Congress-
men who now delight to trifle with the
rights of the soldier would coo to him as
gently as any sucking dove.
These are hard, stubborn facts, and it is
time that our veterans gave them serious
consideration. They have too long submit
ted silently and tamely to injustice. Be-
cause they have submitted thus silently and
tamely, it is now taken for granted that
they no longer possess sufficient spirit to
demand redress for their wrongs. If that
conclusion is unwarranted-if our soldiers
are really not played outlet them disprove
it by making common cause with every vet
eran who suffers an injustice at the hands OF
Congress or the Government, nor cease to
cry aloud for redress until their demands
have been granted. The louder they cry the
better! The greater the commotion they may
|
be able to create the more surely their ene-
mics viii be compelled to listen and heed
And if resolutions and protests and petitions
do not suffice, there is still left to them that
dreaded weapon-the ballot Welded as il
should be, naught could prevail against it
WE TAKE pleasure in saying that the
printing of the rules and regulations for the
government of the new National Womans
Relief Corps, as well as that of the blank
applications for charters, has been completed