Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1894-08-15
WEDNESDAY. :. AUGUST Is, 1894.
The Pension List.

The speech OF Hon. William a. Jones,
of Virginia, on the subject OF general
pension legislation. delivered In the House
of Representatives several weeks ago, Is
worthy Of perusal. II appeared In our
Issue OF yesterday.
Mr.. Jones has famillarized himself with
The whole subject of general pension ieg's'
,a,ion. Being a member Of the Commit
tee on Pensions, he has had the oppor-
tunity to qualify himself to discuss all
the questions involved in that legislation.
II Is. OF course. one thing TO belong to an
important committee and another thing
10 take a leading part In Its work. Mr..
Zones first qualified himself TO perform
this latter duty In the most satisfactory
manner possible, and when opportunity
offered gave to the bounty-jumpers ana
other fraudulent pensioners borne on the
s.roll of honor of the republic toueh
of his quality as a speaker. He mas we
think. never been Worsted in an encoun-
Ter Of wits with any member OF the
House OF Representatives.
The subject Of Mr.. Jones's speech is NOT
so interesting to southern men as 10
induce all of them 10 read 1t. but we thihK
n few of its strong points Will be read ny
many of the old soldiers OF the Confede-
racy. The old veterans of the Lost cause
will have cause TO congratulate thefh-
selves that their names do not appear on
any roll OF dishonor. There are no bogus
pensioners nor bounty-jumpers 10 De
found amongst those veterans
The bill which Mr.. Jones discussed was
, hin 20 restore TO the pension rolls those
aliens land only those alienO VINO 'oS'
their pensions by the passage OF the ACT
nroyiding that no pension should DE pau
10 any nonresident of the United states
.xcent for actual disabilities incurred III
,hs service. To give the title OF this lat
COR hill is TO show that 1t ought not 10
be repealed. -,
The most famous OF the armies Vi
which history gives US any account can
boast OF no such figures as the muster
roll of the United States contains ~ 10
Thought that the safest estimate vi 'he
number that entered the Federal armies IL
, soo ooo" Think of that. Two ana nan
,,,,,,ons Of soldiers. But what sort OF SOL
.,,.rs, "The military records show that
4, 77s COS OF them were bounty men ana
1880 OF them were paid SUBSTITUTES
Now. why should these mercenaries pe
pensioned? They have no claim Whatever
npon the country. They pocketed 'heii
nav for all their services when they were
mustered into the service. To enron sue"
men along with the men who patrioucaiy
Aore the brunt of the war. ana pehsio"
bounty Jumpers and other mere hire'hss
,sN they had obeyed the call to arms oil
their country, is to wrong the pa'rio'e
Head and The patriotic living.
Tho bounties paid during the war by the
Federal Government and the local au'
charities amounted to nearly six hundred
millions OF dollars. The reader need not
reject these figures. Mr.. Jones obtained
them from official sources.
On the first day of last July the NUMBER
NJ nensioners on the roll was 969,54i!
thirty years after the war between the
states ended In the surrender at Apo
mattox Courthouse there are on the rolls
pf the United States Government nearly
y million of pensioners.
These are few Of the interesting fig
Ores contained in Mr.. Jones's speech. The
whole OF the speech is, we repeat, worthy
Of perusal. Mr.. Jones Is Lord Bacon's
"full man" when he discusses the sub
ject Of pensions, pension-rolls, and PEN
kiOners.