Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1884-12-25
Pension Reform.

drawn, rs uuuer no clrcuuuseahceS-
even-though the bill were to pass both
houses OF Congress, receive the approval
of the President and become law.
would he accept pension from the
government: and the bill was accord
ugly withdrawn. In thus peremtorily
declining to become a government
pensioner, General Grant has shown a
proper respect for his own dignity, as
rlre as it is becoming. From the tine
of the foundation of our government,
Congress commenced aping the GUS
toms Of European countries by granting
pensions TO persons who have been
highly honored by the Nation, and to
their widows and descendants, which
it was urged would ''enable them TO
live in style COMFORTING with the
dignity of the positions which they
formerly occupied Carrying out
this policy, few years ago bill
passed the House of Representatives 10
Congress, without a dissenting voice
from either side Of the House, granting
pension to widow whose late
husband had fought and died in the
Rebel army, because, forsooth, she was
daughter of Gen. Zachary Taylor,
and was in ''destitute circumstances,
which simply meant when translated
into plain English. that she could not live
in style COMFORTING with the dignity
of daughter Of an cx-President.
Neither could half million widows
in the North, on pittauce of eight
dollars month, live in style com
porting with the dignity of wife OF
mother of a patriot who had given his
life to his country; and yet this bill
granting pension of $4,000 year to
the widow of Rebel officer, SUBJ
sequently passed the Senate, was
approved by the President, and became
law.
Ours has been proclaimed "a govern
ment of the people, by the people and
for the people," and the people do not
believe that, under the spirit of our free
institutions and the great fundamental
law of equality laid down in the Declare
ton of Independence. Zachary Taylor )
daughter is necessarily a whit better
than the daughter of Tom Smith, Bird
get o. Brien, or the humblest day la
borer in the fields or workshops, and
they do not believe that she should be
made better by the letter of the
statutes. Partly by reason of his great
ability, and partly by reason of those
mysteries we call circumstances. which
to a great extent control and direct our
lives, General Grant, by the accident of
war, was enabled to render his country
a great and inestimable service The
service was grandly and nobly per-
formed, and the Nation owes him a
debt of gratitude which it can never
repay. Neither can it repay a million
other soldiers, who, inspired by a
patriotism as lofty, as grand and as
holy as his, performed their duties as
bravely and as we'll in their humble
capacities, without distinguished honors
dear to every true soldier, and for a
miserable pittance not sufficient to
keep the gaunt wolf of hunger from the
doors of the loved ones left at home,
who were dearer to them than the lives
which they laid, noble sacrifice, upon
the altar of their country. This being
the case, there is no sound reason why
those who only did their duty as did
these men, and who were paid good
salaries, generally greatly in excess OF
what they could earn as private citizens
at home, and were clothed with honors,
should be pensioned, when the others,
equally patriotic and equally deserving,
can not be. Such determinations are
unjust, and are not calculated to make
those who suffer the injustice, patriotic
That patriotism is on the decline and
has reached very low ebb must be
apparent to every thinking mind
capable of approaching the enor-
mIty of the crime committed by
the masses, in the late election, in
elevating to the Vice Presidency tho
traitor Tom Hendricks over the patriot
soldier Gen. John A. Logan. Should
patriotism in this country ever reach 8
lower ebb, God pity the Republic! The
custom of retiring officers OF the army
and navy and Judges of the Supreme
Court, on half, or, as is sometimes the
case. full pay, is another old European
custom, and is simply pension system
very thinly disguised. There certainly
is no more reason why an officer, who
while in the government service doe
receive adequate pay, should ut Ger
tain age be retired upon pension
than there is why the private who does
his duty for pittance should b'
treated in the same liberal manner
Pensions should only be granted fo
disability incurred in the line OF duty
while in the government service, an,
in case of death. to the surviving
widow and dependent children or fathe
or mother. And in n country ant
under government whose laws ar,
supposed not to recognize social castles
Private Hardtack for his disability
should receive the same pension that i:
given to General Goldlace for q similar
disability; and the formers widow
should receive the same pension that i
given to the widow of the latter, whel
the two gallant soldiers get their heads
shot OFF. In times of war, when pat
riotism should lead men OF all classe
and conditions to seize their musket
and go to the defence of their imper
lied country, the Major General gen
orally secures his commission only b,
reason of his political influence, and j
not necessarily possessed of any create
ability than are tens of thousands o
privates under his command; and thu
family of the private often has superio
;,l standipr IN that of his officer