Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-05-14
A BUMPTIOUS TANNER.

A BUMPTIOUS TANNER.
 The aphorism that a little power is a dangerous thing seems to be exemplify- l ing itself in the case of Corporal Tanner, President Harrisons commissioner of pensions. From the first day that this tbumptious individual was inducted into office he has been overturning prece- dents, reversing rulings, setting up new l opinions, passing new judgments, and ! altogether conducting himself as though 1 his one mission in life was to get rid of | the treasury surplus and scatter it's hun dred and more millions among the old soldiers, their sisters and cousins and aunts. If the corporal keeps on at his present rate of progress he is very likely 1 soon to get in over his head, when he may
 have to be fished out by some of the more | prominent men of his party.
 1 There is no disposition, we believe
 among men of any political party in this
 country to deprive the old soldiers of the
 full need of pension money that grate-
 full country is willing to grant them. ] Neither, so far as we have been able to l perceive, is there any desire to inaugu-
 rate policy that might entail the small
 est amount of hardship or suffering on
 the part of any single individual who wore the blue. President Cleveland and
 the democratic party proved themselves 1 earnest and conscientious friends of the disabled veterans, but they recognized that the payment of pensions was reg
 ulated by certain laws and that the leg islative power of the nation was the de- termining voice in that regard. They re- coganized, too, that the national surplus was not the exclusive property of the pensioned soldiers, that the taxpay CTS
 who uncomplainingly provided the
 means of paying pensions had some claim
 to it, and that it was neither practicable
 nor advisable to turn over all the sur
 plus revenues of the government to the
 pension agents and sharks who in the
 name of the old soldiers are ever hover
 ing around to devour 1t. And the most
 intelligent sentiment of the nation, the
 self-respecting veterans themselves who
 would scorn to pose as men who are
 
 thinking portion of the Grand Army of the Republic are and have been ready to
 admit that President Cleveland and the
 democratic party were right. They are not yet prepared to believe, and we
 think they are not yet ready to desire, that the people of this country, the
 working people many of whom can
 hardly keep body and soul together,
 should be everlastingly taxed in order that the surplus revenues may be squan- dered among pension attorneys, pension
 agents and constituencies sharks who in
 the name of the old soldiers have already
 forced up the annual outlay for pensions to close on a hundred million dollars a year. It is preposterous toimagine that
 self-respecting veterans believe that their services in the war entitled them to the earth and the fullness thereof, or that because of the uniform they wore they , should be allowed to take all the surplus that accrues from the over r-taXation of
 the people. We have faith that the men
 who wore the blue are made of better : stuff.
 It may not be impertinent, therefore, to question the right of Corporal Tanner
 to squander the treasury surplus in pen sions that are not now provided by law ) as he announced his intention of doing in a speech delivered last week ''by vir
 tue of the power in his finger tips" It may not be regarded an affront to the } old soldier to ask by what authority Cor poral Tanner proposes to set himself up } as the judge of the expediency of in } creasiHg the annual outlay for pensions by mcny millions of dollars. It may 3 not be assuming too much to remind Cor r poral Tanner that it rests not with him alone nor the power in his finger tips r to determine whether the people of this s country shall be taxed fifty million dol = lars or more a year for pensions. This 9 seems to be the position taken by Cor r poral Tanner; but, unless he is altogether f mistaken in regard to the prerogatives of , his office, which it may easily be believed
 he is, this position is more autocratic and hence dangerous, than that held by s any official in any constitutional govern v ment. This country has not yet reached point where Corporal Tanner or any one man can set himself up to usnrp the powers that belong to congress, and ta l it alone of determining the amount and ] the conditions that shall regulate the payment of pensions.
 Corporal Tanner is riding altogether too high horse. He had better come 3 down before he falls and breaks his neck.