The National tribune., 1884-02-07
participated in that campaign to learn that
Colonel Shaw is now leading banker at
Anamosa, Iowa, and largely interested in
Colorado mines and ranches.
An Issue that Must BE rought Out.

the finances of this country through the legislation
relating to them. They have concocted the
schemes, and then drummed up the support for
them, which have kept the internal reuenue sys-
tenn alive until now. They propose to perpetuafe
this system. solely that there may be surplus
enough in the Treasury for the prodigious job OF
war claim plumber which they see ahead.
The legislation TO which the Sun refers,
we suppose, is the arrears of pensions act,
the sole object of which was to insure to
the soldier the payment of the amount of
pension actually due him by the Govern
ment, and its enactment was rendered
necessary by the fact that, under the
old law, instead of drawing pension
from the date of his discharge from
the service on account of disability-the
date when his right to pension began to
run-he was permitted to draw it from the
date Of the fling of his claim only. If,
therefore, it was the claim agents who
secured the passage of this measure, they
deserve the thanks instead of the censure of
the public and the only occasion for regret
is that Congress set any limit as to the time
within which claims to pensions could be
fled under this act. The sole question in
volyed was whether the Government, by
virtue Of its contract with its soldiers,
was under obligation TO care fer them from
the time when, by reason of disabilities
incurred in line of duty, they became de-
pendent on it for support, or only from the
time when they might choose to make for
NAL application for pension; and we main
tain now, as then, that the former PROPOSE
ton is the only one that satisfies the condi-
tons of the contract This principle was
certainly embodied in all the early pension
laws, and the neglect of Congress to reafirm
it in subsequent legislation detracted in no
way from the force of the precedent provi-
ously established. 1t matters little, there
fore, through whose efforts Congress was
induced TO pass the arrears of pensions act.
If was, as we believe, just and equitable
measure, and necessary 10 the correction of
a gEieyous wrong. its enactment was manda-
tory upon Congress, no matter what
the amount of expenditure it involved,
and if its effect has been, as the Sun AYERS,
TO keep up the present system of internal
revenue taxation, there is certainly abund-
ant justification therefor, in the fact that
the Government, 10 more than any business
man, has a right TO surrender any portion of
It's income so long as It's debts remain I'M
paid
As for the Suns statement that the claim
agents propose to perpetuate the internal
revenue system in order to plumber the
Treasury, that is as false and malicious as the
other. The facts are simply these: There are
now pending before Congress number OF
bills whose passage is necessary to the full
ilment Of the Governments promises to its
late defenders, and which are every whit as
meritorious as any pension laws now in the
statute book. Some of them have been
pending for years, and at least one-the
equalization of bounties bill-would long
ago have become law but for the fact, as
stated by General Grant, that the resources
of the Treasury, owing to the demands made
upon it by another and preferred class Of
creditors the bondholders-were at the
time insufficient for the purpose. Such is
the condition of the national finances now
however, taat the poverty of the Treasury is
no longer bar to the liquidation of SOL
diers' claims for which these bills provide
and the question before Congress, therefore
is simply this: Whether it viii avail itsell
of the opportunity which the present exces:
Of Government receipts over ordinary ex-
penses affords, to pay its outstanding debt:
to the soldier, or whether it will make th,
newspaper claInor for the reduction of The
internal revenue taxes a pretext for wipina
out the surplus in the Treasury, and thus
repudiating the claims of the soldier al
together. It is the latter course which tbs
SIN would have Congress pursue and W,
win leave it to the judgment of our ex
soldiers themselves whether this would no
be more prodigious job than any which
the claim agents are charged with contriv
ing.