The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1894-03-01
THE PENSION QUESTION.

|
| nations? no. ssu
q How many old soldiers are dependent upon
| the pensions they drawRi
| 3. How many old soldiers are drunken sots, and
do not make proper use OF money drawn as pen
sion? CiM. BELL, MI Morris. III.
/. Proportioned to the amount Of fighting
done, the United States has much the small
est roll in the worldl The present pension
| roll represents more fard and bloody fight
| ing than all the soldiers of Europe have
done since the close of the Napoleonic wars.
| 1t is hard to make any exact comparison
with the actual expenditures of Europtan
Nations for pensions, for the reason that
those countries take care of their disabled
soldiers and the widows of such, In many
ways that do not appear in the reports of
pension expenditures. For example, nearly
all The railroads in Germany and in some
other countries are owned by the Govern
ment, and disabled soldiers and their fami-
lies are given employment OH or about them.
Broken-duwn soldiers and their widows
watch the crossings, etc. All kinds Of en-
ployment that these can follow are reserved
for them. The same is true in France, and
they are also given the privilege of selling
matches, tobacco, and other things of which
the Government has the monopoly. Great
Britain, who in the last rs years has done
less actual fighting than we did in any one
year of the rebellion, and has had fewer men
killed in battle in the 800 years that she has
been a Nation than we did in our war, pays
S26 644 ,430 year for pensions, or over one
fourth the annual value of our peDson-roli.
2 We have no statistics on this point, but
know that very large proportion of the
old soldiers are dependent upon their pen
sions, and this proportion increases every
year as the pensioners get older and more
unable to work
3. very small proportion indeed of the
veterans arj di>sip,ted. We are sure that
this proportion is smaller than in the com
munity taken as a whole. There are two
reasons for this; the first being that, as
rule, the soldiers were drawn from the
healthy, sober, industrious element of the
community. Toughs and drunkaids did
not generally enlistiin the army. They pre-
ferred to stay at home and be Copperheads
-disparage and confe mn those who were
patriotic enough to- enlist. The next is that
those who among the veterans were addicted
TO strong drink have been carried off by it.
All the veterans are now tolerably Old men,
and whisky got in its fatal work long ago on
most Of those who were victims to it. This
is shown csnclusively at every National En-
campment Wherever these have been held
the universal testimony of the citizens is
that they have never seen so many sober,
quiet men, aud so little drunkenness.
-t------
THEY are max ;ngFsety wry faces over it,
but the majority party in the House Of Rel
resen,a!ives will have to swallow the dose
of ex-Speaker Reds rules sooner or later.
L 'ieIi plSstuD p'5't'ob 10 UDc VI cACcecibp
absurdity. No one denies that the House
has full power Tor arrest q Representative
and compel his attendance. How preposter-
Gus TO say, then, that after he is brought in
he can make himself technically absent by
refusing to vote? Speaker Reed was eter-
nally right when he counted everyone
present to make up quorum. Secretary of
til, Navy Herbert, in an article in the North
Am 'ricdn Review, says distinctly that it will
not he very many years uatil his party is
compelled to adopt this view. lie says that
they may be able 10 rub along through this
Congress without doing it, since they have
enough If their own party to make up q
quorum but in some future Congress, when
they do not have this preponderance, tn
will be compelled to adopt the Reed plan
Republican or Democrat it makes no diff r
ence; the rule is dictated by common sense
Representatives are sent to Congress to do
the peoples business. 1t is their duty to
be present at every session, unless excused
| for good reason, and to play that they are
absent when they are actually present j.
b1yish and absurd.
We want our readers to bear in mind that