The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1891-07-29


An article Of unusual importance appeared
In the last number OF the North American ne
view by Green b. Raum on the pension sys-
tenn Of the United States. As General Rsum
Is the Commissioner of Pensions It may be
taken for granted that he writes with tnor-
ough practical knowledge OF MS SUBJECT.
Some facts which he mentions have special
significance as throwing light upon the reia-
tive strength of the Federal and Confederate
forces during the late war.
The Commissioner estimates that the total
payments on account of pensions for the year
ending July list will amount to ZIG. 900; for
the year ending 1892. s127. $40, 1889, and That
in 1898, which he anticipates as the maximum
year, si50, 00O, 900 will be absorbed by the pen
sion list. The latter sum is considered by
many who have the same opportunity OF
reaching an accurate conclusion as General
Raum to be short Of what will DO really need
ed by at least fifty millions.
This enormous amount Of money, il should
be remembered. is to be paid out under the
terms Of the recent Disability Pension act,
which added the names of all disabled veter-
ans to the pension rolls. whether disabled IN
the war or by diseases incurred since, and I'M
der the terms of the laws which were IN oper-
alton before the passage of that act. Inc
next step will be to pass Service-Pennon
bill. which will make every soldier who served
in the Federal army beneficiary OF the Ma
tional Treasury.
1t in this connection that the Commls-
sioner makes a statement-a statement when
is confirmed by actual records-which shows
how lust has been the declaration OF the
South that her armies were overwhelmed by
forces out Of all numerical proportion to those
which she was able to muster in the field.
1T is estimated" remarks General Raum,
that POS. 7O7 soldiers of the Union are now
living, and that t,O0iG 5s soldiers were killed
in battle and died during and since the war.
OF these survivors. 1896 are now on tho
pension rolls, and 40. 522 widows and depen-
dents are on the rolls. SO it appears that
7S0, 45l survivors are not pensioned, and
sS4, 1876 deceased soldiers are not now repre-
sented on the pension rolls"
In other words the rolls Of the Union army
reveal that the Federal forces during the war
numbered not less than 2.213, S65 This, as
we have seen. is admitted by General Raum,
who. as the Commissioner of Pensions, has
probably more occasion than any man in the
United States to acquire an accurate know
ledge Of the full number Of those who, under
the different laws now in operation OF justly
anticipated 10 be soon in operation, are emit
tied TO the assistance of the Government as
former soldiers in the Union armies.
General Raum boasts that the pension lists
will half century hence be regarded as
ancestral rolls of honor by those who shall
have been descended from Union soldiers,
but there is another light in which these lists
will he considered, light not quite so agree
able to the Commissioner, namely as irrefut-
able evidence Of the vastness of the armed
force which the North employed to conquer
the South, a result which it only accom-
plished in spite of the enormous advantages
in its favor, after q four years struggle. and
the expenditure of treasure that amounted TO
one-tenth of the then assessed wealth of the
United States.
1t was against this host. which outnum-
bered the invading bordes Of Xer1es, that the
Southern armies, so small in numerical force
and always straitened for supplies and
equipments, contended for so great time and
to which they only yielded after prolonged
subsection to the process Of attrtion. The
Southern armies could not be conquered.
They could only be slowly annihilated, like
the granite rocks that receive the terrible i'm
pact of the flood of Niagara as it falls from
the brink of the precipice to the level below.