The National tribune., 1886-02-11
No "BANKRUPTCT."

The Whole ciamor against the repeal OF
the unjust limitation to the arrears Of pen
sion law rests upon the immensely of the
drain it is alleged it will make upon the
Treasury.
No attempt is made 10 dispute the justice
of the repeal No One-at least in the North
denies that if a man is entitled TO pen
sion he is entitled TO it from the time he
incurred his disability. 1t is impossible to
argue with any success against the abstract
right of the Governments fulfilling the
terms of IFS contract with the men who
fought its battles. The resistance all pivots
on the disastrous effect such an honest full
fillment will have upon the National finan-
ces.
We are told that it will cost nearly, if not
quite, $500, 0,C00 to repeal the limitation,
and that the taking out Of this enormous
sum "will bankrupt the Treasury, and
utterly demoraiize our National finances"
Some entirely reckless of truth have affirmed
that it will be necessary to "reimpose the
war taxes including the odious income tax"
Gen. Browne, of Indiana, has clearly
shown, and Gen. Black explains in his letter
TO Mr.. Randall, that of this aggregate of
3C0,000,O00 at least S9i,000000 is already
due under existing laws This leaves at
most only S216,000,CG0 more to provide
for. As we have $4SS, 657, 102 cash in the
Treasury, with 1921, 452, 54955 of it money
for which we have no present use, we could
pay The whole amount of this at once, with
out particle of inconvenience, without re-
storing 4 single item of taxation, and with
out the slightest arrangement of our finances
or credit. We would still have several mill
ions over, without counting the S100,000,0C0
in gold lying idly III the Treasury vaults to
bolster up the greenbaclls, which need no
bolstering up.
1t would be a grand thing to pay of in
tWelvemonth this ong-standing debt to the
Nations Saviors it would be an achieve
ment worthy of companionship with the
wonderful ones we performed when we put
in the field the largest army of fighting men
that the world ever saw, when we main
tanned line of battle $500 miles long,
when we conquered 100000 people fight
ing in the Businesses of their own country,
when, with victory won, we returned every
war-seasoned veteran to the pursuits of
peace, when we paid off billions of indebted
ness to the holders of our bonds, and
raised our financial credit to the highest of
any Nations on earth. 1t would be some
thing surprising anything in the history OF
the greatest countries to take this accumula-
ton of surplus money out of the Treasury,
where it is lying in idle usefulness, and with
it bring comfort and content to the homes of
the men whose courage and sacrifice gave
the country all the prosperity it now enjoys.
But it would be an impossibility, even if
every one were SO minded, to pay this sum
out to those to whom it is due in any one
year. From the very nature of things the
payment would have to be extended over a
series of years. In the very nature of things
it would be impossible to pay out in any one
year more than the surplus revenue of the
year, SO that all this talk about "derange-
ment of finances" "reviving the war-taxes,"
"bankrupting the Treasury" ETC., is the
sheerest nonsense, and no one knows it bet
ter than the man who tries to delude the
peopIe with it.