Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1889-12-13

+ every soldier and sailor who was mus
tered into the service OF the United States
I during the civil war and is now sumer1ng
from wounds or disease, having an origin
in the service and the line of duty. Two
/ of three necessary facts, muster and dis
4 ability are usually susceptible Of easy
] proof, but, the third, origin in the service,
/ Is often difficult and in many deserving
cases, impossible to establish. That very
many of those who endured the hardships
] of our most bloody and arduOus cam
/ paigns are now disabled from diseases
/ that had real, if not traceabIe origin in
/ service, we do not doubt. Besides there is
/ another class, composed of men, many of
/ whom served an enlistment of three full
/ years, and Of re-enlisted veterans who
1 added q fourth year of service, who es-
/ capped the casualties Of battle and the as
saults Of disease, who were in every battle
line of their command and were mustered
out in sound health and have, since the
close OF the war while lighting with. the
same indOmitable and Independent spirit,
the contests of civil life, been overcome
by disease or casualty.
L am not unaware that the pension roll
already involves q very large annual eX-
penditure, neither am I deferred by that
fact from recommending that congress
grant pension to such hOnOrably dis
charged soldiers and sailors of the civil
vice during the war, are now dependent
upon their own labor for maintenance,
and by disease or casualty are incapaci-
tated from earning it. Many OF the men
who would be included in this form of re-.
lief are now dependent upon public aid,
and 1t does not, in my judgment, consist
with the national honor that they shall
continue to subsist on the local relief
given unfortunately to paupers instead
of upon the special and generous pro
vision of the nation they served so gal
lantly and unselfishly. Our people will
I am sure, very generally approve such
legislation and l am equally sure that
the survivors of the union army and navy
will feel a sense of relief when this
worthy and suffering class of their COM
rades is fairly cared for. There are man
ifest inequalities in the existing law that
should be remedfed. To some Of these
the secretary Of the interior has called at
tentiOn.
It is gratifying to be able to state that
by the adoption of new and better meth
DDS in the war department, the calls of the
pension Office for information as to the
military and hospital records of pension
claimants are now promptly answered and
the injurious and vexatiOus delays that
have heretofore occurred are entirely
avoided. This will greatly facilitate the
adjustment Of all pending claims.
THE FOUR NEW STATES.
The advent of four new states, South
Dakota, North Dakota, Montana and
Washington, into the union under the
constitution in the same month, and adj
mission of their duly chosen representa-
tives to our national congress at the same
session is an event as uneXampled as it is
interesting. The specification of their
votes cast and the constitution adopted in
each of the states was filed with me as
required by the eighth section of the act
of February %, 1889, by the governors Of
said territories respectively. Having after
a careful examination found that
the several constitutions and gov
ernments were republican and their
forms not repugnant to the constitution
of the United States; that all the prOVis-
ions of the act of congress had been com
piled with and that a majority of votes
cast in each Of said proposed states was
in favor Of adopting the constitution sub
mitted therein, 1 did so declare by q sep
arate proclamation as to each as to North
Dakota and South Dakota on Saturday,
November 2, as to Montana on Friday,
November g. and as to Washington on
Monday, November II.
Each of these states has within it re-
sources, the development Of which viii
employ the energies Of and yield a COM
Portable subsistence to a great pOpula-
ton. The smallest of these new states,
Washington, stands twelfth, and the Iarg-
est, Montana, third among the fOrty-tWO in
area. The people of these states are al
ready we'll trained, intelligent and patrio-
tic American citizens, having common
interests and sympathies with those Of the
/ older states, and a common purpose to de-
fend the integrity and uphold the
honor Of the nation.
PROTECTION TO RAILROAD employees.
The attention of the interstate COM
merce commission has been called to the
urgent need Of congressional legislation
for the better protection of the lives and
/ limbs of those engaged in operating the
| great lines of the country, and especially
/ of the yardmen and brakemen. A petit
ton, signed by nearly ten thousand rail
| way brakemen, was presented to the com
mission, asking that steps might be taken
/ to bring about the use of automatic brakes
and cOUplers on freight cars.
! 1t a meeting of state railroad commits
/ siOners and their accredited representa-
/ tives held at Washington in March last,
upon the invitation of the interstate com
merce commission, a resolution was unan-
! imOusly adopted urging the commission
/ t'tO consider what can be done to prevent
the loss of life and limb in coupling and
uncoupling freight cars and in handling
the brakes of such cars"
! During the year ending June 80, 1888,
over 1000 railroad employees were killed
/ in service and more than 10000
! injured 1t is competent, I think,
for congress to inquire uniformly
! into the construction of cars
/ used in interstate commerce and the use
of improved safety appliances upen such
trains Time viii be necessary to make
/ the needed changes, but an earnest an in
teIligent beginning should be made at
| once. 1t is a reprOach to our civilization
that any class of American WOrkmen
should in the pursuit Of a necessary and
useful vocation be subjected to a peril of
/ life and limb as great as that Of a solder
in time Of war.