The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1893-04-20
PENSION HATERS.
Some Views Expressed by Comrades
in All Parts of the Country.

Levi Caskins, 9TH Iowa. Hastings, Neb., says:
I" / notice in your issue of March % that the
State of Georgia is paying Confederate soldiers
and their widows over 100000 in pensions, and
at the same time Confederate soldiers III the
L. S. Congress are trying 10 take the Union SOL
diers' widows pensions away from them. We'll,
we have been told for years that the war was
over, bat this does not look much like it. And
don't YOU remember, comrades, these same Con-
federates told us in '61 and 'G5 that ali they
wanted was to be let alone? And, comrades
this is just what they want US to do now in '93,
and if we do it, they will not only take the
Federal soldiers widows pensions away, but
they will also take our old comrades pensions
They are after us, and no question about It,
We are getting old, it is true, and many thou
sands of us were shot and crippled for life
whilst these traitors were trying to destroy our
country and we were trying to defend it. But
we who yet live can all do som ething to defend
our cause, and let US do it at once. Lot us not
be afraid to act. Our cause is just, made so
by one of the bioodiest wars that history has
ever yet recorded"
T. c. Yates, 4th Ind'p't Co. Ohio Cav. Lees
burg, O., says: "As THE NATIONAL TRIBUNE
has so long and earnestly tried TO combat the
deep seated prejudice SO firmly rooted in the
minds and hearts of multitude of unprincl-
pied soldier hating demagogs of the country,
from every surviving comrade in the land.
That they should be so ignorant of and I'M
grateful for the services rendered aud sacri-
fees made by every soldier, against whom they
hurl their vile epithets, is beyond my under
standing. And yet they are supported by such
men rs Gen. Slocum and his ilk
With one voice. my comrades, let us pounce
upon such miscreant5 and drown their dis
paraging cries in sea of righteous indigna-
ton. Better that we be sunk in poverty, OBJ
scurity, and oblivion than tamely to submit to
a continuous rehearsal of such unqualified cpl
tbets of abuse. How many of you at the
time Of your enlistments stepped down from
positions of honor, trust and profit, only that
they might be filled by such men as now assail
you by every dishonorabe name known in the
vocabulary of language?
How many of you, my comrades, threw aside
golden opportunities to become rich, learned in
your profession, or skilled in your pursuit, in
order to wrest your country from the hands of
just such nngrateful beings as those who now
seek every opportunity TO denounce and revile
you?
How many of you to-day suffer, and for
years have suffered, untold anguish, both in
body and mind, from wounds, disease, and dis
tOrted usefulness in after life, resulting from
your patriotic efforts to save the life of the
Nation? Let us say that no man, save and
except tho man who put aside his business and
his obligation to his family and friends, and
buckled on the armor of war, can fully esti.
mate the sacrifice made by these men, who are
now being traduced and humiliated by a class of
sneaking stsy-at-homs towards, encouraged by
rear-guards designating themselves sol.
diers."
w. L. sapp, Co. B, 9th w. Va. MID Inf, Tum-
water, Wash. writes: II wish to say to CON-
radcs, through the columns of your paper, that
there is either an error, oversight or miscalcu-
lation on my part, or an evident defect in all
pension legislation since the war Having had
many solicitations by pension agents and ac-
quaintances to make application for pension,
have invariably told them that, while / be-
lieved every honorably- discharged. loyal, Union
soldier was in equity entitled to such Govern
ment consideration for actual service rendered,
still, under no pension legislation to date am l
legally entitled to penny. But have always,
when looking proudly, affectionately and hope
fully on wife and children; told them had a
life-insurance policy in the great Uncle Sam
Company, paid mp, awaiting their order at my
final muster-ont; So for the veterans widow
per month and 81 for each of the orphans I'M
der a given age. Now comes the sad sequel,
the overthrow of all my plans and hopes in
that direction.
"Three weeks ago my angel wife, for whom,
as widow, | had hoped such generous and
wise provisions of the Government would be
paid over, WAS ruthlessly snatched from the
grizzled veterans embrace and the nursery of
minor children, the youngest two years of age,
the oldest 16. the three oldest being boys; thus
at one fell stroke canceling my Government
policy and leaving me to nurse and care for
them as father and mother both. 1t does seem
to me there was woful oversight in that fea-
ture of our pension legislation. But / hoist
the white flag, and make an unconditional
surrender of wife and all claims on the Gov
eminent at the same time"
G. J. Bryant, S73 Van Buren, street, Chicago.
wants to know of the pension haters: what
right have you to speak on the pension ques-
tionf Why, because you know nothing OF the
days OF 81 or the wants of the Government
then. You cannot form from what you have
heard an adequate conception of the question,
and If you are an honorable and discerning
man you will see wide difference between
being on dry land and being overheard, be-
tween beggary and afiuence; or, in other
words, speak from experience. / have no
patience with those ranting fools who pirate
In opposition to granting what the Government
promised to pay, made possible by the very
men who are begging for assistance from the
very men whose lives they saved You do not
stop to consider that these very men were your
savior, your father. your mother made the
very homo for you; made it profitable for you
TO reside in this country. My dear fellows
there is vast difference between your house
hold and the household of the other. The
writer was in the field over THREE years (Where
were your, and never since the day of my dis.
charge (honorable) have l seen a well day.
am not pensioner, but worthy and in need
What, then, can be the opinion of an honest
man Of those who prevent me- for 1t is public
sentiment. Who are those croakers2 Classify
them, and what do you fnd2 Stay-at- homes,
those who know nothing of the war by ex-
perience, and foreigners tho latter class par.
ticularly. The public debt should have been
paid by that class not by the soldiers. / be-
lieve the man who offered his life to save his
country has rights above those classes az high
as the heavens are above the EARTH"
Do you want better watch than your grand
father carried, for nothing? If 80, send US a
club OF only five yearly subscribers to The
NATIONAL TRIBUNE. Sec our offer in this
paper.
Each Had a Traitor.