Iron County register., 1886-01-14
ATHREATENED FLOOD.
CareIessness of Two Senators Who De-
sire to Stand Well with the "Soldier
Element.

Carelessness of Two Senators Who De-
sire to Stand Well with the "SOldier
Element.
Nearly all the old pension projects
of the Forty-eighth Congress have al
ready been introduced into it's sue
cessor, while some new ones seem to
outdo in extravaganza anything hith-
erto proposed.
Two Senators were so anxious to
lead in this rivalry that each brought
forward the same measure. 1t grants
pensions to every soldier and sailor of
the Mexican war, and every soldier
| and sailor of the war of the rebellion,
who served even fourteen days in the
army or navy. 1t gives pensions, also
to the surviving widows of such soldiers
married. Then it raises certain pen
sions to the maximum of twenty-four
dollars per month, prescribes that
every eight-dollar pension now paid to
| widows or minor children shall be
| made twelve dollars and dates all the
civil war pensions back to the death or
discharge.
During the war there were furnished
| to the Union armies, under the various
calls of President Lincoln, 2,772. 4O8
! men. Probably 10000 men enlisted in
the regular army besides those who
were credited to the States. The
States, too, with few exceptions, re-
ceived no credit on their quotas for
| men furnished for less than ninety
days service. Yet there were many sixty
| days and thirty days men. In the
summer of 1868 many militia volun-
teered for thirty days, the State of New
York alone furnishing 1928 officers
| and men. According to the careful es-
innate of Colonel Phisterer, it is per-
| fectly safe to say that the total number
of men furnished by the States and
| Territories for the armies of the United
| States, after deducting those credited
with service in the navy, will exceed
| 2,S5O,OOO. In Prof Solcy's Blockade
| and the Cruisers we find the state
| ment that when the war ended there
were 81 800 men in the Naval Service.
| OF course there had been many others
who served only part of the war, and
/ many no doubt were discharged for
| disability. In round numbers we NAV
| say that about three million men re-
| sponded to the various calls, on land
| and sea, in the regular and volunteer
| services.
1t is clear, therefore, that the bills
| just spoken of propose to pension an
| enormous number of men. It may be
| said that those who re-enlisted are count
| ed twice in these enumerations. That
is true; and it is not possible, without
degree of labor perhaps never likely
| to be undertaken, to know just now
| many individual soldiers and sailors
! caYxa1 inf If iS worth Ubiin nhSnpV-
| ing that il the aggregate of 2,772, 4O2
| men credited to the States and Terri
tories under the various calls is brought
to a three years standard, it still rep
| resents 1920 ,272, Thus it will be seen
| that the number of short-term troops
| was comparatively very small. 1t is
| often urged in behalf of those univer-
| sal pension projects which provide a
| pension at the rate of a certain fixed
| sum per month, according to the
| amount of service rendered, that the
| great number of short terms will much
reduce the amount to be paid. In re-
ality there were comparatively few who
served less than a year. In 1861, for
| example. 81, ,S16 men were furnished
for three months, but 657, 1868 men for
three years.
Schemes for pensioning everybody,
| rich or poor, who ever bore arms dur
ing the Mexican war and the civil war,
even for a fortnight, do not take proper
account of the expense which would be
incurred in carrying them into effect
In fact, they hardly take account of the
! character of the service performed,
since it is well known that militia who
performed duty in Northern forts for
a few weeks, until regular forces could
be supplied, were mustered into the
service. Under such bills as have been
introduced into Congress, even these
soldiers would now be entitled to pen
| sions, though never within hundreds of
miles of the actual scene of war.-N
| Y. Sun.