The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1892-12-16
The Graye Pension Problem.

The expenditure for pensions during
the coming fiscal year will be about
$50. .OOO, 900, and another year Will
swell the amount to the appalling sum OF
5000. .0O0, 600.
Even with this enormous expenditure,
very many of the most worthy of our
disabled soldiers are not pensiOned at
all or are inadequately penSioned, while
tens of thousands of pension thieves, 10y
perjury and fraud under the lead of pro-
feSSiOnal sharks, have robbed the de
serving veterans and the country of
scores of millions.
Pension reform does not mean the re-
duction of any soldiers pension who
clearly merits it under the law. On the
contrary, pension reform means gener-
Gus pensions to the truly deserving an1
the dismissal from the rolls of all who
have obtained pensions by fraud. 1t
needs only casual glance at the figures
Of the pension Office to learn how PERU
ry, fraud and robbery have run riot in
that department of the government.
The census taken in 1890, ne ,rly three
years ago, gives the following total of
survivors of the Union army and navy
and their widows:
Soldiers .g14 s:J7
Sailors and marines S.............. 25.6SO
Surviving ecutorS.....-..-..-...- l63, lbs
Total. .....-.... .-..-.....-.-...-.-.l, ,262. 1O5
The foregoing figures embrace all sol
dierS enlisted for emergencies, many
thousands of whom did not serve nine
ty DAYS, and are thus not eligible to pen
sionS. 1t embraces all who were mus
tered and takes no note of the many
who were not honOrably discharged, and
an honorable discharge Is necessary To
successful pension claim. In addition
| to these large deductions from the fore
going list of those who are not eligible
as pension claimants, nearly or quite
| 30, 900 have died since the census was
| taken. Reducing the census returns Of
surviving soldiers, sailors, marines and
widows by the deaths, the number that
did not serve ninety days and the num-
ber not honOrably discharged from the
| service, there are not one million of sur
vivors to-day who could lawfully claim
pensions.
They are now over 900, 900 pension
ers on the pension rolls, or fully $50, 600
! exclusive of revolutionary, war of 1872
or Mexican war pensioners, and there
are over 400, 900 applications yet pend
| ing, most of which are original claims.
| Taking the number now on the pension
| roll from the late war, and the number
of original applications pending, there
are more pensioners and applicants for
pensions to-day than there are soldiers.
sailors, marines and soldiers widows in
| the land. And IL must be remembered
| that there are scores of thousands of our
best veterans who have never applied for
| pensions, some of whom, while fully
meriting pensions, have been hindered
| by the dishoner that attaches to so many
| pensioners In every community.
These figures are absolutely conciu-
sive of the fraudulent character of tens
of thousands of pensions now drawn
from the Treasury and of the colossal
robbery of both honest soldiers and the
nation; and the citizen who opposes rad
zeal pension reform must be either sim
pleton or knave, and the soldier who op-
poses it diShonors his cause in peace and
could not have honored it in war. Phiid.
! Times.