The Republican journal., 1886-01-28
General Blacks Efrontery.
WAITING TO HAVE HIS PREDECESSORS INyEs-
TI(;ATED.

| WAITING TO HAVE HIS PREDECESSORS INVES-
TIGATED.
''Whom the gods would destroy they first
make mad" Not content with issuing an an
nual report replete with fasehood and misreI-
rcSentation, in temper and language as lbellous
and virulent as any campaign document that
ever partisan malice or political hatred gave
| birth to, Commissioner Black has gone so far
even as to induce his friends in the Senate to
support a resolution looking to an investigation
of the Pension Office during the administration
| OF his Republican predecessors. Surely more
certain method of Self-destruction could not
well be imagined. General Black will have no
one to blame but himself if an investigation of
his office is ordered. As to the results of such
an inquiry there can be but little doubt. The
administration of the Pension Office since last
March has been so notoriously for the benefit
| of Democratic politicians and so little in the
interest of the soldier that the committee of i'll
| vestigation will have no difficulty in finding
| material for just criticism and rightful condem-
nation.
Look at Commissioner Black himself. What
satire upon the sense of justice Of the Admin
stration. Here is Il man drawing pension of
500 montl-a pension, mind you higher
than that paid to any other soldier of the late
war. be he ever SO manned or crippled \ man
Dnd Ill both eyes, man who has lost his arms,
| a man whose legs have been carried away,
man whom want, suffering and disease have
rendered insane, gets only Sl2. The CommiSS
ioncr of Pensions receives $3S month more
than what this Government accords to the un-
fortunate people | have mentioned. And he is
the only person that draws so large an amount
On the entire pension list there is not IL single
man that gets more than 800 Il month. Ac-
a General = nj
men draw S12, and S4 men $50 a month. The
remaining 242 2631 pensioners all draw less;
indeed, ON the average, it is doubtful whether
they draw more than s. month each And
how did the present head of the Pension Office
obtain his pension: 1t was upon the represen-
taton that he was "physical wreck" that he
was incapablc of any chort,' that Ibis ability
to pursue his life aNocation is permanently i'm
paired, that he was "Simply destroyed" and
that it was "only question of how long he will
live
These were the statements made upon honor
by 4 soldier and gentleman, which induced Il
Republican Administration to give General
Black pension higher than was ever paid to
amy man before Were these statements true
ut the time they We're made, or are they true
even now: The evidenct seems to permit of
only one answer. For years after the war
General Black was candidate for almost
every office within the gift of the people of
Illinois, lie was a candidate for Congress Il
number of times; he was an asprant for
gubcrnatorial honorS twice, and he hoped to
secure a seat in the United States Senate at
least as often. Does this show that he is lin
capable of any effort and is it possible for
"physical wreck" Il man that ''iS simply de>
troyed,' to perform the duties of the office of
Commissioner of PENSIONS:
When General Black became Pension Com
missioner 1t might have been supposed that he
would display some regard at least for those
veterans who had fought side by side with him
81, No.