The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1892-03-13
OUR PENSION OFFICE
The Hundreds of Millions Which
Are Paid to Soldiers.
MORTALITY AMONG SURVIVORS
When the Pension List Will Reach It's Maxi
mum and When 1t Win Begin to
Decline.

The following article is the substance of
g long conversation with General Green B.
Raum, the commissioner of pensions. 1t
was dictated ii response to questions, has
been carefully revised and is given to you
as it came from the mouth OF one OF the
best posted pension men in the United
S ates. The United States stands at the
head OF the nations of the world in the CIV
ing of pensions. No other great pension
roll will compare with ours, and we give
away dollars whore other governments
give away cents. There were few wars
like the late civil war. Our armies were
the biggest in history. More than 1000, 600
men fought under the flag of the union be-
fore the great rebellion was quelled. OF
these more than 100000 fell in battle or
were bornein endless professions from 100
hospitals to the cities of the dead. Hun
dreds of thousands more suffered from
wounds received or from diseases contracted
in the service, and our pension roll is the
wonder of the world.
1t may be fairly said that none can so
fully appreciate the force and meaning of
these CHASTITY figures as those who took
part in the struggle and yet survive. The
volunteers who fought the war to its end
did not do it for the money there was in 1T.
The pay and bounties were not large
enough to tempt cupidity, much less to
weigh in the scale against life itself. We
must accord to them the most exalted mo-
tive of a patriotic duty. II is not likely
that one in hundred of them had a thought
when he enlisted upon the matter of pen
sion. He only knew that his country was
in imminent peril and that his services
were needed 10 strike down those who had
lad hpr ia
gard as gratuity the pensions that are
being paid to the widow and the fatherless
and to those who were disabled in battle
or by disease. We as a people have nc
more sacred duty than to care for those
vino sacrificed so much.
The number of pensioners now on the
rolls is $4,000. or these, in round mum.
bers, 39S, 600 are ''inyalids" and 1O7, 900 are
widows, orphans and dependent relatives
resulting from the war of the rebellion
400 are survivors and $500 widows of the
war of 1912; 200 are survivors and 6, so
widows of the Mexican war. Under thu
operation of the law enacted by the las
Congress, the number of pensioners will bC
increased by probably 100000, as soon Al
the claims can De adludicated. AT the timt
this bill was passed there were pending
under the laws then in force, about 500, 00t
claims. A large per cent of these will b.
duplicates OF applications under the recen
I,
not be as large as the figures would indi
cate.
1t is not possible to form g defnit
opinion when the maximum Of the pension
roll will be reached, or how large it vii
then be, either in the number of pensioner
or of the amount paid, as these are wholly
contingent upon legislation by Congress
Should a general service pension b
granted, placing all survivors upon tn
roll, the highest point would at once b
attained. From that moment the declin
would begin and it would be rapid.
A careful examination of the subiec
Leads TO the conclusion that more than
third of the men who were discharge
were subject, by reason of wounds an
other causes of disability, to a consider
ably higher rate Of mortality than ordinar
citizens who had not been exposed to III
hardships and casualties Of war. Tha
this ie true is clearly shown, that the deaf
rate of those upon the pension roll ha
been greatly in excess of the estimate
upon which the accepted tables of life in
surance companies are based. Not les
than 600, 600 men discharged from the arm
were subject to this increased rate of NOR
tahty. With this large body of men tn
expectation Of life was shortened by abou
twelve years, total of 100000 years c
individual existence. This fact illustrates
not less than the statistics Of death on th
battle field and in hospitals, the awful raw
ages OF war.
To test the correctness of this conclusio
sn examination was made of $1,000 case
Of men upon the rolls who had died. TAX
ing the age at enlistment and the age
Death, it was found that the averag
shortening of life had been such as to full
Justify the estimate already gwen. 1t ma
also be fairly said that this condition, ia
less degree, applies to nearly 100000 other
who survived the war, whose lives has
been, or viii be, shortened by five or 81
years. Few men went through month
and years of service in the field withor
more or less impairment of health, not tax
ing into account the dangers of battle. |
by far the majority of cases the effects {
hardship, prlvation and exposure wer