The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-03-12
can fail to be mp-exsea with tho truth that

AN~ - - 1HAkg iuIilOEITWHD hHN BVtlsLNu
under the later cnils for men, md had soon
little nctnAl service. Thousands in tho
campo OF rendezvous lind not been salt 10
THE front" ut all. An nearly an can be as
certained, 4b7.0OO ~ the survivors died be.
tween Jnly !. 1866, and July I, 1880. leaving
the nnmber At this latter date 1,g45, 900.
This - being reduced by denth nj the
rate Of 10000 aysar. During tie next III
teen Or twenty years the mortality will in,
years hence the ranks will be thin
indeed; in forty years few Of them
will remain. Nearly 10000 are now
OF the age OF 62 or upward. Others
upon nm average, OF 10000 per yenr. Those
who ars now arriving at ~ wore above 81
when tlle war closed. There will DO from
1900 to $4,000 a year for the nsxt hnlf
dozen years. From about 1897 the number
reaching the age OF 60 will increase rapidly,
owing 70 The fact that BY far the greate'
portion Of this soldiers OF the union army
were under 30. The average age ut enlist
,nent was about 20. II Is estimated that the
largest number to roach the age of C2 in
any one year will be in 1906, when there will
be $4,000. Such persons were about %
when discharged from the army. In 1906.
there will be about $4,000; in 1907. 20.O00;l II
1908, $500. and in 1868 only 535. These last
are the rear guard OF the great patriotic
procession. They shouldered muskets at
10 and marched away to the fold.
The rate Of morality among the soldiers
indicates that of the present survivors
about $4,000 will live TO reach the age of
62. But II a service pension should be
made operative at that age not more than
tvo-thirds OF this number would be upon
tho roll At any n time. The greater part
Of those who have already reached that age,
or will reach it during the next hnlf-dozsn
years, will have passed away before the
point shall have been reached by the
youngest.
The aggregate amount paid for pensions
since 1861 exceeds III, 900. 600, 900, about q
third Of what The wal cost the govern
ment during its continuance. Tn amount
stated includes, however, the sums paid
to the pensioners Of the war of 1872,
the Mexican war and Indian wars. Above
so per cent was paid to pensioners of the
war of the rebellion. As the laws stand to-
dav the amount required for some time to
come will be about SAC, 900 900 a year. 1t
is not likely in any event, unless there be
further legislation, to greatly exceed that
SUM. as the future yearly additions to the
roll will be nearly offset by those dropped
by reason Of death and other causes. The
time is not remote when, in the course of
nature, the survivors Of the late war will be
50 reduced in number that the pension roll
will cease to be a burden upon the people,
~'S~1 - ~oA Nv ~ oAS E
The records of he pension office show
that the old soldiers arc scattered over the
entire habitAble globe. In our coun-
try the number of veterans in the west is
noticeably large. The war caused a aeri-
GUS disturbance and ~disarrangement of the
life plans of many OF the young men who
entered the service. They gave to their
country years Of their early manhood
which otherwise they would havo devoted
to fitting themselves for tho professions or
other vocations. Thousands left school
for the tented field and did not resume
their studies. Iheae young men were ener-
Retio and ambitious, and large numbers of
them from the old states turned their faces
westward after being discharged from the
army. They have borne a large part in the
marvellous development of that great sec
ton of the country. That they have been
characterized by the highest loyalty of good
citizenship ia abundantly shown by the
boandless prosperity to which they have so
greatly contributed. No better communi-
than those of the western states where tho
old volunteer soldiers are most numerous.
Taking the pension roll as an index, Ohio
has q larger number of soldiers than any
other state. New York is second and Penn
sylvanla third; then in the order named
Indiana, Illinois. Missouri. Iowa, Kansas
and Massachusetts. 1t is probable, how
SNo4t sA<hV VA0 ut4o III pCAclOuClbk w WIG
whole number of soldiers is greater in the
older states, as those who went to seek their
fortunes in the west were the more robust
and healthy men, who had not been dis
nbled by the casualties of war. Kansas
has a larger per cent of soldiers thar any
other. Nine-tenths of them served in the
war from other states. Almost every regi-
mont of the union army. from Maine to
Minnesota, has its representatives in
Kansas. In q greater or less degree, the
is true of Nebraska and all the states
OF the great west and northwest. Not less
than $4,000 union soldiers have found
homes in Texas, where they have shared in
the development Of hat wonderful state.
Nearly fifty foreign countries are repre-
who have sought other chimes numbering
nearly $500. There are ], 900 pensioners in
Canada, and some 400 each in Germany and
Great Britain. The remainder are distrib-
utedf among all the lands upon which the
sun shines. There are pensioners in Africa,
China, Fiji, Japan and New Zealand. They
arc in all the countries of Europe, South
America and the farthsst isles OF the sea.
1t is safe to assunle that these men do
honor to tho flag which they followed
through years Of fire and blood.
Without n second thought it would seem
anomalous that while there arc on the pom
sion rolls but Alb survivors of the war of
d. tAcAC hiS o,OlU WlQOWB. "A soldier who
served in that war Mt the ago of fourteen or
fifteen years, must now. if living, be ninety
or more. 1t will be but a short timo till all
these will have passed away. The large
number of widows is due to the fact that
many of the old veterans took to them
selves wives much younger than
themselves. No doubt in the majority
Of those cases they were second or third
marriages. SO it is that there upon the roll
moro than 5000 widows of soldiers of that
war. Most of them are advanced in age.
and from veal to year the list will rapidly
less.
It il not difficult to understand that there
are no survivors of the revolutionary war.
A boy of Is in the last year of the struggle
for independence would, if living. be now
considerably, past 100 years of age. But
there yet remains some twenty-five rsvolu-
tionary widows. The youngest of them is
80. Ten of them are in the sos and seven
of them in the SOS. Two are SO. In tho
of nature they will soon cease to
draw from the patriotic bounty of tho re-
Copyright.
Specimen Cases.
s. Fl. Clifford. New Cnssal. Via vsr