The Washington critic., 1890-04-10
THE NATIONS DISGRACE
VETERANS OF THE WAR INMATES
OF A POORHOusE.

Penniiess and Suffering from Honorable
Wounds Received In the Country's
Service--MIllionss squandered while
Feeble Ola Soldiers All hut starve.
From me CHICAGO Ne,cs.
When the people of Illinois estab-
lished at Quincy the Soldiers and Sail
ors' Home II was for the express pur-
pose Of removing from the poorhouses
of the State all INN ates who had fought
for their country either in the Mexican
war or the war of the rebellion. Illi-
nois is one of the four great "solder
States" The record which its volun-
teers made on the battlefelds Of the
South and in the battles beyond the Rio
Grande is one of which all the people
are proud. 1t is their wish that no sol
dier who is citizen Of this State shall
be compelled TO end his days in poor
house.
The law under which the home for
old soldiers was established at Quincy
says:
"Soldlers who are in the poorhouses of
this State shall be admitted to the home In
the first instance
Well. there are more than fifty Union
soldiers in the Cook county poorhouse
today.
There is no justice in caring for GER
tain INDECENT soldiers and neglecting
others equally worthy whose needs are
Just as urgent. If the Soldiers Home
will not accommodate all such army
veterans let IL be enlarged. This is one
Of the richest States In the Union. 1t
has not dollar of debt. Surely it
can afford to take good care of ali its
Door who have supported the Union on
southern battle-fislds.
But there is another important matter
10 be noted. Some of the soldiers in
the Cook County poorhouse are suffer-
ing from wound received in the war;
yet they draw no pensions. This indi-
Gates that the millions which this nation
pays each year in pensions do not all
go to the most deserving veterans.
Take q few samples from the list:
Oscar Watts, aged 49, enlisted in the
Thirteenth Ohio, Company l, in the spring
of 1861. Served three months and re-en-
listed in the same company. Was dts
charged in 1864 at Columbus, Ohio. Was
wounded in the knee at Franklin, Tenn.
Is unable to work. Left his papers with a
lawyer and has never heard Of them since.
John Pohr, aged 6S; enlisted at Camp
Douglas in March, 1862, in the Sixty-ffth
Illinois Regiment, Company f. Served a
year and three months. Was discharged on
account of loss of an eye. Sent discharge
papers to Washington in 1868; never heard
of them again.
Ephraim Tupicliff; served two years in
tho Army. Ipoe wOunle6 I'm rtrht foot. T.
unable to work. Applied for pension;
no attention paid to the application.
John Scott, aged 81; enlisted at New
York, July o. 1861; served on frigate Poto-
mac two years and six months under Cap
taips Powell and Gibson. Was transferred
to the ship Nightingale, Captain Browner.
Was discharged at Boston, June, 1864
Applied for pension six years ago. but has
heard nothing from Washington.
William Thomas Pope, aged 81; enlisted
February g 1862, in Cincinnati, under Cap
tain Smith and General Warren; received
an honorable discharge November z 1864;
was wounded four times. His papers have
been in Washington since June, $780,
That these men, penniless and suffer
ing from honorable wounds received in
the service of their country, should now
be left to end their days in county
poorhouse is very disgraceful This
disgrace must be wiped out.
Republics are proverbially migrate
full, but it is revelation even to the
most callous to know that not less than
fifty old soldiers are inmates of paupel
asylum in Cook County. How many
more may be ending their days in want
and squalor elsewhere cannot be def.
nitely known, but whatever the mum.
Der, 1t is too great for the honor Of the
Republic.
The pension sharks who think Of
nothing but the rerating of pensioners
already rich should be forced to spend
a few weeks or months in a county
poorhOuse. They might then expert
ence a revulsion of feeling in favor oi
the old soldiers who eat the bitter bread
of charity owing to their country''
neglect
A nation that leaves any Of its
saviors to end their days in the poor
house is mark for the scorn of the
world. Millions of dollars for useles.
public buildings and old soldiers ii
want and wretchedness are incongru
Gus. 1t is national disgrace.
Cook County's poorhouse was no
built to harbor the survivors of the
war of the rebellion. Every pauper'.
grave filled by an old soldier dishonorl
this nation more than Washington
cenotaph can honor it.
Thrice dishonored is the natior
whose debt of gratitude t. its savior
is paid by crowding the weakest to tn,
wall. Neither vice nor shiftlessnes
can dissolve the partnership of deb
between the country and its ole
soldiers.
Shades of Grant, Sheridan an(
Logan Shall the old soldiers, who's
principal vice is feebleness and want
be elbOwed into the ditch, while til,
royal purple Of ease sits lightly upol
the treasury raiders who never smelleC
powder?
a $4,000 Fire.
AT o'clock this morning larg
dredge, the property of Benson IL Nc
Kee, was burned ON the flats at the foo
of Tenth street The Fire Denartmeu