The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1892-10-13
ONE HUNDRED AND FYFTY MIL
LIONS IN PENSIONS.

Just think of it one hundred and
! fifty million dollars paid out in pen
sions annually by the American peo-
pie. Many poor men in this country
were hard pushed Saturday night to
provide for an extra day as Sunday is
to the poor. The cents were counted,
when the sugar, the coffee, the bread
and the meat were purchased, and
the little child at home had to be dis
appointed, father could not afford to
bay the doll. Everything the poor man
wears, every thing his wife cooks for
his meal and serves it to him on, is
taxed, and taxed high in order to pay
this pension, and to whom is it paid?
What percentage of the soldiers that
made up the Union army were men
who went out to fight the
battles of their country animated
by patriotic motives? Thousands
upon thousands of as noble American
citizens as ever drew sword went out
willing to sacrifice themselves, but in
the vast Northern army, Row many
soldiers were there who were pur-
chased substitutes, bounty jumpers,
and foreign mercenaries?
And large amount of this pension
money is paid to Germans-not Ger
man "A mericans, but Germans still liv-
ing in Germany-Irish-not Irish
Americans but Irishmen still living
in Ireland. 1t is not an exaggeration
to say that men of every civilized ma
ton of the earth are on our pension
rolls. They came here for bounty,
they got it and sold,".for substitutes,
they got that, too, and now they are
supported in idleness in their own
country beyond the seas on the taxes
gathered from the blood and Drawn
of our poor working people. They are
not entitled to cent.
Pay man freely, willingly and
literally a pension who volunteered
as patriot to fight for
his country and who did
not receive bounty or sub
stitute money, but not dollar for the
man who fought for money, who was
as much mercenary soldier as the
Hessians were in the Revolutionary
war.
These pension rolls are fast rolling
up into the billions, and how are they
doing it? No man knows, with the ex-
ception of Raum, Mr.. Harrison's fa-
vorite, to whom he has stuck through
evil report, for it is notorious that he
is incompetent, and it has been ascer-
tanned that his son, one of his clerks,
was dishonest.
There is "something rotten in Den
mark" and the people want 10 see
Raum's' books overhauled by some
man appointed by Grover Cleveland,
" hich appointment will be proof posi-
i've of his honesty.
General Sickles has been making
himself ridiculous on the subject
Of pensions. He says the
Union soldiers, like sailors who
have voluntarily rescued a wrecked
vessel are entitled to salvage, % per
cent of the whole value of the cargo
and vessel, or in other words, even
these foreign mercenaries, bounty
jumpers and substitutes are entitled
to rs per cent of the wealth of this
country for saving the Union.
If you are disposed to grant such a
claim elect Mr.. Harrison, keep Raum
and the Republicans in power and it
will come to this finally, everyone of
you will have to contribute one-fourth
of all you own to these country savers.
But if you want to pay only deserv-
ing, patriotic soldiers of the Union
army, elect Cleveland, give the coun-
try Democratic administration and
these Augean stables will be thor
oughly cleaned out and the pension
rolls revised.