Nevada County picayune., 1889-07-31
GRAND ARMY REPUBLIC.

G. A. R., it is evident now to every | unprejudiced mind, that the organl- zation has sunk to the level of politics and plunder; and that it has become so identified with the Republican party in its zeal for office and pen sions, that all true Democrats, who are seeking by Legitimate methods to promote the common good of the country, should sever their connec- ton with it. and dcnounce it's dan gerous. assumptions and sectional methods,
 One of their claims is that, other things being equal, the veterans of the army and navy are entitled to the preference in the distribution of public offices; and that service in behalf of the Union during the late war is alone sufficient to constitute just claim for pension rewards, with out reference to any disabilities incurred in such service, These claims, it is hardly necessary to state. are unreasonable and arrogant in their very nature, and if carried out would result i'll bankrupting the treasury, or precipitating a crisis in our financial affairs.
 Already the amount paid out yearly for pensions has reached the enormous sum of nearly hundred millions of dollars, and if this claim is allowed it will amount up to two hundred millions, a sum sufficient to pay the ordinary expenses Of our government nearly two years. And when it is remembered that this enor- nous sum of money is drawn largely out of the poor and laboring classes, the injustice and oppression of such q policy is manifest at a glance.
 Such an army of mendicants and bencficiaries of public charity, many of whom are better able to support themselves than most of those who pay the tax, would not only deplete the national treasury and prostrate our national credit, but they would have a powerful tendency to demor- alize public sentiment by putting a premium on idleness and encouraging and developing spirit of depend ence and vagabondage. Experience, too, has demonstrated that secret political societies are revolutionary ill their tendencies, and sUbversive of the principles of true liberty and constitutional government. The his- tory of the Jacobins in France in l792. with the disastrous revolution that was the logical outcome of their intrigues, furnishes an instructive illustration of the evils of secret political organizations.
 The object of the G A. k. may have been commendable and praise worthy at the outset, but like all other secret political societies, with the accession of numbers, influence and power, they manifest an arrogant and dictatorial spirit which is impa- tient of restraint and incensed at opposition. Witness their threats to boycott the Western railroads be- cause their demand for low excursion rates to the National Encampment at Milwaukee has been refused. They seem to think that It is the acme of presumption to throw any obstacles in the way of accomplishing their selfish scheme, and vainly imagine that they have the monopoly of pa triotism and liberty. With pharasa- ical contempt and sublime egotism, they thrust aside all opponents, and dictate to the country their imperious and eXacting demands. But the role of dictator and beggar does not har- monize well, in the estimation of right-thinking people, and it is hoped that their pretensions and eXactons will meet and receive that rebuke and repudation at the hands of the people of which they are so justly deserving,