The National tribune., 1893-07-13
A GOOD SUGGESTION.
Employ Counsel and Sue the Government
for Difference In Value of the Money.

NOMRADE P. 81. j., of Hammonton,
q n. j., in your issue of June %, talks
~ to the point when he says he be-
lieves if fund was created to en-
ploy able counsel to attend to the matter
the Government can be made to keep its con-
tracts with the soldier as well as the bond
holder.
Now, this is question that will bear
investigation, and should have been ap-
preached during Gen. Buffers days; but
there are others to champion our case.
There is legal as we'll as moral principle
involved. and as there is to be general
overhauliDg of matters of interest to SOL
diers, will be one of required given num-
Der to give my share toward forming fund
to defray expenses of settlement, either by
law or arbitration; we, as ex-Union soldiers,
to demand:
/. Pay equivalent to gold, which was the
money of our country when we of the first
calls for troops enlisted.
2. Interest on same from dates when due
to expiration of our three-years' term of
service.
3. That at the expiration of our first term
the United States Government agreed to give
$402 bounty and a 30-days' furlough to all
who would re-enlist as veterans, and that
with her part of the contract, in refusing to
pay said $4G2 to those who received promo
ton after re-enlisting.
A brief sum-up of the case is this: 4 SOL
dier enists under first call for three-years
volunteers; the money of his country is
gold; his first two or three payments re-
ceived was gold; afterward he was paid in
deprecated currency. He was sworn to
obey superior officers and serve his coun-
try for three years, and, to be true, had 10
take what was handed him. Had he re-
ceiyed gold during these three years he could
have safely laid it by, for his money would
have been good regardless of which side
won.
At the end of three years this soldier fully
realizes that old soldiers in the field, already
drilled and disciplined, are what the Govern
ment wants bad, and he re-enlists. He is
made First Sergeant at Atlanta, and at Sa-
vannah (just as Sherman's army starts to
ground up" the enemy here comes little
commsh for Second Lieutenant, and for the
expense of an officers uniform, sword, belt,
etc, he forfeits his veteran bounty and wears
pumpkin rinds ON his shoulders with great
pride and pomp for few months only; for
Just as soon as the JOhnnies discovered he
was on the line of promotion they quietly
Grants permission and went home to work.
The other fellow didn't have any horse to
take home, and what little deprecated cur
rency he had that didn't 90 for Sutler checks
and his uniform, and was made good by his
efforts, was invested in business after the
war, and he goes to work paying revenue
tax for expenses of q row kicked up by the
fellows that got their horses and were offered
| their niggers if they would lay down their
arms earlier in the war.
l have always thought this Niger offer,
Just at that time, could have been left off the
program. But little of the spirit of gen.
crosby toward the Union veteran volunteer
who went early and staid to see the show
out, by opening up the books and seeing how
accounts stand, might have tendency to
stop or modify some of the croaking of these
soldier-hating newspapers. Such language
as has been placed in print Of late years about
Union soldiers is a disgrace to American
manhood, disgrace to the Confederate sol
der who, acting on the defensive, was COM
PEELED to surrender, and more OF disgrace
to the NANCY, cowardly ours who print
them.
All during the war these selfsame chaps
confronted us with their assertions that we
could never subdue the rebellion by force,
and they kindly advised compromise, and
when it was all over, and all the North
blaze of Joy, these croakers were heard from
again. and they said: What are we to do
with this great Union army, used for years
to the licences of camp and field, and now,
flushed With renewed and final victory, they
cannot be discharged upon society"
Well, they have kept it up ever since the
war. only when it was policy to keep quiet.
Well, just shoot your dye-stuff, Mr.. Good
Secesh, you can't hurt Christian. Christ
himself was fed on vinegar bitters and
endured much abuse from his enemies; but
truth is mighty and must prevail, and the
flaming torch of truth was written upon
the battlefield, where all animosities were
honorably settled.-J. JAMES REAGIN, I'd
Iowa, Bloomfield, Iowa.
When weak weary and worn out, HoOd's Sarsa.