The National tribune., 1888-09-06

| there is a single veteran or friend of veter-
ans who does not heartily approve of the
principles formulated in it. It would at
once put on the roll and raise from grinding
want to comparative comfort more than
10000 fathers and mothers who sacrificed
the mainstays and props of their declining
years On the altar of their imperiled coun-
| try.
Under the existing laws the mother of a
son killed in the Wilderness cannot get a
pension if his father was at that time capa-
bic of supporting her, though he may have
died month later and left her to struggle
with poverty ever since To get a pension
the mother must have been dependent the
very day the soldier was killed The Gar
bill comes in and grants pension from the
very date of dependence, for the reason that
had the soldier lived he would have sup
ported his mother The soldier having given
his life for his country, certainly the country
should take care of his mother according to
It's agreement when he enlisted.
The second clause reads as follows:
| Sec o That all persons who served three months
or more in tic military or naval service Of the
United States during tie late war Of the rebellion
I and who have been honorably discharged there
/ from, and who are now or who may hereafter be
suffering from mental or physical disability, not
the result OF their own vicious habits which totally
incap 3citates them FOR Inc performance Of manual
labor shall. upon making due proof Of the fact ac-
corJiug 70 such rules and regulations as the ecre-
/ tary OF the Interior may provide, be placed upon
the list Of invalid pensioners Of the United States
and he entitled to receive SO per month; and such
pension shall commence from the date of the fling
of the application in the Pension Office after the
passage OF this act, upon proof that the disability
then existed and shall continue during the exist
/ encc Of the same IN the degree herein specified.
/ PrOUiIcd, That persons who are now receiving
pensions under existing laws, or whose claims are
pending in the Pension Office, may, by application
to the Commissioner of Pensions. in such form as
he may prescribe, receive the benefits Of this act
and nothing herein contained shall be so construed
as to prevent any pensioucr hereunder FROM prose-
cutting his claim aud receiving his pension under
any ether general orspcciEi act Prortded however,
That no person shall receive more than one pen
sion for the same period Ind provided further,
That rank in the service shall not be considered in
applications flied hereunder
Here is a provision that the more it is con
sidered the more highly it commends itself
to every friend Of the veteran. 1t would do
in the simplest quickest and most effective
way what the soldiers best friends would
have done. Nothing can exceed its plain
practical method of rendering justice il
has no quibbies, no subterfuges, no eyasive
technicalities behind which the deserving
veteran can be cheated of his due 1t ha.
but three requirements or conditions:
l. That the man shall have served Thu
Government three months.
O. That he shall have been honorably dis
charged.
3. That he is now disabled
That is all. Could anything be simpler O.
more effective?
All the circumlocution machinery, all IN
4 yexatious obstacles, all the ingeniousIy
devised entanglements which the presen
pension laws erect against the claimant ar
swept away at one blow. All that would b
necessary would be for the claimant to b
identified and to show by the records 0
the War Department that he served a
least three months and was honorabl,
discharged, and to show by satisfactory evi
dence that lie is disabled
These facts being thus demonstrated, +
: would be at once entitled to a pension {
. SO month, which could not be denied hin
= norits giving be delayed. The rate Of pensio
is higher than that proposed in any othc
general pension bill, except THE NATIoNAl
TRIBUNE Pension Bill It's immediat
+ result would be to put on the pension roll
from 25,000 TO 10000 men who should /
= there, but cannot get on them for lack
evidence. 1t would raise great many ,
the pensioners who are now on the rolls I
less than $12 a month to that figure. Thu
= altogether, it would be an immediate an
4 vast help to at least 10000 veterans.
. The third section reads:
Sec 3. That If any invalid pensioner has died. ,
y shall hereafter die leaving a widow, minor Chi
/ children under is years Of age. or in case thei
> be widow. minor child or children Deepen,
cnt mother or father, such widow, minor child ,
d children OF mother, or father, shall be placcd upo
e the penson-roil at the rate established by law &,
widows minor children and parents, without regal
n TO the cause Of death Of such pensioner: Provide
| NJ rF
or is not due TO violation of civil or military law
or the result of vicious habits: 41tdprovided turtle
That said widow married to the deceased pc
sioner prior to the passage Of this act. That Il
IL increase Of pensions for minor children shall be
the rate oil - per month instead of s. per mont
as noH provided by law, and ia case a minor chi
Is insane, diote or otherwise helpless the pensis
shall continue during the life OF said child or du
e. Ing the period Of such disability.
ii 10 soldier can have anything but prai