The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1889-09-12
TACTICS FOR THE WINTER.

of important pension legislation by the
coming Congress, the pension-haters are
busily organizing their hostile campaign.
Their tactics for the Winter are now becom-
ing fairly outlined by myterious snowfall
of little "Ieaflets,n which emanate from
source not hard 10 guess. These leaflets,
which appear everywhere, are intended to
prejudice public sentiment against veterans
and pensions, and to furnish country stump
speakers and editors of the County print
ing" with ammunition to fight pension
legislation.
The line of attack is two-fold. The first
is doleful jeremiad over the burdens OF
taxation, which the poor have 10 bear, with
details of the expressions" of the tariff,
and the general insinuatiOn that all this is
due 10 the enormous pension expenditures.
The second is general disparagement of
veterans as class, by dwelling on the great
numbers of deserters, bounty jumpers, con-
scripts, high-priced substitutes, shirks, coffee
boilers, etc, in the Union armies They
would make it appear that MI the good
soldiers, like all the good Indians are dead,
and there survive none but the offsCouring
Of the armies which put down the rebellion.
Take, for illustration, the following doggerei,
which appears ON one of the leaflets, now
being circulated by the million:
M'cARTY's PENSION CLAIM
'Are yer The pinsion-clam agent,
Whose name h down there on the duref
Well. me name sor. is Torrance McCHrty,
An III put me hat doom on the fiure
While tell yez me business Tim Murphy
He's Beghbor OF nloine sor is Tim,
Has just goi his pinsion, an i, sor,
Did the book OF the sweArin' for him.
'Those pinsions are very convanisnt,
An they're aisy 90 git too, yez see,
! So thought that I'd take meself, now,
An have Tim do the swearin' for me.
So many are thrying for pinsions
That Thought that I'D thry IL q whRck,
/ For somehow in leppin' the bounties,
Bedad, sor hurted me back"
The special meanness and malignancy of
this is that il viii be read and believed by
thousands who will not-perhaps cannot
inform themselves as to its entire falseness.
They are led TO believe by it that all man
has 10 do to get handsome sum of money
down, with a comfortable monthly allow
ance for life, is to commit common and
safe act Of perjury, with the help Of q friend
of similar lax conscience. They will not
understand that the truth is, that before q
man can get pension he has to render on
an average more service than was ever be-
fore required Of soldiers in the history of the
age of Eve years while his case was under
examination, during which time he has had
TO furnish more proof than would save his
life if he was on trial for murder. Nor can
they understand that, instead of the average
Union soldier being a bounty Jumper, OF
other disrcputable scalawag, ali the pre-
sumptions are that he was q soldier and 0
man Of the highest class. 1t is undeniabls
that the men who put down the rebellion
were, taken through and through, men o
better character than were ever before as
sembled in an army. The proportion o
shirks and scalawags among them was won
derfully small for, as rule, the best blood
Of the country went into the army, while, a
rule, the scalawags staid at home AND
fought the draft.
The assertion that the sums paid out fo
pension are drawn directly from the pocket
OF the poor. and that the taxes maintained TO
the purpose of paying pensions are no les
false and misleading. AS we have repeated
ly pointed out, and which every thinking
man knows, the tariff and internal revenu,
taxes gre imposed and maintained Withou
any regard 10 the use Of the money for tn
payment of pensions. The use of the none.
for pensions is a mere incident. Were Their
no pension list at all these forms of revenu
would be maintained just the same, and tn
money derived from them be used for som
other National purpose-say for arming on
coast, improving the Mississippi River, O
2 making unnavigable streams navigable.
The comrades now see what we have {
contend with. The only course for them
| 10 meet their enemies upon their own GROUND
and educate the people by the circulation {
literature which tells the exact truth abou
soldiers and pensions. The best way TO d
this is by increasing the circulation of Til
NATIONAL TRIBUNE, until il goes ever,
where that the pernicious influence Of the;
leaflets extends and administers its antido
10 their poison. The NATIONAL TRIBUs
is the only great paper in the country tai
> is devoted TO the championship OF the We
Grams, and it is vitality important that
should be sent everywhere where people a
talking about pensions and veterans. III
best service that any comrade can do hin
self and the comrades generally is TO lab
70 increase the subscription list of the pap
and extend its influence TO the utmo
Every week from now until the adjour
ment Of the coming Congress should 6