The National tribune., 1893-09-28
TwESTy-EIGHr YEARS AGO.

Iwenty-elght years ago the mlghty ano
insolent fabric of the rebellion-supported
by ali the courage and fanatic devotion Of
more than 100000 white men, and the un
paid labor of still greater number of slaves
fell into hopeless ruin under the terrific
blows of an army of patriotic volunteers.
Twenty-eight years ago four years of des-
perate fighting of unparalleled bloodshed
OF unprecedented battling with the elements
ended with a complete victory for those who
/ sustained the Government, and the sur
render of evey sword, every musket, every
cannon that had been directed against It's
life.
Twenty-eight years ago the young
men who had done the stupendous work
: at a frightful sacrifice to themselves, came
! home to rest from their terrible labors and
! trials, to enjoy respite from the constant
presence of appalling dangers, to nurse their
wounds, to build mp again bodily health
shattered by hardships and exposures, and
10 wait patiently for the rescued country's
payment to them of the debt which it CRATE
fully confessed it owed
Twenty years have gone, and hun
dreds of thousands of them are still wait
ing
They have waited while they saw the
country for which they fought become the
most prosperous on the face of the earth.
They have waited while they saw its
population more than double, and its wealth
more than quadruple.
They have waited while they saw the
Union, which they welded securely with the
force OF their strong arms, become heartily
and proudly accepted without dissenting
voice from one end of the land TO the other.
They have waited until they saw every
body else who rendered service to the coun-
try during that momentous time fed to fat
ness, while they themselves were limited to
the crumbs which fell from the overfowing
National table AZ
They have waited until they saw them
selves grow from buoyant, hopeful youths to
decrepit old men, gazing down a steep de-
cline whose only horizon is an open grave
They have waited till one-half of the
comrades who came marching home with
them have answered the great summons
from Time to Eternity.
They have waited while they saw the
wounds and hurts which in 1865 were mere
incOnveniences, that could be overcome by
the vigor of youth, grow, with advancing
age, into cruel disablements, for which there
is no balm in GiIead, and no physician that
can heal
They have waited until Death finds his
richest harvest among their number, and
every year recruits from among them for
his Silent Army, greater force than Grant
at Shiloh, OF Rosecrans at Stone
River
Now, Shall they wait longer?
Now, Why should they wait longer?
If protestations and promises mean any
thing they mean that they must be fulfilled
before the men die and are beyond The reach |
of ,fulfllment
With over 10000 veterans dying every
year, any delay in paying what is owed them
becomes cruel and heartless mockery of |
the Nations plighied faith to care for him
who has borne the battle"
There is absolutely no reason for a con-
tinuanee Of this heart-sickening delay.
The Pension Bureau should make every |
claim now on file " special" and settle it with |
the greatest dispatch. If the Bureau has not
enough clerks, Congress should give it more;
if the Treasury has not have money enough |
Congress should empower is to make loan.
But the Treasury will have more than
money enough if the present revenues are |
allowed to remain untouched
Every consideration dictates that thie
should BE- done, and the whole pension bust |
ness closed up within the coming fiscal year
Let the comrades rouse themselves to de- |
mand with one voice that every claim now
before the Pension Bureau be made |
special" and settled promptly. II can be
done, it should be done, and it will be done,
if they unite in demanding of heir Senators
and Representatives and other public Off
ciaIs that it be done.
If this cannot be done after the lapse of
be done?
EDITORIAL ABsURDITY.
The logical faculty. In the brain of the |