Telegram-herald., 1890-05-02
WIDOWS PENSIONS.
~GHs w.rWia0w Has ~ SAP oE ths
Great SutgecI

For long time I have been ponder
ing over subject that sorels pazzles
ne snd have concluded 70 asa YOU 81
allow ule space Ia your paper ~ bring
nay thoughts before tae Public.
md th@t ideas and opinions are Of
but Atue use x uaexpressed' therefore,
10 accomplish anything. one must
AZ late tie pubiic nl.ud. TIE subject j
have in mln q ls that ~ pensions.
! wonder i any one else even felt the
uJlsDcr Of oar FTeseat pensl0n Ave ~
do, and Il - Tor toe purpose oi eK-
change Of thought that 1 a. the. ]
wlsh 10 oung up TIE subject for discus
sion.
] have, within toe last few years
known Of - many widows receiving
pensions Tor themselves and mlnoI
children, wulle durng the same TINE j
have seen tie white-haired wives oi
"Old veterans dying ia want and
misery, that ! can no longer be silelt.
it Was 4 long time before could under
stand what Was meant by minor chll-
dren. That did not seem strange
fifteen or twenty years ago, but Of late
years have wondered how a child
whose father wac a soldier nearly thirty
years ago, could b minor.
Upon inquiry / learned that these
widows were mostly women who Were
married many years after the war was
over. These women and their children
could not have known any
thing of the hardshlps OF the war; and
yet, when tue husband and father cles,
worn out, perhaps. IN hls struggle 10
maintain al eXrayagant family, that
family draws pension sufficient 10
give them 4 comfortable living
On the other hand, there are women
! whose husbands served faithfully for
three or four years, VINO were left Al
home with large families % provide for
on the scanty wages Of a soldier, who,
AT the time of hls enlistment. was re-
celvlng from two 20 three dollars per
day. These women had a fearful
struggle. Many of them were living IN
rented houses; provisions were sold 81
| fabulous prices; while women's wages
were miserable plttance on account
| of the scarcity OF work and the many
| hands waiting for IL. THIS lack OF en-
ployment was felt most in the cities
| from which 60 many men were taken
| and so many women were thus left un-
! employed.
On the farm this was reversed and
the hardships were of different
nature. There, the absence of father
and brothers threw the burden of farm
labor upon the shoulders Of mothers
and sisters who, consequently, were
overworked. They had 20 work IN the
| fields 20 raise grain with which 10 buy
necessarles for the family.
A bushel of wheat, IN those days,
| brought from TO three dollars per
| bushel, while a pound of tea OF grade
| that before the war cost fifty cents, and
can be bought for that now, cost two
dollars.
Prints sold at forty 10 fifty cents per
yard, while PLAIN cambric ran all the
way from fifty cents TO one dollar.
| Every thing else was IN like proportion.
This gives some idea OF what the "war
| widows had 10 endure, besides the aw-
| ful snxieties of the times.
After all tins, If the husbadd, the
hero. perhaps, h an hundred battles,
managed TO reach home, even though
broken down IN health and unable 70
| perform half the labor or 10 earn half
| his former wages, still keeping up by
reason OF an iron constitution, and so
| dragging on 10 old age, Is unable %
| show wounds, received IN line OF duty,
| he receives no pension; and, beng un-
able 10 secure the veriest ncce ssarIcs OF
| life, he may see the long suffering wife
| fade and die before hls eyes, suffering
| for the little dehcAcics 20 necessary for
an inyail because he has no means %
| procure them.
Even "the Soldiers Home" which
Michigan mas 30 kindly provided for
the old veterans, has proved a curse TO
many OF the wives; throwing them
| back, in their helpless Old age, into the
old condition of "war-widowhood."
There - still another class OF widows
that should mention. ] mean those
whose husbands were actually killed ,
and who, after some years Of struggle
10 support themselves and fatberiess
children, have married again N the
hope OF bettcring their condition. Many
OF these have, like other women.
! chanced 10 marry worthless husbands.
or those whose failing health leaves the
wife without proper support. However
! great their need or worth, these women
cannot look 10 the Government for
help.
Now, ! ask, is this fair Isit just that
| these younger women, who endured
| none of the hsrGships OF the WAT, and
who are, many OF them, strong and
well and able 10 support themselves,
should receive this aid, while other
widows and Old soldiers wives, the real
1 war widows, arc unpTOvlded fOTf