Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1893-11-11
DEMOCRACY AGAINST PENSIONS.
A Note of Warning Which Should be
Needed.
Written for the Herald.

Written for the Herald.
The continued interference with the
pensions paid to Union soldiers or
their representatives, by the present
Democratic National Administration
revives afresh the subject of the War,
its issues and consequences, and bit.
ter feelings, that but for Democratic
success would have been buried from
view a S in a great measure they
should be.
Some remarks therefore at this time,
in prospect OF hostile legislation
by Congress, will have peculiar peril
nence.
1t will scarcely be denied that
the first duty Of all good citizens in a
Republic is loyalty to the Government
of which they are component part,
and upon whom its safety, security,
and permanence depend. This being
the case, every man who rallied to its
defense when that Government was
assailed, leaving his business or occu-
patton for the field of battle, risking
life, limb, and untold privation for
his couutry's safety and defense,
merits and should receive every atten-
ton necessary for his comfort and
subsistence that a grateful people
should give to its brave defenders, and
watch with jealous eye that the fami-
lies and dependents; upon the slain or
the disabled soldier, should be tender
ly cared for in every needful way.
This is no more than right-less
would be shame as we'll as a crime
That prosperous Nation should re-
fuse or neglect to reward literally the
loyalty of its defenders, whose blood
and wounds saved its life, and whose
risks and privations are turned to
safety and prosperity of all the people
who enjoy these great benefits to-day.
That Southern Democrats, who
made pension list possible, should
find fault with the payment of pen
sions to the soldiers of the Union
gallant defenders of h glorious
Star Spangled Banner O. Liberty
and a United Country-is not strange
but can easily be accounted for. Every
dollar paid in pensions reminds them
that they were on the wrong side in
the contest and that Nation which
literally honors it's defenders is
upon such a substantial basis that its
permanence is assured, and its safety
put beyond a peradventure. Until
the pension list-the roll of honor of
the nation-is destroyed or SO serious
ly crippled as to impair its object or
efficiency, no successful effort can be
safely made to place the financial and
commercial systems of the country
upon the basis of the defunct Confed-
eracy. or place our people in the line
of dependent consumers of foreign
manufactures.
Knowing these facts, it is only the
logic of the situation when we hear
and see, in the flush of Democratic sue
cess, that the brave Union soldier is to
be punished by deprivation for his te-
merity in defending his country from
its enemies-the Aristocracy of the
South in their struggle for Free Trade
and the degrading enslavement of
Labor. 1t is lamentable fact that
many of these brave soldiers, whose
pensions are threatened, helped the
Democrats to elect a President and
men to Congress, who are opposed to
paying them pensions for their serv-
ice, or only giving mere pittance as
if to common paupers. Now, behold
their reward.
These pensions bowler should re-
member that many thousands of Dem
ocrats have their names enrolled as
pensioners, and they deserve the pay
they get from the Government. To
their honor, be it said, they were good
and true men who stood firm with
their Republican comrades in defense
OF their common country, and proved
themselves men when men were need
ed to save a threatened Union. 1t
was not a question of politics at all,
bnt a question of whether a govern
ment OF the people, by the people,
should live or die. Republican Ad-
ministrations have not made any polit-
ical distinction in preserving the
Union soldiers; will the Democrats be
equally impartial in their rewards and
deprivations. If the pension lists are
to be revised" upon the same prin-
ciple that Virginia registration books
are "purged" OF voters, the Repubh-
can soldier. his widow, or other de-
pendents, will need the help of the
Power which shields the shorn lamb
from the bitter blasts of cruel in
gratitude that reaps the fruits of his
sacrifice while trampling upon the
blood of the veteran who has cause to
rue the evil day OF Democratic sue
cess.
In paying a premium to loyalty
every good citizen is protected in his
rights and privileges, and the safety
of the Government depends upon the
number and efficiency of its true and
tried friends. To ever break down
the distinction between right and
wrong, between friend and enemy, be-
tween defender and assailant, is to
weaken he safeguards of liberty
and invite their destruction at the will
of its enemies, who pose as friends
when they can rule, but are danger
Gus in their tendencies when deprived
of controlling influence.
0When it is remembered that true
loyalty is not indigenous in the
breasts of all the citizens Of our couu-
try, to the ruling powers under which
they live, even when enjoying its
greatest benefits, as was so fully illus