The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1884-07-17
THE SOLDIERS VOICE.
A Veterans Open Letter to Senator John Sherman
of 0hfo

DEAR SIR: To your courageous leadership !"
is attributed the defeat of the arrears section
in the pension bill and the saving to the
| country of $500, 100000
AS manager of the finances of the Nation, Mr.
| Sherman, you won great name The secret of
| your fame lay in a principle enunciated in your
! speech-that if there was contract, prom
| Use to pay, like there was to our bondholders,"
| you would I" throw to the winds all other con-
siderations and pay them"
Please, sir, let me ask you Do You not take
| pains to hold up to our view the assurance of
| your love for the soldiers, and assert that you
have always advocated measures for their bene-
| ftp
/ Did you, then, ever vote to pension soldiers
| and to remove limitations to the collecting of
arrears? If SO, why did you do it? Was it
| from sense of the justice of it; was there q
contract, that You should have thus voted 2
| LII not, was 1t moral obligation, or was it an
| outburst of generous charity3 You paid the
| bondholders because there was legal obliga-
| ton. You admit that if the country had made
| legal contract with the soldier, that you
| would pension him if he was disabled; you
would waive all other considerations and pay
| him.
waive the question of howseafiy in l<rpar
3 pension law was passed, for | never heard
the subject of pensions even mentioned among
| the soldiers where served. But let me ask
| you, sir, What is the difference between legal
contract and q moral Obligation and which
| rs the most sacred2
SOLDIERS MADE NO BARGAINs.
The Government proposed to you and
! TO thousands of others that it would
pay 1910 per cent. interest for money to carry
on the war. You accepted the offer. paid over
| your money and took the bond,-yes and
took the risk, which was dangerous one.
Early in the war you, as the Government,
| by just as solemn and sacred an enactment,
held out the promise of pension 10 soldiers
disabled In the war aud to the families of
those who were killed. Would ii be unjust to
assume that all those who enlisted after that
accepted the terms and closed the contract
/ But, sir, when soldiers were wanted at the
opening of the war, did they stop to bubble
and first ask, What shall we have therefore,"
| Do you remember that in IS hours time hun
! dred thousand men were ready and eager to go
4 TO the conflict? Did they take the risk with
out even contract, either legal or moral Z
| Would they, sir, have wasted moment at that
| time TO parley over coDtracta Did $13 q
month or money at par, or afterward $16 st
/ 90 per cent. discount, weigh feathers weight
with them? Do you remember that while
they Were receiving SIG month in the army
those who stayed at home as laborers received $40
and 500; and that the wages of the former were
consumed by their families for food; and that
OF the latter their pound gained, some five and
some ten pounds, and, reinvested and turned
| over and over, they came out at the close of
the war with all their old debts paid off and
rich, and that the former came home poor,
manned, but proud and happy that the country
was saved, your property preserved, and your
bonds secured?
| B0NDHoLDER AND SOLDIER
You risked your spare money; they risked
their lives and the happiness and comfort of
| their families You poured out your patriot
ism in words; they poured out theirs in blood.
You gained your usury; they gained coun-
| try.
To-day, you are still drawing your dividends
and will for the next 20 years 100000 soldiers
have waited years in vain for pittance You
have your bond with interest; they now plead in
vain for their bare interest. You, the country,
have their blood, and they will never see it
again; it was long ago drank up by the thirsty
earth on Southern battletelds, and the last
traces are obiiterated by the tears Of Heaven.
full half million was promptly set aside
| by you. the interest of which is to relieve one
favored person from the consequences of
| financial mistake, without shadow of either
| legal or a moral obligation. Four hundred such
magnanlmous acts would now relieve the dis
tress of 200,G00 men who gambled not with
their money, but with their blood.
Did you, sir, consider the rights of the peo-
pie and generations yet unborn in that
| act, and yet declare all legal and moral obliga-
tons &c the rest OF US Cancelled and paid by the
act of limitation? 2"
How can yon, sir, with your great name,
openly declare in one sentence that you " will
protect the people from the consequences of
discharging an obligation to the soldier how
ever meritorious ii may be-" and in another,
that you would willingly pay it if yon were
compelled to; that the mere amount would
not deter me iyoul if there was a legal con-
tract between the Government of the United
States and these soidiers,-a promise TO pay
them from the date of their discharge to this
time, that you would throw to the winds all
considerations of severity upon the people of the
United States and would say, well fulfill our
contracts and do by these soldiers what we
would by our bondholders or any other credit
ors; but denyin toto that there is is any obi
CATION in law morals or in good faith to our
soldiers" TO do this thing.
PENSIONS NOT THOUGHT or
Mr. Sherman, / give my word thst / newer
heard during the whole war among the soldiers
at the trout word about getting pensions.
That the country must be saved, and, if the
Lord wiiled, that we might be permitted to re-
turn to our babies, occupied our whole hearts
and souls. We had no power to compel you to full
NIL your obligations to eInharrass yourselves
with our old back claims" You gave and YOU
took away at your own good pleasure. And now,
lei me tell you. during the time you speak of.
when you could have paid these claims so
easily and not have felt it, when you had
plenty OF money, there were several hundred
thousand of them piled up in the Pension Office
and with the clerical force you had it would
take several years TO pass upon and adiudicate
them; 10000 perhaps are there yet, and many
OF them date back beyond that time Why did
you not dispose of them2 Why do you not now
dispose OF them, since you say you are in favor
OF passing bill OF relief for Just such cases AZ
many OF them are7 Why are you fCongress)
continually holding out as tempting bait
promise to pay from now or If we viii give up
the arrears?
How would that be for honor in financial
business transaction?
Oh, Consistency thou art jewei.n An
other thing. q large majority OF the better
class OF soldiers, except those with broken
bodies, felt that it would be cruel to lay hold
OF the country, bleeding and exhausted az the
close Of the war with such debt, and with the
dread forcboding which peTvaded every heart
that possibly she might sink under it, or remain
crippled for life" and claim assistance from
her: they went courageously TO work to help ser
her upon her feet.
Seeing the crowd and rush for pensions. thew
have struggled on, some learning new trades
adapting themselves to new industries. and in
most cases really beginning lifeo again. And
they have waited patiently till this time: but
they have been xpectant,-they have had faith
In their country that in time all would be adj
Jnsted righteously; but now when they begin
to feel that it is high time, aud have been
watching wistfaliy for some sign, you give
them stone; you offer them the ashes Of
y. "a aaaa -