Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1886-08-18
cLeyeLAHps HEARTLEssrEss.
His Lack Of Sympathy for the Union Sol
dien- Scathing Letter from
Private Dalsell.

A variety Of opinions have been offered
rs to the Presidents motive in yetoing SO
many private pension bills. For one, do
not believe il is done either out of desire
for retrenchment and reform, or as an act
of justice, pure and simple; bnt rather it is
a shrcwd trick to increase his popularity at
the South, and among the Democrats at the
North who hate the soldiers of the Union
with moral hatred that can never die.
lis supreme object is to make the Solid
South as solid for him in 1888 as in 1854,
and to secure the denomination. 1t is a
daring stroke of policy, and does more
credit to his brain than to his heart, and,
confess, when viewed merely as an cleo
pioneering move it is the brightest and most
far seeing adventure ever before witnessed
at the White House. He hmpoons the
men who did our fighting, the privates of
the army, ridicules their diseases and
wounds and cracks jokes even over the
graves of heroic dead. The Merry Mon
arch Of England never sported more lightly
with the foibles of his familiars in that dis
solute reign than Grover Cleveland does
now with the misfortnnes and miseries Of
Government for pension.
What kind Of heart the man must pos
sess who can find subject Of ridicule and
wit in the manned and quivering limbs Of
an old cayalryman, and who can lightly
joke and laugh over the wasted and pros
trate body of the victim of Andersonville
and Belle Isle, or write with playful rail-
lery and stupid coarseness or illustration
concerning the soldier suffering from
chronic diarrhea incurred in the swamps
of the South defending the flag, passes all
understanding, shocks every sense of
propriety and decency, and makes the man
who wears such q callous heart in his
bosom appear rs anything in the world but
statesman or a patriot, and something
worse than monstera brute and fiend!
Such lack OF sympathy with suffering
humanity, such insensibility to the claims
Of patriotic service, such awful and stupid,
grotesque and beastly display of coarse
ness, and such indifference to public opin-
ion, never were rs conspicuously displayed
in the United States before, and let US hope
| when this heartless man retires from the
Office he has thus degraded and disgraced,
it will be forever impossible to occur any
where again.
Ii any preacher, even a Beecher or Tall
mage, IL an actor or actress, or il any
public speaker anywhere in the loyal States
| should speak or exhibit such contempt of
the Union soldiers, living or dead. as this
man has shown by mis- shameless messages
they would be hooted down and mobbed by
an outraged public. No man is permitted
to make light of these sacred subjects, and
whoever is bold enough to attempt it will
soon feel the full measure Of popular wrath
and resentment. 1t requires coarse nat
ure, and a mean one at that, one long de-
based by evil habits aud vile associations,
to prepare man for making fun of the
misfortunes and diseases of mankind; but
ten times lower must that man descend in
moral obliquity before he can find source
OF merriment in the agonies, the privation
aud prayers Of stricken soldiers, starving
women and children, and the groans OF
the patriotic dead! He repels the soldier
staggering TO the rave under load Of dis
ease, poverty and distress, and answers
his appeal for charity with fendish leer
and laugh that would dishonor the heart
of he'll
Cleveland is a dull man. He was never
known to joke before. He never was sus-
pectsd of having either wit or humor: but
suddenly he became as merry as lark,
and dashes off pasquinades at poverty,
puns at patriotism, jokes at disease and
death, and in the vail Of the widow and
the cry of the orphan finds sources of
amusement and even laughter and fun. 1t
is all merry subject to him. and with his
coat OF and his sleeves rolled up he fairly
reve!s in the luxury of enjoyment he finds
in knocking misery and railing at distress.
He knows what he is up to. 1t Is a smart
trick. He hates the soldier. The bulk of
H.. .A~.a.-
all the Democrats. North and South, hate
the Union soldier. He is making himself
solid with the solid South, and with every
traitorous copperhead i'll all the North. by
degrading and denouncing the crippled and
impoverished veterans Of the Union.
He does E0t reckon without his host. 1t
ID d stoke of statesmanshlp intended to
secure the denomination, and II will sue.
ceed. The Democratic party never goes
back on the President who dares to put in
words and send out officially the hatred
and contempt for the Grand Army of the
Republic which has so long ranked like
poison in all Democratic hearts. jefferson
Davis could not do worse to us if he were
President to-day. How much lower could
any rebel descend than to make sport of
the deceased and dying soldiers of the
Union.
The heart of the Duke of Alva or even
Of Caligula. himself might we'll relent be-
fore it would permit such an exhibition of
brutality as to make a joke of suffering,
poverty, and distress
No President ever did so before. II
would have cost any one of them his life
or his Office to have held up the manned
soldier Of the Union to public laughter
and contempt. But it has found express
sion at last, this intense, all-pervading
hostility to the Union soldier, this con-
tempt Of his rights. this abiding ridicule of
his inflrmittes, IN many messages of a
heartless President. who only atters what
every Democratic heart long has felt.
1t dishonofs human nature.
1t disgraces the American name,
1t will be a standing reproach to our ila-
ton in all future time, that, Just as the
heroic band who saved the Nations life
were trembling on the edge OF the grave,
and about ready TO die, that President Of
the United States Knocked at their ex-
tremity and made their infrmities the SUBJ
ject Of ridicule. Scarcely more fendish
was the cry, "CuHte down from the Cross
now" What a savage delight that must be
that can fiId diversion and amusement, too,
Id the strdggle Of fellow ,cfeature2 The
Indians themselves, indeed. sohstinies re-
Tented and loosed the captive whom they
were tormenting for their amusement, but
this man never. He finds it the most de-
ligntful occupation Of his honeymoon to
grin and laugh over the deathbed Of a
patriot, while the rags and squalor, the
misery and despair OF the widow and orphan
excite his disabilities, and moving men to
tears, move this MONSTER only to pesls Of
a III a