The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1893-10-13
G


lent skulixera
Whatever else we may forget" said
Maj Mckinley to the Society OF The
army o. the Tennessee; 'whatever else
we may blot from M history we can
never forget the brave men who entered
Inc service OF their country without
hope OF reward AMI without any in
eentlve OF fame or popular praise, but
VINO, taking their lives into their own
hands, gave the best they had. and all
they had-their lifc's blood-to tho
saving OF the frccst and best govern
mcnt under the sun"
To the volunteer who nswer that
description every fair minded man may
heartily say amen. So far rs the pen
sion roll has grown out of the war. and
the beneticiarics are such men surviv-
ing with ound or enervated by dis
ease contracted in the line Of service,
tins country may cheerfully pay the
amounts, and the benefits may with
applause be extended to the widow
n minor children of such volunteers
II those widows We're actually war
made.
Eut Maj. Mckinley hal lar~c obser-
walton Of the war and OF tn, conGition
of the north. and of the plans OF en-
listncat which came when the struggle
had settled down To one Of dead earn
estness n 1t was found by enthusi-
asts that the battlefield was not q hol-
iday; y he knows, as every man
KNOWS who was part or ,arccl IF that
struggle. that there were volunteers
who did not fill the description made
by Maj Mckinley in his after-dinner
speech.
There is a neither side to this story of
patriotism. AS the war went on re.
sort 20 draft was necessary, and those
who as volunteers entered the mill
tary service came to be Of a class that
were not without hope of reward.
They were paid large bounties, they
We're purchased as substitutes, they
were enlisted by local committees for
the purpose OF filling up quotas. and
they had merely TO give consent to en-
ter the service accredited to a particu-
lar congressional district or subdivision
thereof to receive u sum of money.
sometimes thousands of dollars larger
than they ever had before and thar they
have ever had since, even under the
arrears Of pension act.
The mcrccnary spirit came in strong
~ toward the close of the war. Men
would not bulge as volunteers unless
they were paid handsomely. and most |
OF such persons sought short-timc en-
listments. In addition to their boun- |
ties-paid o by the government of the |
United States, but by districts seeking
to avoid draft-thcy were clothed and
fed and cared for, and many thousands
OF them never heard the report Of a
hostile cannon They did not appear
upon the scene Of war. Their part wa
one OF entire safety to themselves. If
there Is glory in war. theirs was an in
glorious service. They were safely in
at the north or ventured no fur
Their south than mere depots of sup
plies. Such volunteers certainly do not
deserve the high culogium bestowed in
discriminatory by Maj. Mckinley upon
all volunteers But il is the latter
m~ercenary class. the men who have no
Of actual peril of war. who were
never for a moment in personal danger,
who gave nothing of their LIES blood
Or Of any material service to the gov.
eminent of the United States who are
now loudest in clamoring for wholesale
pensions. They wish to hang on to the
of real OBSERVERS, men who did
participate in battles, men who actu-
lily received scars.
1t Is against undeservers like these
hat the country cries out, md soldiers
If merit. among whom Maj. Mckinley
s enrolled. arc not true to men who did
ight and who did bleed and who did
make sacrifices when they arc willing
0 cover with their shield of culogy
masses Of mere m~ercenaries and skulk-
rs.-Chicago Times. I