The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1893-06-09


dinary life, about two. thirds should be
alive at fifty. When it is consl cred
that in accordance with custom from
the very first organization ~ The gov
ernment of the United STAT the vid-
ows Of all deceased soldiers and all
soldiers disabled in service are pen
stoned, and that soldiers of previous
wars have been pensoned after they
pass middle lite, the cry tnat a few
enemies of the soldiers of I86I-I86s
are raising against the system of pen
slons is contrary to the history of the
nation and unjust to those to whom
the country owes its progressive pros
perity. That spirit is no encourage
ment to the youth of the country
should another great emergency arise.
The cry in 1861 was: "Young men
go The country needs you and you
shall not suffer by the sacrifice" /
have heard the remark that the soldier
was paid for his services. In the ser
vice were men who had just about
finished their apprenticeship or who
had become more or less proficient in
business, or skilful in agriculture or
the various occupations. Young men
in large numbers we'll educated and
just ready to go into professional
studies. The first enlisted man killed
in our company was a college graduate
in 1861. He enlisted before COM
mencement day. Another enlisted
man killed in the same battle was a
fine Greek and Latin scholar. And
there were many students and gradu-
ates from different colleges with us.
Nearly all our men were fitted for
more than the work of a common
laborer, and yet they were getting, for
hardships and exposure and the
dangers of the battle field, first eleven
and afterwards thirteen dollars per
month, working week days and Sun
days, when a common laborer at that
time was getting fifty dollars and up
wards with the comforts of home life.
| mention these facts because the
time has come when men either ig-
norant or forgetful of the sacrifices Of
the soldier and Of the grandeur of this
nation and its prosperity as compared
with what it would have been had Sc
cession succeeded fall into the habit of
slurring the soldier and of crying out
in parsimonious horror against the
pension list.
If any man has fraudulently obtain
ed pension, for service not rendered,
let the remedy be applied to him and
not in wholesale denunciation of the
deserving. If some man who wore
the blue, weakened by his exposure
is unable to resist temptation to in
temperance remember that the great
body of his comrades are, on the aver
age more temperate and we'll behaved
citizens that can we'll be found. And
don't unfairly pick out the exception
as the general rule.
When you have pensloned the living
and the widows of the dead of over
two and a quarter million union sold
iers you will have done no more than
is done for the soldiers of the Mexi
can war, most of whom were rebels.
About four years ago while waiting
for the change of cars at Northumber.
land, l saw some veterans who were
gathering for a regimental reunion
When l went into the car l heard Z
young man who looked as if he wa.
in comfortable circumstances with q
claim of intelligence, in answer to Z
remark of another about the soldiers
say sneeringly: "Yes some Of then
are still around" thought there
were great many things that mar
did not know. l had known that regi
ment. 1t had served in the same di
vision in which had served. 1t hat
done good service and never failed ir
its duty. knew it when those gray
heads were young. Some Of its mem
bers were my playmates. Iknew thei
record in camp and field. About l..
per cent. of their number had died o
their wounds. About 4 per cent. hat
died of disease in their three year
service. OF the survivors who hat
been discharged from service, hat
they come home as hearty as wheT
they entered the service, there shoult
have been at the time of that reunion
over 600 alive according to life tables
But not two.thirds of that numbe
could be discovered by their comrade
who managed their association. The.
were gathering there from far ant
near, even from the Rocky mountains
and the Pacific coast, but they coult
find no such number alive. In fac
we did not see there one hundred
And yet that man could sneer because
of that hundred. They were too man!
for his taste. He knew nothing O
their sacrifices, of their perils, he knew
nothing of the debt he and other
owed for the privilege of living in ;
land of freedom and prosperity, {
,o;tad and ,,aacafn1 conptrv Ha dir