The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1892-08-20
DEMOCRATIC ABUSE OF OLD SOLDIERS.

The announcement of the Louisville
Courier Journal that "the robber tariff
and the rOb0er pension list" must go
into power will provoke comment and
rouse indignation among those whom it
stigmatizes as "red-nosed patriots" and
"bummers who lie about groggeries and
brothels," meaning the men who draw
pensions. Democrats will say that these
statements are made by Democrats
paper in Kentucky, and that no Demo-
cratic paper in Indiana has any desire to
assail the pension laws. Let us see
about that. After the election of 1890,
when the Democratic party had car
ried two-thirds of the House and
about everything in sight, the Senti-
mel jumped to the conclusion that
the Democracy was in the saddle
1890, while in its delirium Of JOY over
the prospect of possessing the world.
true to the Democratic instinct, the
Sentinel turned upon the "old soldier"
assuming that the Democratic machine
would have no further use for him. In
that issue was printed an editorial
which begins with charging pension ex-
travagance upon the Harrison admins
tration. and Washington dispatch pre-
dieting the doubling of the pension ex-
penditure and that it would cause the
Democratic House to "have a fit" Com
mentlng upon the dispatch, the Sentinel
said:
The Democratic House ought to "have a
. tit" when 1t faces the proposition to pay
this enormous sum. and one effect of the
mt ought TO be TO extend this burden on the
Taxpayers no further. There is a limit to
human endurance. and pension grabbers
are getting very close to 1t.
After giving some comparisons show
ing the extent to which the "pension-
grabbers" had got in their work, the
Sentinel continued as follows:
The present administration is largely re-
sponsible for this condition. In 1888 the
pension payment in round numbers was
S79OO0,000. In two years 1t has more than
doubled, according to the estimate above
gwen. Deserters and dishonOrably dis
charged men have been put on the rolls.
A halt must be called. If the SOL
dier vote has TO be purchased at such
prices. the Democratic party cannot afford
to do the buying. We are reaching point
where 'the soldiers friend" will be the peo-
pies enemy.
1T any paper has printed nything more
insulting and slanderous regarding the
pensioner than the declaration that "de-
serters and dishonorably discharged
men have been put upon the pension
rolls" and that the soldier vote" is
purchasable. the Journal has failed to
see it. AS matter of fact. a commits
sion of army officers was created sew
eral years ago to consider all cases
where there were errors regarding
charges of desertion and to remove
them where the records were at fault.
1t was not until this Democratic House
came in that hundreds of bills were in
troduced to remove the charge of deser-
ton. So indignant were the veterans
of Indiana at this attempt to reinstate
deserters and give them honorable dis
charges that the G.. A. r. department
encampment denounced it in resolu-
tons which were sent to the Indiana
delegation.
Perhaps the Sentinel will reprint the
editorial from which the above quota.
tions are made and tell the veterans
whether the country has yet reached
"the point where the soldiers friend
will be the peoples enemy"