The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1888-10-25
GIVE THEM THEIR DUES.
Has 1t Paid to Pension the soIdIersl

Has 1t Paid TO Pension the Soldiers!
EDITOR NATIONAL TRIBUNE: The state
ment is sometimes made by the solder-hating
press that our Government is breeding a set of
paupers and beggars by giving pensions to
those who saved it, and it looks very strange
that this fact was not discovered until 1884. In
reply to this SANDER will say that facts do not
prove the assertion to be true. On the con-
trary, abundant evidence can be collected to
prove that by taking poor crippled or diseased
soldier out of the slough of dcspond, giving
him lift out of his low spirits, making him
think he is somebody, that there is chance for
him yet we make an industrious, wealth-pro-
ducing man out of what would eventually be q
beggar sure enough, if kicked still farther down
by these soldier hating sneaks, who promised
to help the South in case of war yet, when
the war came they remained at home and hired
substitutes to face the Southerners they prom
ised to help. The Southerncrs hate them worse
than we do. Now for the facts.
The boys of the old Second Division, Fourth
Corps, will remember thatstraght, good-lool1ing
young Drum Major of the old I'd Mo. He was
taken prisoner at Chckamauga and sent to
Andersonville, After eight months imprison-
ment in that hole he was released, sent North,
and discharged at st. Louis. His long suffering
aud sickness had totally paralyzed his body
from the waist down, so that he erawled and
dragged himself along by his hands. How was
| he treated after his discharge? His wife took
in washing; his little children ram unframed,
in the Streets earning what they could.
In time he moved to Quincy, III. One
day his eldest boy was drowned In the
river while trying 70 catch drift-wood for
their Winters fuel. The body was found and
brought home, but there was no money TO
buy even a box to bury it in. The city au-
thoFities were called in, the true situation
/ found cut, then the Grand Army Post at that
( point turned out en- massse, gave the body
| decent burial, and got the father pension.
! Now, what do we seer Did he depend on
/ peoples charity and Stops for a living? Not
! once. The back pay bought him q house, the
! children, instead OF growing up river rats or
/ street gamins were nicely dressed and sent to
school, his wife stayed at home instead Of work
/ ing out, and the helpless veteran Travelled over
/ the city in an inyalid-chair and sold papers,
! clerked, and did great many things that a
man in his situation could do. People would
/ hire and patronZe him now that he was better
! dressed, that would not notice him when he
+ craWled along the streets upon his hands and
/ knees. Now, is he not Of more benefit to the
community in his present condition than in
the former?
Thomas Fisher, Co. T, - Ill, went blind
! from injuries received while in the service.
| The Government gives him pension large
enough for him to be at ease and never strike a
/ lick. But he does ali kind of knitting, and
very busy and skiiful is he at it, too never
/ happy unless busy with his needles Before he
was pensioned he was in the poorhouse; now
he has home Of his own aud gives steady
employment 10 several persons.
john WEIGH, Co. ID, - H., was bent almost
double with rheumatism. Uncle Sam gave hiHa
. pension. lie took his back pay aud went to
dealing in grain. He is worth over 100000
to-day. Before he was pensioned he was not
able TO do anything
is. Lewis, Co. T. H., was living on a small
farm and doing what little he could his wife and
children working ia the field to help him make
a living. he received a pension, then sold his
farm, moved into a small town and kept a
small store. His children are being well edu-
Gated, while he makes great deal better living
than be was formerly able to do on his farm
Every soldier Of my acquaintance who is now
penslOned Is IN some light business or employ
ment that before they were peusioued they
could not get. Why multiply cases? These
men went into the service able bodied young
men; they came out discased and broken down.
SO they could not follow any employment requir.
ing hard manual labor but could follow some
light business and Uncle Sam sOt them up in it
Is the public gamer by this policy or is it q
IOserF The pension business has made Eng
land one of the most powerful nations on earth
Why2 Because every man wants to be hero
for II he does some heroic act whether soldier
or civilian, he receives the Victoria cross and ,
pension of $3.50 year for life. Many Of on
: brave boys got dollar a month Let US looE
: at the Southern soldier and his treatment-ant
my authority is Mr.. Richard Co0per of Nor
gan's cavalry, who was in the service from tin
! beginning until surrendered at Appomattox
lie says at the close Of the war the South wa
4 ruined aud had nothing to give her soldiers
1 but pretefDteRt. A man could travel anywher
in the South, ard ii he had been rebel soIdie
he was sure oil food aud shelter and if he wen
into business he was patronized IN preference
10 anybody else. If lac wanted an office he wa
: elected toit that's whatput the Southern Briga
der IN Congress-, and to-day, under this polio
pursued by an impoverished people the rich
est men IN the South are their ex-sodiers
without any assistance from the Northern
doughlace VINO was going to help them in thei
, war but didn't. Where would the Northern
soldier be to-day if his neighbors who sold cor
at dollar bushel wheat at 50 and hogs a
l2t cents per pound while he was at the front
had given him the preferment the Souther
soldier got2 He could then have got alon
without a pension. Now, has it paid to pen
sion these soldiers? Just think Our coun
try has no need of Boulanger either Mort
or South, aud, thanks to the thorough wor
done from 81 to '65, will never need one. TIL
blue and gray fraternize The Democrat
party claims TO have done more for the soldier
l IN their four years term of Office than the RI
publican party did in their p years 1t
true they have for the Confederate soldier, so
= is now time for the Union soldiers to touch @
bows and have a change and see what the RI
publican party will do for them. Last mont
my old regiment held its second annual RI
union, and it was surprising to see how few
|, the number drew pension. Men who wol
in the service from the beginning to the end, II,
: one in 10 and they said they didn't want
pension, either; that was a sacred provision
they said, for their unfortunate comrades an
it was better to provide for them now viii
living than to build marble shaft over the
. after they were dead.-W. c., Co. D, 10th III.