The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1889-11-07
IseL,s AND SINCE.


In 1866 the vital need of the country
was-AEN. Money, rations, munitions of
war, etc, were reasonably abundant, or could
be procured by stimulating the productive
power Of the land. Not so with men who
had the courage, patriotism and unselfsh- |
ness TO sacrifice themselves for the salvation
Of the country.
Our presses would print money in any
quantity, our bOundless acres would furnish
food, and our busy factories wonld produce
military supplies TO any amount But high
spirited young men who loved the country
better than home, wealth, and even life, were
the gifts OF God. They were at n premium.
Their value was literally above rubies. The
whole people rose up and called blessed
the gallant sons who interposed their manly
breasts between them and destruction.
So long as the emergency was at hand
50 long as Lees army was on the Susque
hanna, and Braggsw was threatening the loyal
West with invasion and spoliation. then
men-fghting self-sacrifcing men-were
the first in the public mind The voice of
the money-lender was not heard, the selfish
clamor of the sellers of clothing, mules,
powder, lead, pork and bareback was not re-
garded.
But the day that the emergency passed,
the moment that the last rebel grounded
his reeking arms, then the money-lender,
the shoddy contractor, the selfish trafIicker
in the Nations necessities slept 10 the front
and interposed himself between the Nations
view and its real sayiors. He has kept
himself there ever since. His due-bilI be-
came much bigger object in the. foreground
than a shot-tOrn battlehag. Each of his
couponned bonds hid from sight whole
regiments Of manned and disabled veterans.
For q years now his bulky form has obscured
every glimpse that Congress has had of
the millions Of veterans who care the country
infinitely more than he Tent. Where he has
been given money by the double handful,
slender pittances have been doled out, be-
tween pinching thumb and foreGnger, TO
/ them.
The comrades have endured this cruelty
unjust discrimination against them with
amazing patience. For years they felt that
the same patriotic spirit which took them
to the battle frontdemanded that they should
| bear their hurts and disabilities in silence,
while they labored TO pay heavy taxes to
discharge the Nations liabilities 10 the
money-lenders 10 the uttermost farthing.
They have waited and paid taxes uncomplain-
ingly all these years, while the cream Of the
Nations revenues was skinned off and given
the men who only lent deprecated dollars
and but seant portion of the thin remainder
was dOled out 10 those who gave what was
far beyond buying with any amount Of
money.
Now that the bondholders have beer
gorged 10 repletion, the veterans ask Of Con
gress that the mere money-lenders be re
moved for a time from the foreground-tha
} they be retired to the rear, TO digest in til,
tOIpor Of surfeit their gluttonous feast, and
} that the veterans be given an opportunity
at the Nations bountiful table
They ask that, for brief period at least
the 51st Congress give the soldiers that pri
: ority of consideration that was accorded
them in 1876. when they held the fate o
the Nation on their bayonets, and every hop
of the sOrely-distrest people rested On thei
unquailing hearts. They ask that the 51s
Congress begin ifs career by this act of just
: ice; that it listen first of all TO the men VIII
saved the Union at such terrible cost 3
e themselves. The bondholders, the money
, makers have had the first, last and Ionges
a hearing in every Congress since the war; ]
is not asking much of Congress that once il
r a quarter Of century il listen first to tn
veterans of the great war, especially sine