The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1888-03-08
tates him for the performance of manual labor"
They do not ask that
A CONDITION OF PAUPERIsM

taCes hlm Tor the performance OF manual laDoE.
They do not ask that
A CONDITION OF PAUPERIsM
shall be a condition precedent to pension,
but they do demand that their disabled and
enfeebled comrades should be taken from the
paupers' homes and almshouses of the Republic
they saved. They have high authority for
such demand, if not in the action of the pres
ent Executive, at least in his words. In his
annual message in 1886 President Grover CleYe-
land said TO Congress and the country:
Every patriotic heart responds to tender con-
sideration for those who having served their coun
try long and well, are reduced TO destliullon ana
dependence, not incident of their service, but
with advancing age or through sickness or mis-
fortune. We all tempted by the contemplation
Of such condition TO supply relief, and are often
impatient of the limitations of public duty Yield
ing 20 one in the desire to indulge this ieelng
Of consideration, cannot rid myself OF the con-
vlctun that II these eX-soldlers are to be renewed
they and their cause are entitled TO the benefit OF
an enactment under which relief may be claimed
) a right, and that such relief should be granted
under the sanction Of law not in evasion of II; nor
should such worthy objects of care, all equally en-
titled, be remitted TO the unequal operation of SYM
pathy or the tender merCes of social ana polltlcaI
influence with their unjust determinations.
CAN IT BE POSSIBLE
that the hand that wrote these lines could also
have written that cruel veto message that on
Feb. II, 1887, destroyed that benefcent act IN
strict accord with the spirit, aye, almost the
letter, Of the sentences just readf What
marvellous change came over the spirit of his
dream in the few months that elapsed between
the penning of the annual and the writing OF
the veto message.
In the first, his "patriotic heart responds to
q tender consideration for those who "are re-
dueed TO desttuti0n and dependence, not as an
incident Of theirservice." In the last, he " can
not believe" that those 4" who having been dis
abled by the casualties Ofwar justly regard the
present pension-roll on which their names ap-
pear as a roll of honor, desire at this time and
in the present exigency to be confounded with
those who through such bill as this are will
ling to be objects Of simple charity, and to gain
place upon the pension-ron through alleged
dependence"
In the annual message he says these ex-sol-
diers who are destitute and dependent not as
result of their service, but from after causes,
are entitled to the benefit of an enactment
under which relief may be claimed as right"
When the enactment, in strict accordance with
his views and so admitted to be by his party
friends IN both Houses of Congress, came to him
he writes in his veto message, " the race after
the pensions offered by this bill would not only
stimulate weakness and pretended incapacity
for labor, but put a further premium on dis
honesty and mendacity."
In his annual message his "patriotic heart
responds TO a tender consideration for those
who have served their country, and he yields
to no one IN the desire TO indulge this feeling
Of consideration" In the veto message he IS
constrained to say that there exists q wide
spread disregard of truth and good faith IN
the prosecution of pension claims, by " the ex-
pectant beuefciaries .; meaning the ex-soldiers
for whom his patriotic heart responds to
tender consideration" albeit they have become
" in the twinkling of an eye" as it were guilty
OF subornation Of perjury, perjury, and fraud.
He says in this latter manifesto Of patriotic
consideration" that seems TO cOme from the
head rather than the heart, that this wide
spread disregard OF truth and good faith in the
matter Of procuring pensions" is existing and
inevitable" On behalf Of the ex-soldieTs Of
the Republic. deny it.
THE CHARGE Is BAsELY. CRUELTY, LIBELLoUs,
and SO gross in its conception that it needs no
repetition before the American people.
The late hOnrable and efficient Commissioner
Of Pensions, who sacrificed leg in the cause
OF the Union, says, in late annual report,
that, with the most searching inyesti CATION Of
all cases of suspected fraud, the result showed
tha. in the number Of allowed claims one-tenth
Of l per cent. or one IN each thousand only of
allowed cases, we're fraudulent. Can it be pos
sible that under the painstaking and efficient
care Of the present Commissioner, that gallant
soldier and experienced lawyer, Gen. John G..
Black, these frauds have increased and are
" inevitable "? Mo- They are no greater un-
der Commissioner Black than they were under
Gen. Dudley, for the simple reason that the
great majority Of American citizens are honest
and those Of them VINO served the Republic in
her days Of need will not ferjure themselves to
obtain the pitiful pension allowed under ouI
laws. The report Of Commissioner Black in
1856 shows that among the hundreds Of thou
sands Of allowed and pending claims but 275
criminal cases had been commenced during the
year, and that during that ting there had been
but III convictions. Turning to his thorough
report for 1857 / read:
i cannot be denied that wrongs occasionally
arise and are peypetrated upon both the claimant
sud the Government Lut this condition Of affairs
afzs.ion Of cases; and my judgment Is that the
amount Of wrong Is reduced to a minimum undel
the present practice and the amount Of good has
reached Iis maximum. mean 10 say that regard
The number Of cases Of Imposition as comparative
ly lew.
The bin Of last Congress was not q service
pension bill.
It was properly called the Dependent Pen
sion Bill. That which is now under considera
tion is not service pension, but can properly
be called
A DISABILITY PENSION BILL.
The former one pensioned those suffering
from mental or physical disability, not the re
!
lessuess, incapacitating them for the perform
aBce Of labor 10 such degree as to render then
unable 70 earn support, and who are dependen
/ upon their daily labor for support" This bill
/ pensions those suffering from mental OF physi
cal disability, not the result of their own yiciou
7 habits, which totally inespaeitates them 70
I the performance Of manual labor" Thus /
viii be seen that there must be total disabilit,
I for manual labor, aud where there is this con
ditiOn the unfortunate one is to receive SI2 pc
month. The essence Of the relief is the tota
/ disability, not merely the service, just as TIA
/ essence Of the law vetoed was partial incapacit
4 and total dependence and not service merely.
/ IL was not needed in the veto message tina
4 the President, Grover Cleveland, should so Sc
verely condemn service pensions and decar
/ that hitherto such relief has been granted {
Z surviving soldiers, few in number, venerable i
4 age, after long lapse Of time since their mill
1 tary service and a. a parting beDefaction ten
dered by grateful people" For one / do nc
/ believe In " benefactiods" so long delayed tha
death prevents their enjoyment by the " ven
1 cradle" recipient. Post-mortem "benefac
| tons " Of an earthly character are not particU
larly enjoyable TO the departed. Perhap
| however, the condemnation Of service pension
Ia 1887 was that a sharp contrast might be a
forded to the words of Citizen Grover Clev,
/ land in 1884. In June of that year Of grace
petition was sent 10 Congress paying you
honorable body to grant pension of at least
a month TO all hOnorably discharged soldiers
the Union army.
1t was numerously signed, and near the bo
Al