The National tribune., 1884-02-28
PENSION QUESTIONS.
Presumption of oundness-Prisoners' Pensions
Reforms Seeded-senator Ingalls, Views.

Reforms Neeled-senator Ingalls, Views.
No provision in the administration of our
pension laws is more obnoxious and indefensible I
than that which requires the claimant to prove
his soundncss at the time Of enlistment.
Physical health and strength, freedom from
disease, capacity TO endure the privations and
hardships Of military service. were indispensa-
bic conditions which the Government required
to be conelusively established 70 the satisfac-
tion of its officers before the volunteer, the
substitute or the conscript could be received
into its armies
For its own protection, to exclude the feeble,
the manned and the infirm those whose vital
forces had been impaired by disease or ex-
hausted by excess, the soldier was compelled
to submit to the most searching and rigid ex-
animation, which extended to the minutest
details, and was conducted with slight regard
for the delieaey or sensioility Of the subject.
No master ever scrutinized slave upon the
block, no jockey ever tried a horse in the ring,
with more persistent inquisition than the
medical staff of the army inspected its recruits.
The sight, the hearing, the teeth were exam
ined. The chest was measured. The naked
body was searched for sears and LESSONS. The
aspirant for glory was ordered to bend, to walk,
to run. to jump; be was Intercepted as TO his
previous habits Of life and the longevity Of his
ancestors, as If he were an applicant for life
insurance policy of hundred thousand dollars,
rather than candidate for mutiIation or death
on the battlefield at thirteen dollars month.
No one complained of this rigorous inspec-
ton. twas just. Health, strength and sound
ness were indispensable. invalids and eripples
may be brave and patriotic but they cannot
endure the hunger fatigue and exposure which
are inseparable from war. 1t is doubtful
whether the strongest and most robust of our
yolunteers-those who served throughout the
entire war without any hospital recorded
not suffer such loss Of physical energy that the
infrmities of age viii fall more heavily upon
them, and their span of life be shortened in
consequence.
And it is this class Of cur veterans, most
meritorious and deserving, who endured the
casual ills of the march and camp without COM
plant treatment, that is now confronted
with almost insupcrabIe obstacles in estab-
fishing claims for pension. When the disease,
actually contracted by exposure, insufficient
food and other priyations, at last develops,
after lying long dormant in the system, into
rheumatism, paralysis, or degeneration of the
heart, the applicant discovers that the want Of
record of treatment in hospital is practically a
I bar to the allowance of his claim, especially if
a considerable interval elapsed before he was
compelled to place himself under physicians
care.
Instances, doubtless, occurred where men
were mustered who were physically unsound !;
cases. perhaps, where the surgeons were de-
ceived. Patriotism may have induced some
of our volunteers TO conceal known infrmities.
Pride may have led others to withhold infoma-
ton to which the Government was entitled,
and which would have rendered them ineligi-
/ BILE. But these must be few. The temptation
to deceit was not overpowering. Most men
would have preferred to disclose any reputable
inirmity, rather than TO become burden to
the great cause which all were anxious to
serve.
1t is Incredible therefore that any consid-
cradle number who were physically unfit could
have entered the service; and it is contrary TO
good morals, it is opposed to justice, that after
all these precautions the Government should
be allowed to say TO any disabled applicant for
pension, that he was unsound when he enlisted.
The Government, like an individual, should
be estopped from denying the validity of the
contract. The physical soundness of every en-
listed man should be declared, by amendment
of the statute, to be conclusive presumption
in all cases of application for pension on the
ground Of disability incurred in the service.
In this connection also may be considered
the proposition to place upon the rolls all those
who, having enlisted in the regular or voIun-
teer army or navy of the United States, served
three months or more, were honoTabIy dis
charged, and are unable by reason of physical
disability to earn their subsistence and are de-
pendent upon their own labor for support
Those most competent to judge, affirm, as ha.
been suggested above, that no soldier can serve
actively for any considerable time without
such impairment of his powers that his strength
will be undermined, so that he viii be liabl,
in later life to the access of disease, though
external indications may have not previousl!
appeared.
In such cases no proof can be offered tina
will meet the requirements of the law Their
is no medical history. The ailments of afte
years may not have been so serious as to cal
for active treatment; but strength gradual.
fails and continuous labor becomes impossible
The veteran cannot dig, to beg he is ashamed
He may have family ties which render it un
desirable for him to seek the refuge Of the asy
lpm which the Nation provides for the old ag
of its defenders.
1t is not seemly that the citizen who Ia
J borne the battle for his country should be
mendicant, dependent upon aims, when az
and helplessness have oyertaken him. Renev
client patriotism might justly infer that hi
: disabilities have resulted from his miitar.
service, without insisting upon the strict lette
of the law.
The measure topension the ex-Union prison
ers of war, on the basis Of duration of conEne
3 ment, without other, proof of disability, stand
2 upon the same ground of justice as the pre-
ceding proposition, and deserves prompt an,
favorable consideration.
The memory of the fendish and reyoltin
e atrocities of Libby, Castle Thunder. Salisbury
and Andersonvine has faded from the mind
of men, the cruel story has become a ho1
rible tradition to the present generation; bu
it cannot be recalled without undying execra
i, ton, so long as history shall endure.
+ The policy of the Government upon the sub
ject of exchanges of prisoners was adopts
after mature deliberation. 1t was one of tn
-, -