The National tribune., 1886-02-25
PRISONERS OF WAR.
A Delegation Of the National Association Appears
Keinra the Pension Committee.


At the last annual meeting of the National
Association of EX-UniOn Prisoners of War,
held in Philadelphia last August a committee
of three, consisting of Maj. Longenecker, of
Bedford, Pa; DIR. G.. A. Gessner, who is PreSi-
dent of the Association, of Fremont, O., and L.
+. Mack, OF Sandusky, o., was appointed to lay
before Congress the claims of the Ex-Union
Prisoners. Accordingly last week those three
gentlemen visited Washington and on Friday
they appeared before the Committee on Invalid
Pensions Mr.. Mack, in his argument, claimed
that with few exceptions the men who finally
escaped from rebel prisons by parole exchange,
or termination of the war were injured and in
many cases entirely ruined in health. but that
under the present laws and rulings OF the Pen
sion Bureau it is almost impossible for these
men to secure pensions because of their failure
to connect their present disability with their
suffering in prison He also thought the eX-
prisoners were entitled to extra compensation
for the great sutferings they endured and the
risks they ran. The failure of the Government
of the United States to make systematic ex-
change of prisoners kept them in prison for
months and months, and that if it was for the
benefit of the United States that they should
endure these sufleriugs, then the Government
of the United States was in all equity and JUS
tice bound to compensate them for it, 1t is
well known fact that the Government failed TO
exchange during the first part of the war be-
cause it feared by entering into such exchange
it might in some way recognize the South, and
in the latter part Of the war it failed to ex-
change OH the ground that it could not afford
to exchange robust, well-fed men for invalids,
and the prisoners were on that account dong
good service to the Government while they lay
rotting in Southern prisOn-pens. 1t must also
be borne in mind that every Union prisoner
who was suffering in Andersonviile, Libby,
Salisbury. and other pens kept a rebel out of
the ranks of the Con faderacy For these rea-
sons extra compensation is asked for by the ex-
prisoners. They ask that 81 day be paid
them for the time they spent in prison, and
that they shall receive pension from the pas
sage of the act emitting them to such.
DR.. Gessner proved by statistics that the rate
of mortality in prison was Is times greater than
the mortality on the fields of battle or from
wounds or any cause in active service, and that
the chances for a mans life in case OF cap
ture was very much less than if he had been
exposed to the hazards of the battlefield. In
fact, the odds were 16 to one against him. 1t
must also be borne in mind that when man
entered the army he did it with the expecta-
tion that if he should have the misfortune to
fall into the hands of the enemy he would re-
ceive a parole i'll reasonable time or that his
Government would exchange him very soon
after his capture. In fact, i'll many cases he
was led to believe that he would be exchanged
on the battlefield and that when the Govern
| ment failed for any cause to make arrange
ments for the exchange it failed to that extent
in keeping its implied contract with the SOL
dier. He knew from his own observation that
| the prison survivors did not fare nearly so we'll
| as the other eX-sOlderS. This is because great
proportion of them are I'M jured mentally as well
| rs physically, and they are thus seldom able to
| present or prosecute their claims with the same
| vigor and success as man who has full posses
| sion of his mental faculties. There are many
| cases where a man, after spending months or
| years in rebel prisons, seemed entirely to lose
! all recollection of what had happened and to
| have such general confusion of ideas to be
! able to state very little about his confinement
| or to remember any comrades who might assist
/ him in establishing Il claim. Many of them
! knew they were at Andersonville, Florence,
| Salisbury and other prisons, and that they suf-
| fered and endured everything in those places,
| and yet they can bring forward no actual proof
| of receiving disabilities while there, aud are
| therefore unable to get any pensions. The
| kind of disabilities that the prisoner of war
| suffers from are of nature that cannot always
| be explained or specified. man may be free
| from any marked or positive disease and yet
| there may be such general depravity Of the
1 whole physical system as to render him entirely
! unfit for labor, either physical mental. he
| may be suffering from far worse disability
/ than the loss of limb or any other injury
| caused by wound in battle, and yet he cannot.
| like the man who suffered such mutiiatiou,
| show it and bring it in evidence i'll his favor.
! His whole nervous system may be completely
| wrecked and destroyed, and not one tangible
| sign of his disability appear.
| The committee illustrated by the following
J sample case: Alex. Parker, theological stu