River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1888-10-18
GROWERS PENSION RECORD.
General Aiger Presents the Old soldiers
View OF the Pending Cont st.

General AIger Presents the Old Soldiers
View OF the Pending Cont st.
We are only making one fight, and
that Is a business fight, with no mud
singing, continued General Alger. as
he warmed up to his subject. :" So far
as ] am concerned. | take Mr. Cleve-
land to be the head and front and the
type of Democracy, and the best man
in it. Granting that, of course he is
all the more dangerous, being on the
wrong side, and on that account alone
should be defeated. We old soldiers
think we have just cause Of complaint
because Mr.. Cleveland has vetoed so
many pension bills. but his vctocs are
very largely, am willing TO believe.
because he does not understand the sit
uation. He never was soldier, and
dom think he took an especially active
interest in the war AZ the time. from
all that | can learn. The point is this /;
At the close of the war the great body
OF men were only too glad 70 get home
and thought nothing about future com
peusation for what they had done, but
the evidence required, according to eX-
listing laws and regulations in the Pen
sion Department, demands that a man
shall prove that his disability was
brought on by exposure az wounds re
ceived in battle. This is the difficulty.
\ man finds in old or middle age that
he is practically stranded. and under
the existing laws he can not prove a
claim that viii entitle hin 10
a pension. and If he could the
chances are that the witnesses, his
officers or companions, are dead or
scattered, and he is unable to procure
the testimony that he is entitled to by
the facts. If he could find It! in many
cases, a great many eases, he could
not pay the expense of getting it. In
that condition, an old soldier finds
himself. rs soldiers write TO me. in =
solute poverty. unable to support him
self and his family. indeed unable to
take care of himself, and great many
are sent TO soldiers home There are.
] am sorry TO say, great many old
soldiers in poor-houses all over the
country, though there are none in
Michigan. because Michigan has q
soldiers home, and they are taken care
of at the expense of the State The
only means that such a man has of
getting help from the general Govern.
ment is by act Of Congress. He makes
his statements. gets such cOrrObora-
tive evidence rs he can, and asks his
member Of Congress 10 introduce q
bill to get him "a pension. The bin is
passed. II is presented to the Piesi-
dent, and is reported upon. for instance.
that the claim has been investigated
and rejected. Rejected, OF course,
for lack of evidence; and If the
man had had the evidence Is
would not have been necessary for
him to go TO Congress. The President
says There is no evidence that shows
this man entitled to pension, and
therefore he vetoes the bill. ANY man
who has been in the service and real.
~ understands the situation can sec
how utterly impossible il is for that
man to procure the evidence that would
show that he received his disability
during the service.
My observation of old soldiers i
such that | don't believe that any man
ever passed through the shock Of
battle and Of repeated battles
without in q measure injuring his
nervous strength, condition. health, OF
that any man ever campaigned it and
slept on the ground and endured the
exposures that a soldier had to endure
without IFS telling upon his physical
frame. While it may not show itself,
and he may battle against it for a score
of years, at the same time it will tell
and is telling. and that is why So many
of them are unable to support them
selves, and why the Government
ought to take care Of them ! am
one OF those who believe that every
man who served this Government. and
who is now unable to care for himself.
should be cared for by a fair pension. ~
-B0sfOR IufeTCier.