The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1894-06-09

lessly expended in bringing them into the
field, to say nothing of their subsequent
expenses to the government" As there
was no hint at that time of pensioning
these physical frauds, the Provost Marshal
General could not, in 1868, estimate the
subsequent millions which the government
would be called upon to pay them when
they were added to the pension roll, which
has been done since.
In the examination of recruits the ig-
norance or incompetence of the examine
ton surgeons in the first two years of the
war, to say nothing of their baser motives,
led Surgeon General Hammond to say
that thousands of incapacitated men were
in the early stages of the war allowed to
enter the army, to be discharged after
few weeks service, most of which had
been passed in the hospital. Many did
not march five miles before breaking down,
and not few never shouldered musket
during the whole time of their service"
These are some of the thousands upon
thousands of men who are drawing pen
sions, and who have no legal or equitable
title to them. They were smuggled into
the service upon fraudulent representa-
tiens, and, as a fraud vitiates everything,
these INSCRIPTIONS frauds should not be
supported by the government.
NOT ENvIABLE.
The position of medical examining
surgeon during the war was by no means
an. enviable one. If he exempted too
great proportion he was liable to censure
from his official superiors. IF the number
of exempted men was small the community
accused him of forcing cEipples and men
at the point of death into the army Did
he reject a large per cent. of substitutes or
recruits, the district, being anxious to fill
the quota and thus escape the draft, ac-
cused him of being hypercritical in his ex-
animation, and said that he rejected able
bodied men. On the other hand, he was
liable, not only to official censure in case
he accepted disabled substitutes and re-
cruits, but his pay was liable to be stopped
and all expenses attending the enlistment
of the disabled man deducted therefrom.
The city of Worcester, Mass, being
anxious to fill its quota and thus escape
the draft, roundly abused the medical ex-
aminers for rejecting many physically i'm
perfect men who desired to enlist in reg
iment then forming. A correspondent of
the New York Tribune, under date of De-
cember 4, 1862, writing from the camp in
the Ninth Army Corps opposite Freder-
icksburg, Va, in alluding to the criticisms
published in the Springfield Republican
about the Worcester examiners, said al
have of late attended two or three sur
geons' meetings of the Medical Board ap-
pointed to examine applicants for dis
charge. If other officers had been equally
strict, much less expense would have been
saved Uncle Sam, much suffering would
have been prevented, and larger and
more efficient army would now be in the
field. There came before the board here
many cases-the majority, in fact-of
men suffering from complaints seated and
apparent before they enlisted. One man
lost all the toes of his left foot four or five
years ago, he was not critically examined
when he offered himself; his town was
striving to outdo its neighbors. He put
500 bounty money in his pocket. He
had been about two months in the field,
and has gone home useless. He was told
what he must have known before-that
he was downright swindier. Many of
the cases are pulmonary complaints, Of
long standing; one or two were old age;
nearly all received bounties. They were
reprimanded and discharged
Surgeon General Hammond, in refer
ring again to the abuses of the examining
surgeons, said Ceases of chronic ulcers,
varicose veins, epilepsy, and other condi-
tions uniting men for military life came
frequently under my notice. The recruits
were either not inspected at all by med
ical officer or else the examination was so
loosely conducted as to amount to farce.
l know of several regiments in which the
medical inspection was performed by the
surgeon walking down the line and looking
at the men as they stood in the ranks"
This statement of DIR. Hammond needs
no comment. 1t tells shameful story,
and reveals how so many invalid pension
ers came upon the pension rolls. Under
the pension act of June, 1890, pensions
are granted, under certain conditions of
disability, to men enlisted only three
months, whether in active service or not,
as readily as to veterans who fought
through the whole war. This shameful
perversion of the pension system has
swelled the pension roll to inordinate di-
mensions Thousands of names are upon
it of men who not only saw no active ser
vice. but received liberal bounty for en-
listing, the term Of which was hardly long
enough to entitle them to the name of SOL
diers. Why these should receive pension
besides is beyond the power of an honest
understanding to comprehend. The coun-
try does not, and win not, grudge the
pensions it pays the war-worn and de-
serving among the veterans who, impelled
by love of country and a sense of patri-
otic duty, went forth and hazarded their
lives that the Union might live, and who
are now disabled and needy, showing its
liberal bounty. The fault is in not dis
eliminating between this class and the ex-
Confederate deserters and prisoners, ex-
slaves, the riff-raf of Europe, criminals,
cripples, invalids, the decrepit, and the
idiotic, who were fraudulently smuggled
into the Union army to obtain the liberal
pay and bounties of more honest and de-
serving soldiers.
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