The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-09-15
thought.

The question is sometimes asked how long
is the pension list growing out of the civil
war likely to continue. or. in other words,
when the last pension will be paid. Any
answer 10 the question must necessarily be
speculative and only approximate. So far
as a pension list is concerned. 1t is not like
ly the government will ever be without
one. 1t never has been yet. The pension
list growing out OF the revolutionary war
was followed by that of the war of 49,,
and that in turn by the Mexican war list,
and this was overcapped by the civil war
list. The last pensioner of the war of the
years. having been discharged in 1888 at
the age of twenty-seven years. Quite a
number of the pensioners Of the war of 1872
and a much larger number of Mexican war
pensioners still survive, and it is altogether
probable that before the last of the civil
war pensioners shall have died e shall
have another war and a new pension list.
In specializing as to when the last civil
war pensioner will be paid 1T is safe to
reckon on the basis of the last surviving
Union soldier. for long before that time
there will be passed a service pension law
placing on the list the name of every man
who served and was honorably discharged,
without reference to wounds. disability or
means of support. The last surviving vet
eran will be a pensioner. The question,
therefore, as to when the last pension will
be paid is really a question when the last
Union soldier or soldiers unmarried widow
will die. 1t is to be regretted that the
Grand Army has not compiled any statis-
tics show ing the death rate among veter-
ans as compared with other citizens. No
doubt it is greater. Thousands OF lives
were shortened not merely by wounds but
by hardships and exposure. In a great
number of cases the seeds of disease con-
tracted by young men during the war de-
velop at the age of forty or fifty years. and
they become prematurely old. TIL sur
geon-general of the G. A. r.. in his recent
annual report, said:
made the effort to secure by correspond
ence with the health authorities of several
large cities the mortuary statistics OF the
males over forty-five years OF age in those
cities in order to compare them with the
death rate per 1000 OF the Grand Army
veterans OF the same localities. Unfortu-
nately the vital statistics of the several
cities were kept in such a manner that the
required information for comparison could
not be obtained. These comparative statis-
tics, IL they could be obtained, would be Of
immense value to the G. A. r. committee
on pensions. as / believe that they would
tend to show that the death rate per 1000
among the survivors of the war is very
much larger than that OF the males of the
same age who were not participants in the
war: and hence that disease and disability
are far more prevalent among the veterans
than among the other class.
The report of the commander in chief
showed that 1888 members of the G.. A. r.
died during the year out of a membership
of ss7, 223. This was less than 2 per cent.
but probably not all the deaths were re-
ported. Hereafter the percentage of deaths
both among Grand Army men and veter-
ans who are not members of the order will
increase rapidly, and it will be but a few
years till a great diminution In their ranks
will nave taken place.
If the last survivor OF the Union veterans
shall live to be a hundred years old, as is
not unlikely, and IL he was eighteen years
old at the time of his discharge, he will
live till 1947. Perhaps a few widows of vet
Grams, younger than their husbands, may
live a little longer. 1t is probable. there
fore. that the last pension growing out of
the civil war will be paid about 1850. Long
before that. however, the list will have be-
come so small that the pension appropria-
ton will have ceased to cut any figure in
the expenditures of the government.