The National tribune., 1889-07-25
a nIsTRrssED NuGwuNrp.

1
and cries aloud, and refuses to be comforted.
1t says in regard TO the plank:
II means putting upon the pension rolls the
names Of all who served In the army and navy
during the war and were honorably discharged,
without regard TO any sort of disability or any
need OF assistance from the Government.
Suppose that it does. This has been the
settled policy of the Government ever since
its formation. The survivors of the RevO-
lutionary War, the war of 1912, and the
war with Mexico were all, with their widows,
put on the pension-roll at So a month.
They did not average one-tenth the service
rendered by the average soldier during the
war of the rebellion.
Says the Times:
II means the disbursement among this favored
class OF citizens Of much moro than onehalf of all
| the revenues drawn from the people by the power
OF taxation. II means not only the disposition OF
such surplus the existing revenue laws might
produce in lRrgess TO the veterans OF the war, but
n large increase of the present taxes 60 meet the
enormous requirements OF such policy.
1t means nothing of the kind. The rev.
enues, as they are at present, are ample to
meet the disbursements of such law, and
il will be the most equitable way of return
ing the surplus 10 the people. 1t is exceed
ingly desirable, for commercial and indus
trial reasons, that our revenue system should
stand just as it is, so as to give every i'm
portant interest the protection it now re-
ceives. No country was ever in so favorable
a position to do justice to its soldiers as this
is, and it will be national crime if it does
not improve the opportunity.
II has been our boast that the flower OF our ciii
zenshp was enlisted in the defense Of the Union
from motives Of unselish patriotism and that when
the need for their services over they returned
i to the pursuits of peace and took their places In
/ the civic ranks without claiming other reward
than q sense of duty done and the good opinion Of
their felIow-citizens
The men who fought through the previ-
Gus wars Of the country have been held up
to our gaze as models of the highest and
most unsel6sh patriotism. Yet they were
all pensioned at rate which, considering
the relative value of money, was higher than
it is proposed 10 give the veterans of the re-
bellion.
They did return to the pursuits Of peace, and
| have followed them with more than the average
measure Of success. They have been generally
favored in public and private employment. aud
they are to-day in every way as well of. as well
provided for. men of the same capacity whose
! service In that of sustaining the indus
tries aud resources Of the country at home.
If they have been favored in public en-
ployment it has been against the bitter
opposition Of such papers as the Times, which
has fought every law or regulation intended
to confer preference on them, and has, rs a
rule, bitterly opposed soldier candidates for
Office.
Those who were disabled by injuries received in
the service or due 90 the service. whose capacity
for self-support was impaired have been gener-
ously dealt with, as was right and proper.
Generously dealt with is good, very
good. one-tenth the entire number Of PEN
siOners on the roll get but So monitor g.
cents q day or lees; one-third the entire
/
less; one-half the entire number get but Sc
a month-2o cents day or less, and two
thirds of all get s. montb-2G2 cents day
or less. And they have had TO wait, strug-
gle and importune for these beggarly allow
ances all the way from one to q years, the
average being over five years. Yet, accord
ing to the Tmes, "they have been gener-
ously dealt with"
Why should those who suffered no disadvantage
In the race Of life, who rather acquired adyan-
tages from their service 10 the country, be now
put la the position Of recipients Of bounty from
sber fellow-citizens who are no better of than
they7 Some Of them rich, many Of them are
prosperous all Of them well able to take care
81 themselves any equal number Of citizens Of
the land. What justification can the Government
have for bestosing upon them large portion Of
the public revenues drawn from the people by taxa
ton? IL il "A prepOsterous policy which the sol
dieTs and sailors Of the Union who are really pat
roiic aud seifEcspecsiug. ought TO be the frat 10
repudiale aud the most earnest Ia repudRtlng.
The hypocrisy of the Times is shown in
this. When we proposed a bill which would
begin by pensioning only those who were in
need, it was loud in its denunciations of a
measure which would "affix the stigma Of
pauperism upon all who received its bene-
fits" and which it, with President Cleye-
land, asserted, would be a measure for the
encouragement Of perjury" since so many
well-to-do veterans would swear they were
in need in order TO get the S. Eonth.
The politicians who make this sordid bid for III.
soldier vote" and who at the time use liI
policy Of generosity as q disguise under which e
maintain system Of taxation for the profit of the
few at the expense Of the many. appear TO ASSUME,
that the Government has unlimited pecunlary nc
sources Of is own upon which II may draw at will
But IL has resources Of IFS own. What IL mus
necessarily draw upon Ii The resources of the peo
pie. Every dollar that goes into its Treasury mus
Of necessity come from the product Of the people
; / labor. and to bestow hundred millions more ii
| pensions IL simply 10 take that hundred million
from Tie producers Of tile country and bestoy
upon favored class. IL would take IL largely from
extent upon the rich.
This isdemagogery pure and simple TIL
revenues Of the Government, as arranged a
present, are not a burden upon the people
industries, bat an encouragement of then
Were the whole system abolished, the peopI