The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1884-05-22
SOME PLAIN TALK
About the Methods of the Pension Office and
Their Injustice.
IEro1a Peck's Sun.l


About the Methods of the Pension Office and
Their Injustice.
TFroaa Peck's Sual
There is one thing this great an good Gov
eminent should do, and that5is to have some
law by which soldier can get his pension
without running all over the country to find
people who knew him when he was young, to
testify that he was in good health before he
enlisted When soldier enlisted he was ex-
amined carefully by competent surgeon, who
certified that he was all right. That should be
enough. 1t should be taken for granted that
he was in good health or he could never have
got into the army. And yet the Pension De-
partment compels men who seek pensions to
procure affdavits from people who knew them
before they enlisted, swearing that they were
healthy. If they cannot get such certificates,
the fact that an eminent surgeon had examined
the man and pronounced him sound, does not
amount to row of pins If a Government de-
tective can find some person who will say the
soldier looked pale before he enlisted. Any
man was liable to look pale before enlisting.
In this way the Government places itself on a
par with snide dead beat insurance company
that examines man carefully, insures him,
takes his money for years. and then, when he
dies kicks on paying the policy because the
man was not healthy before he was insured.
If he was not healthy what did they insure
him for, unless the company expected to die
before the man did The editor of The Sun
enlisted in 1868, in Milwaukee, and was exam
ined by surgeon, who is probably dead now,
and passed as healthy man, though he looked
like walking ghost Suppose he wanted a
pension to day, for rheumatism, the seeds of
which were sown by lying in the mud night
after night in Louisiana and Mississippi, which,
thank heaven, he does not want, he would
have the utmost difficulty in showing that he
Ial NnhA han.
that he was healthy, because he had been con-
fined in q printing office for ten years previous,
and was pale and thin and would not make a
shadow without an overcoat on. Dozens of men
would swear that he looked as though he was
about gone with the consumption when he en-
listed. If the doctor was alive he would remenl-
Der how sick the fellow looked, aud yet he could
not find any ailment. He would forget that
he listened at the lungs, caused the redheaded
man to draw several long breaths, and finally
said, Boy, after you ride a horse few months,
and eat bareback, you will be all right" The
fact that the soldier was never sick day during
his three years service, and was always Oh duty,
would actually work against him in the matter
of procuring pension, and yet the malaria
aud rheumatism that crawled into his bones as
he wallowed in mud or slept on wet rails, and
went days without food, is there yet, and will
one day tie him up in double bow-knot, and
he viii not get g pension, because he was sickly
before he enlisted was healthy during his term
of service, Gnd has been healthy for twenty
years since 1t is the most discouraging thing
in the world for soldier to apply for pension.
LOOKED UPON AS A DEAD BEAT.
he Is looked upon by the Government
81 dead beat the first thing, and evil
dence to that effect is easier to obtain
that he was soldier is TO be obtained by the
applicant for pension. The argument ia at
once used against him, Why is it, If your
service in the field injured you, that you have
waited twenty years before applying for PEN
sion2" It Is the last thing good soldier
wants to do, to ask for a pension. The writer
has in his mind soldier who had a horse fall
down on him, injuring his leg. He wants a
pension for the injury and yet when the horse
fell on him, in 1854, Though badly hurt, he got
up smiling and tried to kick tbs liver out Of
the stumbling horse. The boys asked him if
he was hurt, and he said +" Nav, there is no
horse that can hurt me by falling down" The
soldier, like every eayalryman, was TOO proud of
his horsemanship 70 admit that he was hurt
| and as he put some liniment ON the place he
said, Nothing but mere scratch, boys and
he went to dance that night. The boys
remember that the soldier was not hurt. The
soldier admitted that he was not, and the Gov
eminent is prepared to show that he vas not
hurt, and denies pension. The soldier wasthere
TO fight, and the fact Of q laundering horse fall
| ing on him was of 10 account to him them and he
| did not want TO be excused from duty, and the
next day his company rode twenty miles and
| had fight, and, while the soldiers leg was
| swelled 30 it filled his trousers leg full, he
| forgot it, and fired his revolver half the day.
| If he had known how that leg was going to use
| him twenty years afterwards he would have
| admitted that he was hurt pretty bad, and pro-
| cured affidayits on the spot, and had photo
tab
| ment insists on having an affidavit from .
| commissioned officer Of the soldiers regiment,
| that the injury was sustained. No officer can
| swear to 1t, because no one saw 1t, and it was
not reported, and the brave soldier kept it 10
| himself as much az possible, because he thought
| the knowledge that he had been spilled out Of
| mis- saddle, and had horse roll over Kim,
/ would be a reflection on his soldi erly qualities
And so the boy will never get pension.
HOG n BONE RESPECTS.
| OF course this Government viii not allow az
70 run the pension business, but being a free
country one can express his opinion freely,
| and the opinion OF The Sun is that the Govern
naent is hog in come respects, and bubbles
| worse than a pettifogging lawyer, and shows
| less charity than Tniser in some instances to-
| wards men who defended it when il was in hard
luck It practically places these men on trial
| on charge OF attempting to obtain money on
AaIoG pilSCS GUEA1 Iu WIN IuESc-
card monte men, and refuses to believe them
under oath. Instead of meeting them half
way in their attempt to get pension, il drives
them to the wall and finally, if it is compelled
TO give them pension, il is thrown to them as
a bone would be thrown to dog, and they are
made TO feel that they are indebted to some
body In authority who has strained point to
| give them the little they do get, and horde
of pension sharks lay for them to beat them
out of large percentage OF the amount bounti-
full Government provides. The experiences of
soldiers getting pensions will cause future
soidiers, in case of war, to carry blank afida-
Wits in their knapsaeks, to be filed out and
sworn to in the field, in case of accident or
injury. A thief who has claim against the
Government gets his money, and is respected.
A colder who has claim, If he gets 1t, is
looked upon as blk. This is all wrong, and q
disgrace TO the Government and an outrage on
the soldier.
4 Veterans Eventual Life Ended.
The death of Jeremiah Campbell, who was
killed by locomotive st Decatur H., on the