The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1885-12-18
THE PENSION LIST.

Twenty years have passed since the
civil war ended, yet Today the list o.
pensioners is not only greater than ever
before, but growing enormously. Ten
years after the close of the war 1t had
begun to jwindle, as it naturally would
on account of the deaths of veterans,
the marriages of soldiers widows, and
the coming of age of their children
Then the legislation of Congress made
a change. The arrears act alone added
an ultimate liability variOusly estimated
in official documents at between $780,
600 600 aud S521 OOO, 900, and not yet
determined.
As years roll on, the fruits of this leg
isiatiOn become apparent. Although
the number of names dropped from the
list since 1865. from death and other
causes, must be reckOned in hundreds
of thousands. the names added more
than cOunteTbalance them, Last year,
for example, as Gen. Black S report
shows 1928 names were dropped, but
80. 76S new ones were added, besides
many reinstatementS. Looking through
successive annual reports of the Pension
Office, we find that, while the aggregate
roll numbered 26S, $50 pensioners in
1881, 2S5. 695 pensioners in 1892, 3O3, COS
pensioners in 1888, and 322, 759 pension
eTs il 1884, it had reached 345, l25 for
the year ending June 30, 1885. This is
an addition of nearly thirty per cent. IN
four years. Again, we find the aggre-
gate annual value of pensions, which
was S2S, 769. 967 four years ago, in
creased year by year until it is now
S3S. 090. 985. Even this great outlay
does not represent ali the country pays.
since every year it gives many millions
e a a
outlay last year was thus brought up to
nearly sixty five millions. For the past
two years it has averaged over sixty
millions.
Yet we have not reached the maxi
mum of annual pension liability. Off
cial calculations have shown that, even
or the basis of present legislation, the
roll of pensioners will be increased over
AL natural diminutiOns to between 425.-
600 and 500 600. and the annual cost of
pensions, exclusive of outright payments
for arrears, to between SAC 600 ard
$50. O00 600. Before the year 1890 the
amount laid out on pensions since 1861
will be more than a billion dollars.
Nevertheless schemes are rife for
enormously increasing the pension bur
dens of the Treasury. Some of them
involve amounts so prOdigiOus that their
projectors hardly venture INTO accurate
calculations of what they will cost
The Mexican War Pension bill, which
itself would have entailed vast expenses,
was saddled with amendments when
discussed in the last Congress, that
would have swamUed the Treasury
One Oe the proposals which will again
be urged upon Congress is that OF pen
siOning to an extent depending on
length of service all soldiers WHO fought
in the Union armies. Several bills aim
at this result. one of them giving to any
surviving soldier or sailor. sick or well,
rich or poor, s. a month for the rest of
his life. Another bill gives, in addi-
tiOn, $50 acres of land to each man
Still another bill gives graded pensions
to all who were captured and confined
in Confederate prisons, even where no
disability resulted. Others provide for
very large increases Of existing pen
siOnS.
With the pension outlay now amount
ing annually to more than sixty millions,
and certain 20 increase during many
years. it IS the part of prudence to re-
jeCt schemes that propose to add euOT-
nous and indeed unknown liabilities to
the burdens already resting On the
Treasury. y. S1m.