The National tribune., 1893-12-14

caslOn Mt, with head and heart agreeing.
Yours, appealingly,
THE NATIONAL TRIBUNE.
AN ANSWER TO THE PRESIDENT.
The Commander-in-Chief of the Crane
Army of the Republic has promptly me
the baseless allegations in the President,
Message with the following timely circular:
HEADQUARTERS G. AR,
LYNN, MASS, Dec. 4 1898. {
| Circular No @
| Whereas the President Of the United States. In
his message TO Congress- has stated that thousands
OF neighborhoods have their W ekuown fraudulent
pensioners, and as the mission of the Grand Army
OF the Republic is TO encourage honor and purity
IN public affairs, therefore call the attention Of al
The comrades, Posts, and Departments of our Order
10 the statement of the President, and urge them
to report to the Honorable Commissioner Of PEN
sions, Washington, ID. c., any person known to be
| In receipt of pension not justly entitled TO the
same under the law, and to forward a duplicate OF
said report In these headquarters nj once The in.
formation that comes to these Headquarters daily OF
comrades totally disabled whose pensions have
| been suspended, and of widows whose husbands
were killed in battle, being suspended until they
| can prove that their husbands were naturalized
| in-Chief TO believe that that statement is broader
than can be substantiated by facts If these wrongs
| actually exist, the Commander ill., Chief pledges
| the support of the Grand Army OF the Republic to
those who attempt i'm the line of duty to rectify
These wrongs, assuring them that the Union vet
Grams are anxious to guard the Treasury of
| the Nation in time of peace they were defend
| its flag in time of war
| JOHN G. b. ADAMS.
COMMANDMENTS Chief
Official: JAMES r. MECH, Adjutant- General.
The Presidents assertions were simply
unwarranted by any facts within his knowl-
| edge, or within the knowledge of anyone.
They were the echo of clamor which has
been filling the soldier-hating papers for
years, and for which no proof has been fur
nished, though THE NATIONAL TRIBUNE
and other friends Of the veterans have con-
stantly challenged them to produce even
minimum of proof
As our readers well know, we have per-
sIstently and earnestly urged all manner of
undeniably fair tests which would develop
the truth in regard to pensions. In not
single instance have we been able to get
even an answer from those who were attack
ing pensions and pensioners. Still farther,
in all the years that the pension system has
been under fire not one of its assalants has
ever suggested or advocated any plan by
which the actual facts in regard to pensions
might be ascertaiued
This is very significant. 1t shows con-
clusively that these men do not want the
truth known. They fear it. They do not
want nything which will interfere in the
least with the wide liberty they give them
selves in denouncing pensions and pen
sioners.
1t Is startling to find a President of the
United States incorporating these calumnies
In formal State document, and giving them
his powerful Endorsement. 1t is simply in
credible that he, Of all others, can actually
believe these to be true. For over nine
months now he has, through his subordi-
mates, been in absolute control of the Pension
Bureau with all its records, files, papers, and
official machinery. The Bureau has de-
voted large portion of its energies 10 in
vestigatiOns extending all over the country,
and wherever there was the least expec,a-
ton that an investigation would be fruitful
IN developing fraud. It has spent hun
dreds Of thousands of dollars-an unpre-
cedented amOunt-in this work. What
have been the results of this prodigious and
costly effort? Practically nothing. A few
unworthy pensioners may have been found |
here and there, as there will always be
among any class Of recipients Of public |
money, no matter how carefully it is dis
bursed. But the number of these has been |
astonishingly small. There has been much |
beating of journalistic tom-toms and sound. |
ing Of editorial hew-gags over alleged dis |
coveries from time to time, bat when il |
came to the actual test Of the cases these |
have petered out in the weakest way, as in |
the much trumpeted Justice Long case, the |
famous bald-headed" case and the Owen |
slight deafness " case.
If frauds exist so numerous and paipabIe |
as the President asserts, why have they not |
been shown up long ago? Nine months is q |
long time in which to do the work, and with |
the hundreds of thousands of dollars ex- |
pended On it, the best expert and detec- |
tive talent has been secured for il. Then.
too, pension case is a very simple and
easy thing to examine. 1t has no com |
plicated and intricate features TO reqaire the |
patience aud genius of Vidoca or Fouche.
Either the pensoner is the man he claims TO |
be or he is not; either he served in the repi |
ment he claims OR he did not; either he ia |
disabled or lie is not All these are the |
p'ainest and simplest of facts, and can be |
determined by any man of ordinary ability |
with quickness and certainty.
That all this determined effort, lavish in
expense and extending over so long period. |
has failed to show any appreciable proper