The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1889-07-19
A PENSION BURLEsQUE.

The following from the Philadel-
phia Evening Bulletin, one of the
staunchest Republican papers of that
city, quite clearly indicates that the
Tanner pension policy is not approved
of by some who assisted in electlng
Harrison:
The Ohio republicans in their plat
form have declared in favor of granting
q pension to every honorably 'discharg-
ed Union soldier aud sailor in the War
of the Rebellion, and this is a part of
their declaration of principles, to
which objection will be made by
many good Republicans. Its.meaning
is that everybody who served in the
Union ranks, no matter whether he
ever received q scratch in the war, and
no matter how little he may need the
bounty of the government, shall have
pension. To carry out such apropo-
sition as this would be to exceed any
thing in the way of giving pensions
that has ever been done or even con-
templated by any other government in
the history of the world. 1t is well
known that the present Pension Com
missioner ia in favor of issuing PEN
sion to everybody who has ever had any
connection, however slight, with the
Union Army in the War of the Rebel
lion and of raising to the highest figure
possible the pensions of those who are
now on the list Instead OF making an
attempt to decrease these payments, his
object is TO make them as large as the
condition of the Treasury and the gen
erosity of the people will admit. There
is apparently no undertaking which, in
the judgment of Commissioner Tanner,
is 80 laudable on the part of govern
ment as the pensioning of its people, and
the bigger its pension rolls the greater,
in his opinion, are the proofs of its
wealth and goodness. There is no de-
serving survivor of the Union Army
who, if he stands in need of help by
reason of the disabilities which he may
have contracted in the service of his
country, will not have the sympathy Of
the Republican party in asking for
help from the government which he
helped to save. But when we are seri-
ously told that this help ought to be
extended to tens of thousands of men
who are in no need of support, and
who never thought of asking for it, it
is time that halt was called on the
thoughtless zeal of those who assume
to be friends of the soldiers. Such a
policy would mean the expenditure of
not less than $l00,000,000 a year in
addition to the disbursements which
the government now makes, and 1t
would be the fruitful parent of ex-
travaganoe and jobbery. There is no
just excuse for such a proposition.
The soldiers as class are not asking for
it, and the principles OF the Republican
party do not encourage the idea. 1t
has been contended that no easier
method could be devised of getting rid
of the surplus in the Treasury, and
this is doubtless true. But there are
more useful if not quite 80 easy meth
ods of relieving ourselves OF this pie
thora of the national income, and they
are TO be found in the construction of
a navy and in the Notifications of our
coasts. To squander it in pension
money simply for the sake of getting
rid of it is a suggestion which is not
only unrepublican in spirit but un-
statesmaDlike iu practice, On the
contrary, the time has come when we
should begin TO think of drawing the
line on pensions rather than in extend
ing them, aud this fact will be reoog-
nized by those soldiers who believe
that pension should be mark of
honor, distinction and reward, and not
a gift showered indiscrimlnately upon
all persons who ever wore the Federal
uniform.