The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1884-04-10
Justice for Our Ex-Prisoners.
Says the Philadelphia Times, in its issue
of the Sd inst:

Says the Philadelphia Times, in its issue
of the Sd inst.
The movement to secure pensions for all soldiers
taken prisoners by the Confederates is gathering
force This is, no doubt, due to the efforts of the
claim agents. At first it was confined almost en-
tirey to the West. principally TO Illinois and Iowa
Now it is spreading in that region and is flowing
over toward the East. until the demand for it is
becoming much greater. There is absolutely no
reason why such a measure should be pushed.
The heirs Of the men who died in Southern prisons
and the survivors who suffered permanent injury
have been cared for in the existing liberal pension
laws.
If it be true, as stated by the Times, that
it is due to the efforts of the claim agents
that the movement to pension all ex-prison-
ers Is gathering force, it is certainly very
much to their credit, since in our judgment
no class of claims are so meritorious. yet at
the same time have been SO persistently
ignored by Congress, as those of our ex-
prisoners, and we are perfectly willing to
believe that such is the case; but the
declaration of the Times that there is no
reason why the prisoners pension bill should
be pushed and that the disabled survivors
and the heirs of those who died in rebel
prisons have been cared for in the existing
pension laws is so directly at variance with
the facts that we cannot allow it to 90 I'M
refuted
In the first place, is it not true that under
the existing pension laws the claims of our
ex-prisoners are properly cared for. On the
contrary, so unreasonable are the require
ments of these laws that it is very difficult
and, IN many cases, absolutely impossible
for claimants to furnish the necessary evil
dence to establish their right to pension
We pronounce them unreasonable because
they make 10 distinction between the soldier
who incurred his disability while on duty
with his regiment, and presumably able, on
that account to produce the necessary msdi-
Cal evidence and the testimony of his officers
and comrades to the origin of his injury or
disease, and the soldier who became disa-
bied while prisoner in the hands of the
enemy, and under circumstances that render
it impossible for him to produce hospital
record or the evidence Of his immediate
officers and comrades. The utmost that the
latter ought TO be required to prove is that
he was prisoner, and that he is now disa-
bled. The fact that he was captured while
in line of duty should be sufficient evidence
of his physical soundness at that time, while
the fact that the treatment which he in
common with ali other prisoners received
during his confinement, was in itself calcu-
lated to wreck the strongest constitution,
should be held as proof presumptiye that
his disability is the result of his imprison-
ment. Instead, however, of this latitude
being accorded him, he is compelled to COM
ply with all the technical requirements of
the Pension Office, and, as natural conae-
quence, it is often impossible for him to
establish his claim. 1t is true that Com
missioner Dudley declared in his testimony
before the House Committee on Pensions,
Bounties and Back Pay, that where a man
is shown to have been captured while sery-
ing in the line of his duty, the presumption
is that he was sound when he was captured"
but that certainly does not accord with our
experience since within the last week Just
such case has been brouah bit to our atten-
ton wherein the Pension Office had called
for evidence of the prisoners soundness
prior 10 enlistment
But the illiberality of existing laws in re-
gard to the pensioning Of ex- prisoners is not
the only reason for demanding special legis-
lation at the hands of Congress There is
another element that enters into this ques-
Jon which the Times completely ignores
So far as the right to pension merely is con-
cerned, all soldiers stand on the same foot
ing, but our ex-prisoners, in addition, clearly
have a just claim upon the Government for
indemnihcation on account of the extraord-
mary suffcrings and hardships to which
they were doomed by its action in suspend
| ing the exchange. Had this action been in
voluntary on its part-had the Confederate
| authorities, for instance, refused to assent to
an exchange of prisoners might now set
up the plea that it is not responsible; but it
IL notorious that the policy of the Govern
naent was adopted only after mature con-
sideration and with full knowledge of the
awful consequences that it would involve to
the thousands of sick and starving men con-
fined in Southern prisons. At the time that
this policy was carried into effect the bar
/ barous treatment to which Union soldiers
were subjected at Libby and Danville
| Florence and Andersonville, and similar
slaughtcr-pens was perfectly understood at
the North, not only by THE military au-
thorities but By The people at large, and both
General Grant, in proposing it, and Presi-
dent Lincoln, in approving it, thoroughly
comprehcnded that ii meant sacrifice of
human life even more appalling than that OF