The National tribune., 1890-12-04

~ AAst1ANoAe EAAL llAAbA-keF
The Ottawa (ll.) Free Trader turns in lie
little rill Of lies to swell the river Of false
hood on the pension question. 1t says:
The New York Herald contains paper by an eE-
pert ut Washington giving facts and figures that
viii siarle the country. Already, in less than four
months, 100000 pensions have been allowed under
this bi at an annual cost OF SIS OOoG1O There are
100000 more on file not yet acted upon, and nt the
rate they are coming In it is certain that in the end
there viii be 1900 GOO pensions TO grant under this
bill, raising the annual amount needed for pensions
Of an kinds to the neiEhborhood Of S3Uo00O0
This is twice as much as either Germany, Russia
or Great Britain cNpend 10 support their armies
and nayies aud 10 pay all their pensions besides.
In the FIRST place, there has moi been 22O,-
0OO or one-tenth that number Of claims
allowed under the new law, which has not
yet gotten fairly into operation. We only
wish that we could inform our readers that
half that many had been allowed and half
Of S25000,0OO was in the pockets Of the men
to whom it rightfully belongs.
The Herald certainly knows that it lies
egregiously when ii says the allowances have
reached that figure. The Free Trader, on
the other hand is too ignorant to know that
itsstatementis tremendously false, and there
fore is less blameable than the Herald, which
utters outrageous untruths with malice pre-
pense and alorethought
But surprising that there have been
100000 pensioners put on the rolls at an
aggregate cost Of S25,OOO,0OO. That would
be about IS a month for each Of them. Not
an extrayagant amount TO pay during the
last few years Of their lives to men who
gave an average Of three years Of the most
tremendous service that country ever
exacted Of soldiers. Each Of those men sac
rifced, in order to fight for his country, an
average Of 1000 in wages that he would
have received-over and above all his pay
and allowances in the srmy-if he had staid
at home and worked at his trade. That is,
the 100000 actually gave the country $780,
100000 for the privilege Of risking their
health and lives in aiding to save il from
destruction.
Now, let us contrast this with another
item in the Governments expenses. The
little clique Of money-Ienders for whom the
Herald speaks, received last year an abso-
lutte bonus from the Government Of $780,
304, pa OUcr and aJoUs their principal
nd iHtereS, This was in effect a bride 10
get them TO release their hold on the Trea-
sury, on which they have been battening for
the past % years. Here in one lump was
given TO men who have been paid over and
over al they lent TO the Government
gratuity sufficient to put more than 100000
veterans on the rolls at s. a month.
Neither the Herald nor the Tree Trader have
q word to say against thus siuhing the al
ready-gOrged pockets Of the money-lenders.
Ii is only when a few dollars stray into the
crippled hands Of old soldiers that their
shrieks resound.
Then take the statement that the pension
disbursements will soon amount 10 $780,
100000. We sincerely wish that the Free
Irada were not SO utterly Enthusiastically,
50 that there could be some ground for such
apredictiOn. That would give every living
soldier ABOUT $500 year, which would be
much nearer justice than We hope for in our
most sanguine momants.
The remark that this is twice as much rs
either Great Britain, Germany OF Russia
spends on their armies, nayies and pension
systems, is simply another illustration of
the Free Traders wanton ignorance Of the
subject The Official budgets Of those coun.
tries for last year gave the following figures
as TO disbursements:
Great Britain:
army ts5e5Gi)