The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1892-01-14


Britain pays G5,4O,s22- S27 ,O54, 1l0-a
year for pensions, he did not accompany
this, as he should, with comparison of the
fighting done by the recipients Of those
pensions, and that done by the recipients Of
the $50 pa, 200, which is the annual value
Of our pension roll. 1t will be seen at once
that Great Britain is paying nearly one
third-almOst exactly 3Oper cent.-as much.
Our pension roll has on it all the widows
Of those who served in the war of 1912.
Under the laws as they then stood, any
young women who married a soldier Of that
war in his old age received pension after his
DEATH and as long as she lived. There are
now $50 Of these widows on the roll, and
2si veterans. They received last year
H,l24030 The pensions ior services in
the wars Of the lS12-I5 period play scarcely
any figure at all in British expenditures.
Since that time the United States has
been ut war as often as Great Britain, if we
count our Indian struggles, which have
been as destructive of life as the collisions
which England has had with small coun-
tries and more or less barbarous peoples.
The Seminole war cost US more lives and
mora fraoSura shan 49, -c,,-s ,r;tb AFyb,p-
istan, Abyssinia Egypt and the Booers. The
Mexican war was about the size of her Cri-
mean war We are paying to the partici-
pants in this and their widows 50 247 ,972
year
This leaves usp paying about Ss5,OOO,0OO a
year-nOt three times MS much as Great
Britains pension roll-to the survivors of
an army land their widows which was more
than 10 times as great as the British army
ever has been, and which in this generation
has fought more bloody battles and lost more
men killed on the field OF battle than England
has fought or lost in the 500 years that she
has been a nation! In other words, as a
just comparison Of pension rolls should be
with the amount of fighting and hard serv-
ice that the pensioners represent, it would be
more proper to compare our pension expen-
ditures since the close OF the war with all
that England has paid out since the battle
Of Hastings, FOR the sufficient reason that in
four years we pat more men in front OF the
enemy than she has done altogether since
the days Of William the Conqueror, and they
fought more great battles and left more of
their dead on the Geld than all the English
armies that ever were mustered Thisstate-
ment seems eXtravagant, but we confidently
challenge Gen. slocum or any other assailant
Of the pension system TO disproye it.
Next, let US take German expenditures
in comparison Last year Germany paid ont
for pensions 63,79G .456 marks, equal to
Sl5,ls4,l5G OF our money. This little over
one-sixth Of the annual value Of our pension
roll. As we have repeatedly pointed out,
this sum represents but a fraction Of what
the Nation does for its veterans. The pen
sion roll is lightened at the expense of the
civil list, and instead Of pensions veterans
and their widows are given employment
under the Government in positions suited
to their disability. Taking this fact into
consideration with the amount paid TO those
who are totally untitled for any labor, it
will be found that Germany really paws
more pensions than we do Now let us
compare the fighting done 10y these pension
ers. In this generation Germany has had
three wars-in 1864, a brief struggle with
Denmark, whose little army was speedily
overwhelmed by the united forces Of Prus-
STA and Austria; in 1866, six weeks cam
paign against Austria who was utterly de-
feated in n single battle Sad0wa; and in
1870, II, a tremendous struggle with France
which began on the 18th Of July, 1870, and
virtually ended by the capitulation Of Paris,
Jan. %, ISL. In this war Of six months
duration Germany put in the field about
100000 men, nearly the number we had
under arms in 1864 The Royal statistician
Of Germany reports the losses during the
war 10 have been:
U-Hr.E
'''.''''''''''.' '.''-''..... l7.572
Wounded or 49,