The National tribune., 1884-01-17
Pension Them Now

Commissioner of Pensions, the number of
individual enlistments in the Army and
Navy Of the United States during the war
for the preservation of the Union reached
the stupendous total of 2,069,991.
On the other hand, the number of pen
sioners On the rolls at the date of the report
in question was but 3o3,G58, and dedueting
from this total the pensioners of the war of
/ 1920. 267-we have left but 277, 391 who
are in receipt of pension on account of in
iuries incurred either by themselves, or
those upon whom they were dependent for
support, in the late war-but trife more
than one-seyenth of the total number of
combatants.
Going step further, we find that of the
604.369 soldiers who are reported as having
died during or since the war, 3s4, 500 died
leaving pensionable relatives. The number
Of pensioners of all classes on the rolls to-
day, therefore, is less even than the number
Of persons who, being dependent relatives,
were entitled to and could have claimed
pension.
Pursuing this inquiry in another direc-
ton, it appears that of the 1.458,921 soldiers
who still survive but 2Ol, 111-198, 6f3 army
and 2,4Gs navy invalids-have as yet re-
ceived rension-less than one SEVENTH
leaving 295,6l0 as the number of surviving
soldiers whose claims are still awaiting adj
iustment, out of the aggregate of 1921
survivors who have applied for pension.
It wiz be seen from this simple compare
son Of statistics how silly and senseless is
the popular clamor about the extension of
the pension roll Not only is the number of
pensioners. as compared with the number of
combatants, ridiculously small, but leaving
entirely out of account the number of pen
sionabie soldiers still surviving who have
/ applied. it is actually less than the total Of
I reasonable relatives Of the deceased
The truth Of the matter is that instead of
indulging in absurd and baseless apprehen-
sions as TO the increase Of the pension roll
beyond the ability of the Treasury to meet
the demands made upon ii, it becomes every
! patriotic citizen to consider whether, as a
matter Of fact, the Government has not
fallen far short Of keeping its pledges to the
soldier. What of the 2722T5 claimants
whose applications were still pending in the
Pension Office at the close Of the last fiscal
year-widows and orphans as well as in
valids? What are their actual needs and
necessities, and how does this protracted
delay in the settlement OF their claims affect
them? Many of these claims have been
on file for years-is not the adoption of some
practical means Of fastening their adjudica-
ti0n a matter for serious, sober reflection on
the part Of every intelligent and patriotic
citizen? Despite the increase in the clerical
4 force of the Pension Office, the number of
+ allowances during the last fiscal year was
I but 3s162, and at that rate many years
must e,apse before the thousands of pending
claims can be disposed Of Moreover. this
delay is a much more serious matter than It
once was. Nearly twenty years have elapsed
since the war, and the iBarmities Of our
4 veterans are beginning TO press heavily upon
them Many who formerly were able to
exc out an humble existence with the earn
ings Of their own labor, are now wholly de-
pendent upon charity. They have arrived
at time Of life when they must have aid
OF else abandon the struggle; and to with
hold much longer the pittance that is due
them VIII be equivalent TO passing sentence
of death upon them. The Nation cannot
must lot, ignore this fact. 1t may suit The
purposes of the secular press to denounce as
the work Of claim agents the appeals which
our veterans are making to Congress for the
recognition of their claims, but the most
casual inquiry into the facts viii show that
these appeals are prompted solely by a
regard for the disabled and impoverished
condition in which so many thousands of
our late defenders now find themselves. The
distress which prevails among them is real !;
what they need isimmediater relief, and in this
fact may be found a sufficient reason for the
urgency Of their appeals TO Congress. They
have been surleited with promises and the
laws delay, and people who imagine that
they wiz submit complacently, as hereto
fore, when their claims are ignored and their
rights trampled on, viii find in the end that
they are terribly in earnest
The least that this Congress can do. to
atone for the injustice which our disabled
veterans have suffered through the insuifi-
cheney and inoperativeness of existing laws.
is to pension every ex-soldier and sailor as
TO whose present disability there is no qnes-
ton. 1t may add to the pension roll few
veterans whose infirmities are not wholly
due 10 injuries received in the service; but,
on the ether hand, it win save from miser-
able death thousands Of brave men who are