The National tribune., 1885-07-09
WHAT THE VETERANS DEMAND.

there VIII DC such demand Tor the cutting OF tne reu
tape by the passage of universal pension bill that
it cannot be resisted"
The american is right Undoubtedly many ap-
plicants deserve to be rejected but every veteran
who needs and deserves pension, which is de-
layed year after year. has scores of sympathizers
who would urge the passage of almost any law
which would compel decisions before the appli-
cants in their graves" Indignation and
despair at the intoIerabe delay to which thousands
of needy veterans We're subjected induced the pr1n-
cipal backing of the movement which the Grand
Army has just condemned.-Ne,o York Herald.
1t is so rare that we have an opportunity
to approve of anything in New York paper
concerning pensions that we gladly embrace
the opportunity to commend the Heralds
position. 1t touches the very heart of the
matter. The most uncomfortable thing in all
the practices and methods of the Pension
Bureau heretofore has been its heart-sicken-
ing delay in adjudicating claims.
1t is this which THE NATIONAL TRIB-
UNE, as the representative Of the soldiers of
the late war and their widows and orphans,
has protested against with the greatest We
hemence.
Nobody wants dollar or fraction of a
dollar given to man who is not fully enti-
tied to it. Nobody wants single dollar
given to any man upon less proof than would
be sufficient to collect debt in court of
law. But every communityis sense of JUS
tice has been repeatedly outraged by we'll
known instances of deserving soldiers in it
being kept out of their rights for weary
years by the petty quibbling and uncon-
scionable delays of the Pension Bureau. 1t
was justly regarded as an insult to common
sense to pretend that it took from two to 18
years to find out whether an applicant had
been in the army; had been properly dis
charged, and had incurred pensionable
disability by reason of his service. With
one accord people said that this was not
only official incompetence but refined cru
city to the veterans who were travelling in
poverty and pain to miserable graves.
The people at large have ever been willing
to deal justly with deserving soldiers. Act
ing in accordance with their clearly-expressed
wishes, their representatives in Congress
voted all the money that previons Com
missioner of Pensions estimated would be
required to satisfy every claim for pension.
They increased his clerical force enormously
in order that he might carry out his promise
to pass upon and settle every claim on file
inside of three years.
The carrying out of this righteous inten-
tion was frustrated by the systematic delay
and obstruction of the Pension Bureaus
methods. The best of the good work that
has been done by Gen. Black since his entry
into the Office of Commissioner of Pensions
has been the breaking down of the barriers
which had been erected to retard the course
of business, and his infusing into every
branch of the Office instead spirit of vigor-
Gus activity, which continually pressed the
work forward toward completion. Since his
appointment he has nearly doubled the daily
volume of business transacted, and yet there
has not been a single avenue of fraud opened
that was kept closed by the slower ways of
his predecessors.
The supreme condition connected with
pensions is the necessity for promptness If
q 10 dosaruad ~ ohan1I iv,{ {ho
of justice, be given at once The award is
made because the pensioner deserves it and
because he needs it. To withhold it in his
hour of need, to tantalize him in the days
when he is poor in purse and broken in
health and spirit with delays, postpone
ments on account of technical quibbles, and
refusals based on the splitting of hairs in
Nothing in all tine historic tortures of the
Inquisition has exceeded what has been en-
dured by men who were shattered and
broken in the service of their country, and
who have languished through pain and pri-
'SeANA S'SAA AiAo0 eAo SiaSC,
could work their way through the battling
labyrinth which they had to traverse before
their pensions could be allowed.
Were it put to the vote of the people
there would be an overwhelming majority
in favor of pension at once to every man
who is now disabled, and who has served
his country honorably. There would be no
nonsense about giving this man 81 a month
for his rheumatism, and another beggarly
$1.50 for his incurable diarrhea. There
would be no ridiculous hair-splitting as to
whether man caught 81 so or 81 so worth of
malaria in the swamps of the Chickahominy.
Every man, whom wounds or disease now
prevent from earning his own support,
would get enough at least to keep him from
beggary or starvation.
THE WOMAN'S RELIEF CORPS.
The third annual convention showed its
high appreciation of the services of Mrs.
Kate B. Sherwood by unanimously re-elect-
ing her to the Office of National President