The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-12-10

borne upon the rolls of the Union army
whether he today is sick or well, self-sup-
porting or INDECENT. A general service
pension bill of this indiscriminating char
acter would be equivalent to asking con-
gress to enact extortion and extravaganza.
Everybody knows that out of the :, 250,-
900 to $500, 600 men whose names, from first
TO last were borne on the roll of the Union
army there were at least million Of
men who were obtained when volunteer
ing ceased, the draft became necessary,
and the evil days of substitutes, great
bounties, bounty jumpers, desertion
and re-enlistments were upon US.
OF this million of mercenaries
thousands did gallant service, but there
were also thousands who were skulks on
the battlefield, hospital shirks, deserters.
fellows who came into the Union army for
nothing but bounties. pay and rations;
the viIest scoundrels and scrapings of
great cities. These creatures suffered no
hardship or peril they could escape; they
came into the army too late for the fight
ing of 1863 at Gettysburg at the East or
are that having escaped the three years of
service from May, 1861, to May, 1864. their
ranks are fuller today thanSthe ranks of
the million of men that the government
obtained by volunteering before the draft
and big bounties became necessary to get
men. Under o Service pension every man
of these sceundreis and deadbeats would
become a life charge upon the govern
ment. The government today is obliged
to care for them when they are incapable
of self-support by manual labor, but the
prospect of a service pension to men who
never rendered any service they could
evade or desert is intolerabie.
A service pension to surviving veterans
entirely capable of self-support would be
an unjust burden upon the Woodworking
labor of the country. The nation has
done more than stern justice already; it
has been generous, and it is time to call a
halt on pensions. Nearly generation
has passed away since the war. The PEN
sions charge per capita in 1871 was 81
cents; in 1889, S1.4. In 1871 the pensions
came to $34, 443, s94: in 1891 the pensions
amounted to $106, 493 900; and the total
pensions for the year ending July 1, 1892,
are estimated by Commissioner Raum at
SIG, 100000, or 50, 900 900 less than the con-
gressional estimate and appropriation.
The pension bill for 1898, it is estimated,
will not reach $685. 900, and from that
time forward the commissioner estimates
there will be a reduction In the ex-
penditure for pensions, but this pre-
diction of Commissioner Raum can
not possibly be verified if We
repeat the legislation, whose bad precedent
was established when Democratic con-
gress enacted the Mexican war service
bill, thousands of whose beneficiaries
never saw Mexico and thousands of Others
are possessed of competence.
A service pension would be a most in
tolerable act of unjust legislation; its
enactment will be impossible, we believe,
and ought to command the inflexible oppo-
sition of every thoughtful, patriotic
veteran in the land. These are the views
of the wisest and most sagacious chiefs
of the G.. A. r. as we find them publicly
and privately expressed.