Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1893-11-02
Who ia ResponsibIes

The Democratic newspapers are try
ing to shift the responsibility for pen
sion suspensions. but their efforts are
Grover Cleveland is President. He Sc
lected Hoke Smith for Secretary of the
Interior well knowing that he had been
schooled TO the belief that the SOutl
was right in attempting to shoot the
Union to death. Cleveland might have
chosen an ex-Confederate soldier for the
position, but was fearful that such 8
man would not cut the pension list deeI
enough, because he would have had
some knowledge of the sufferings anG
privations of soldier, some apprecia
ton of the valor and some recollection
of the magnanimity of the boys in blue
at the close of the war.
Together Grover Cleveland and Hoke
Smith selected Judge Lochren, whom
they first ascertained was an avowed
enemy to the pension system. New
boards of examiners were agreed upon
for the various counties to consist oi
three Democratic physicians, not two
Democrats and one Republican, as for
merly, but generally three young Dem
ocrats grown up since the war. Young
men were chosen because they had nc
real conception of the terrible four.
years struggle, when every Northern
home was house of mourning for the
brave men killed in battle or who died
at the front from Imprisonment, disease,
and hanaT1Sa or hos
these young men had but FAINT recol.
lections of the vast procession of
MANNED, wounded. diseased and other
wise disabled veterans who returned to
their homes at the wars close.
The rulings of the Pension Depart
ment made during President Harrisons 2
administration weIe unceremoniously
reversed. The pension list was scanned
and by order of Judge Lochren, en-
dorsed by Hoke Smith and approved by
Grover Cleveland, the subordinate en-
ployes began striving the names of
thousands of brave Union soldiers from
the rolls. No matter what the disa-
bllity, whether caused by wounds or
disease, nor what the worldly circum-
stances of the pensioners, the various
agencies were told to withhold their
vouchers and to curtly inform those
cut off that they could not get their
just dues until they proved themselves
paupers or consented to examinations
by unfriendly pension boards sometimes
at distance of 100 miles away from
their homes. Pensioners at Portsmouth
were ordered to Van Vert for examina-
tion. Pensioners at Wauseon were Or
dered to Fostoria. Kan, for examina-
ton, and there were other cases equally
cruel. These pensioners were accused of
being frauds and told that they must
prove their innocence. They were not
permitted to know the names of their
accusers nor is the Pension Agent al
lowed to tell to anyone, except indi-
vidually to those dropped, the names of
the suspended pensioners. Added to
this the present Pension Department
has employed an army of mean, under
handed spies, now at work in Ohio and
other Northern States, who ar seeking
information that will aid the Depart
ment in making greater cuts in the list
of pensioners. These sneaks are from
Virginia, North Carolina, South Caro-
lima and other Southern States, and are
men whose sympathies are with the ex-
Confederates and who are assisted oc-
casionally by Copperhead dough-faces of
the North. They are obtaining hear
say evidence-such as no court of record
in Ohio would receive-that will give
the present National administration a
chance to deprive other deserving Union
soldiers of ther pensions.
Representative Tarsney's infamous
but prophetic interview in the New
York World of August 2, 1891, is prov
ing too true, and brave ex-Union sci
diers are daily being branded as bum
mers, frauds, perjurers, coffee-coolers
and bounty-julnpers," just as he then
branded them. Is it hard to fix the re-
sponsibility for all this ? Grover Cleve-
land, who vetoed 524 special pension acts
of Congress, was nominated by the last
Democratic National Convention and
elected. Hoke Smith and Judge
Lochren are his appointes, and to
They are only too willing to comply
and give his orders to their suberdi-
mates. The poor pensioners suffer &C
cordingly. Now those suspended must
not only bear the scars of battle and
the effects of disease, but be branded
as frauds by the ungrateful rulers of
the Nation for whose preser vation they
offered their lives. They must prove
their innocence of fraud before jury
packed to convict. Their only remedy
is at the ballot-box from now until
their friends are again in control of the
Government. They should see to it
that Mckinley's majority is the largest
ever given any comrade since the war
That would be an answer that the
whole world would understand and the
whole country applaud.
Free trade labor means cheap labor.
Cheap labor is National curse. Ill
paid labor means degraded standard
of life Protected labor means higher
priced labor and raises the standard of
conditions vote the Democratic ticket;
if you want the latter vote the Repub-
lican ticket. Make no mistake with
your ballot.
None of the laborers who appeared
before the Ways and Means Committee
of Congress favored the proposed re-
duction of the tariff. The only advo-
Gates were the foreign producers and
the importers. Which do you favor,
the American laborers or the foreign
producers and the resident agents Of
foreign manufacturers? You must &n-
swer by your vote.