The National tribune., 1893-06-08
HALT


There are some important facts 10 which
we beg leave TO call the earnest attention of
the Honorable Secretary of the Interior.
The first of these is that the difficulty of
veterans being able to prove that their disa-
bilities were due to their service was a
grievance which had been anxiously dis
cussed for several years before the passage
Of the Disability Bill Of June 81, 1890. The
war had been very long one; the fighting,
marching skirmishing, hardships, and ex-
posures had extended over series OF years,
the memory of the events of one day had
events and trials of the next, and, finally,
the regiments had been mustered out and
the members scattered to every point of the
compass There was hardly regiment in
the Union army but has members in every
Stale and Territory, to say thing of for
eign countries No matter how badly a man
may have been hurt, if he was still able to
march and keep up with his comrades, and
stay out Of the much-dreaded hospital, he
was likely to find it very difficult to estab-
lish his claim 10 a pension In the years after
the war when his immediate comrades and
officers were either dead or gone he
knew not where. In the pride and
strength of his patriotic young man-
hood he probably concealed the extent
of his hurt, Or made light oft The inevitable
day came when he could no longer do this
Then he found it next to impossible to fur
nish the evidence required by the Pension
Bureau to establish the service origin of his
disability. 1t was the universal Judgment
of those conversant with the facts that it
was the best class Of soldiers who suffered
from this. The weak-hearted, who went to
the hospital at the first touch of pain, had
no difficulty in furnishing hospital-record,
but the grim, resolute fellows who kept with
the flag as long as they were able to stand
on their feet, had no evidence of this kind
to show, and suffered severely for it when
their cases came before the Pension Bureau.
These well-known facts were discussed in
every gathering of soldiers for years. They
were made the subjects of countless meme
rails to Congress. They were set forth in
numerous speeches in both Houses of Con-
gress. They were considered over and over
again in the Pension Committees of both
Houses. For nearly eight years the subject
vas before Congress, and each House several
times passed bills looking to the removal of
this cause of complaint, and the result was
The passage of the Disability Bill of June
y, 1890.
The then President of the United States,
the Secretary OF the Interior, the Assistant
Secretary OF the Interior and the Commits
sioner Of Pensions-all OF them soldiers who
had fought through the war with the utmost
galantry and steadfastness- gave the law an
Interpretation. For three years the law has
been administered in that spirit, and fully
twG-tbiTds OF those to whom ii was intended
TO apply have rec iyed lis benefits. The
Congresses held in the meantime have effect
lively approved Of this Interpretation by
appropriaiing money to carry it ont, the
last Congress appropriating many millions
| TO meet deficiency arising under if.
Even the Invest -ating Committees OF
Cooper and Enioe did not attack this inter
probation, bitter Is were their assaults upon