St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-02-24
PENSIONS FOR NURSES.

This government has been exceed
lngly liberal in its treatment of those
who went to its defense when treason
stalked abroad in the land. We had
9b6,O12 pensioners during the year
1873, who received from the government
S156, 40, 467. IA. Most of these pensioners
have well earned the money they have
received. But, large as the expendi-
ture has been. and liberal as have
been the terms OIL which the pensions
have been granted. there is one class
thai has been OYerlooked-a class that
deserves as much gratitude. and has
earned pensions as faithfully, as any
man who bore arms during the bloody
struggle. The army nurses sacrificed
as much, labored as unselfishIy, and
were of as great service to the country
as any of the boys in blue, no matter
how brave and efficient.
Those who, while sick or wounded In
the field. were tenderly nursed back
to health by the g~entle-hearted women
who had left comfortable homes fro m
motives of patriotism and humanity, do
no need to be reminded of the value Of
SO haloSOs 1lOIlo was q llllSStOu
of love. There was no glory awaiting
them. The shouts of a victorious army
did not herald their approach. They
were more familiar with the groans of
the suffering, the gasps of the dying,
than with p8ans Of praise. Some of
them received a meager stipend while
they remained in active service; others
contributed their services without pay.
Now they have all grown old, and the
majority of them are in INDECENT circum.
stances. But few of them have re-
ceived pensions, and these few ONLY by
special enactment. There was no gen.
eral provision of Law until recently un-
der which they could receive any
national recognition, and the pensions
they now receive are small, and in most
cases insufficient to maintain them in
their declining years.
There is justice in the application
recently made to congress on behalf of
these worthy women by the Women's
Relief Corps of the Grand Army of the
Republic. There are but 1856 of these
nurses now on the pension roll, and they
are receiving but S12 a month at most.
They are less able to care for themselves
than the men are. A considerable num-
Der are now inmates of homes for aged
and dependent women They barely
exist. They can afford few of the lux
uries of life, and often suffer for want
of the necessaries. They are surely de-
serving of more.
The GLOBE recognizes the fact that
the present is not the time to advocate
an increase in the public expenditures
in any direction, yet 1t believes that no
right-minded person would begrudge to
the nurses of the late war such an ill.,
crease of their pensions as would MAIN
tain them in comfort during the few re-
naming years Of their lives. 1t would
not %impoverish the country to double
their allowances. and it would be no
more than justice. 1t is to be hoped
that congress will heed the appeal sent
to Washington, and that no woman who
braved the dangers and endured the
hardshiDs of the battlefield, the camp
and the hospitals will be permitted to
want for any comfort.
By all means let the pensions of
nurses be increased. We can better
afford it than to suffer the disgrace of
neglecting even the humblest in the
time Of trying need.