The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1890-11-06
THE EQUALIZATION OF DoUNrIEs.


made OF the Governments course in failing
to equalize the bounties. 1t was an act of
chicanery, the like of which would blast any
business mans reputation for honesty and
fair dealing. 1t simply took, and still con-
tinues TO take, a mean advantage of men who
had generously given it everything. In the
first two years and more of the war it offered
all men who should enlist for three years
bounty of 800 This amount, like the pay,
played no part in inducing men to enlist.
There was no man fit TO be n soldier who
could not have made the 500 in a very short
time, working at almost anything, Mt the
high wages which prevailed. To say that
he would go and enlist in the army for
three years 10 get what he could have made
| in four or five weeks working as n carpenter,
or bricklayer, or blacksmith was in the high
est degree absurd. Under the calls in 1861,
1862 and the first half of 1868, total of
| 1,O79,333 men enlisted for three years. or
more than one half of the total number who
entered the army. As soon as the Govern
ment had these men il began to play fast
and loose with its promise to pay them 500
bounty. 1t decided that man must serve
! fully two years unless he was discharged
for rounds before he should be entitled to
the bounty, and If he was discharged for any
other cause prior TO that time he was not en-
titled to any part of it This was n case of
sharp practice and nothing else. The sol
dier who was discharged for disease con-
tracted in line of duty was equally entitled
with the soldier who was wounded and
neither OF them had any voice in their dis
charge. The Government arbitrarily can
celled their contract through no fault of
theirs. Nothing had been said in the original
agreement about the two years service. Men
| did not stop then to chatter and drive exact
bargains. If they thought at all about the
bounty and pay, they relied on the Govern
ments good faith in the matter as the
Government relied on their patriotism and
fortitude. Such bad faith as denying bis
hard-earned bounty TO n man who had been
broken down, as hundred of thousands were,
after year or more of stupendous hardships,
was not dreamed Of Another mean feature
was the denial of their bounty to men who
had been such excellent soldiers Us to win
commissions. In effect the Government
fined these men 800 for having been so
brave and faithful.
Then came the next fragrant injustice In
1868 the Government was hardly pressed for
soldiers. The more than one million stall
wart young men who had gone to the front
in the preceding two years were an enor-
nous draft upon the fighting force of 90
100000 of people The wages of those who
had stayed at home had been doubled and
trebled. The Government felt that the
bounty had now to be made something OF
an inducement 1t must be something that
the young married men and those who had
parents and other dependent relatives could
leave behind to provide for their loved ones.
So it made the bounty s3O2 The commonest
deceDcy would have dictated that the men
who had been in the field for two years and
over, who had borne the heat and burden Of
/ he - n rfn had u.
Gettysburg, and from Shiloh to Chicka-
manga, should at least be put on an equality
with these later recruits. But nothing of
the kind. Again there was in effect a fine
Of $500 upon them for being SO ready to re-
spond 10 the Presidents urgent call for men
TO defend the flag. Years after the war there
was halfhearted show Of repairing this
fagrant injustice by granting an additional
500 TO the earlier volunteers who served
three years, but this still left the more
fortunate Of them 500 worse of than the
men who enlisted two years or more after
they did, and the wrong still remains un-
righted.
10 one denies the wretched injustice OF
this The only excuA for it is the amount
Of money it viii cost to partially right the
wrOng-it never can be fully righted. But
how mean and quibbling this is for a great
Nation. 1t was able to pay four billion
dollars TO men who lent it a few hundred
millions This money was not so much a
debt Of honor as the bounty debt TO the
veterans of 1861, 2, .. The Nation wal
very scrupulous about maintaining its flnan
cial respectability by paying the boudbold
ers far more than they could in fairness ask
but it makes mp for this by availing itself o
: lodges and subterfuges TO avoid paying IL
8 just debts 10 q class Of creditors whose claim
are much more sacred than those of tb,
money-lenders.
THE Silent Army Of Deaf Comrades hay,
) not received the sympathy and consideration
that they deserve. Loss of hearing is ON
Of the sorest Of Affections, cutting man Of
from the pleasures Of social intercourse. ant
I a. -