The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-08-28
THE DANGERS OF VOLUNTARY PRE-
v~IOUSNESS.

THE DANGERS OF VOLUNTARY PRE-
vIOUSNESS.
Secretary Of State Myers. who is a can
didate for a fourth term of the office he
now holds, has betrayed an impotence TO
rush into the battle which is lamentably
lacking among his brethren generally. In
truth, the duties of the Secretary of State
no longer nave delight for him; but. sniff
ing the battle from afar. he RACES for it
like a Gagged lion. Perhaps it would better
fit the word and action of Secretary Myers
TO say that he is believing and paving
dirt. Inasmuch as the Secretary is to be
as the head of the State ticket, and that
he may not be taken unawares, the Jour-
nal would call his attention to certain re-
marks of his commencing the message of
President Cleveland read to Congress Mon
day. Dec. 4. 1893, which he will find in the
Sentinel of Wednesday, Dec. 6, regarding
the question of pensions, which read as fol-
lows:
The document (the Presidents message)
is both able and timely. The President is
correct on the tariff, and he is correct on
the pension question. L have always re-
garded him as the best friend the soldier
has. He has the courage to stand by his
convictions.
AT that time the %utterances of Mr.. Cleve-
land in that message were fresh in the
mind of Secretary Myers, and among them
was the following:
Thousands of neighborhoods have their
~well-known fraudulent pensioners, and re-
cent developments by the bureau establish
appalling conspiracies TO accomplish pen
sion frauds.
Secretary Myers must see that until the
President and his Pension Bureau point
out who are the thousands of fraudulent
pensioners in thousands Of neighborhoods''
that accusation of Mr.. Cleveland lies
against every veteran drawing a pension.
But four conspiracies to perpetrate pension
frauds have been discovered, and two of
these were unearthed by the preceding ad-
ministration. and none of them were ZAP
palling." being conspiracies Of claim agents
and their tools. rather than veterans. The
CIidI &c I'LL SldIuS dlQ 81 uOcS Tie CHI
phatic Endorsement of Secretary Myers.
Again. the Secretary of State, the Hon.
William R. Myers, ayers that Mr.. Cleve-
land has always been the best friend the
soldier has" And yet President Cleveland
put the following statements into a public
message:
The soldiers of our civil war. in their
pay and bounty. received such compensa-
ton for military services as have never
been received before since mankind went
to war. " The really. needy and
homeless soldiers of the rebellion have been,
to a large extent, provided for at soldiers
homes. . . . 1t is sad, but nevertheless
true, that in the matter of procuring pen
sions there exists a widespread disregard
of truth and good faith; and there can be
fered by the bill (the disability bill. which
he vetoed,) would not only stimulate weak
ness and pretended incapacity for labor.
but would put a further premium on dis
honesty and mendacity.
In the several hundred vetoes of private
pension bills. for which Mr.. Cleveland
achieved a national notoriety, the insults
to the applicants were numerous. the fol-
lowing being one of many:
The ingenuity developed in the constant
1All = L LldCho hPOh ILC phDtl
treasury by those claiming pensions. and
in the increase of those already granted is
exhibited in bold relief by this attempt to
include sore eyes among the results of
diarrhoea-
And yet it was demonstrated by learned
physicians that among the results of years
of chronic diarrhoea was partial blindness.
The man who uttered such cruel insults
fha hood Of tho DamnCratio State ticket
has always regarded as the best friend the
soldier has had. The editor of the Dun
ham, n. c., Globe, however. does not re-
gard these utterances as those of a friend,
but declares that in making them the Presi-
dent slapped the dirty beggars. called pen
sioners, in the face. Nor did Col. b. c.
Shaw, a much older Democrat than Capt.
Myers, and now holding a federal office, al
ways regard the President as the best
friend the soldier has" In a protest against
Mr.. Cleveland's denomination in 1892, Col.
Shaw said:
Does not the fact that mis- language of
insinuation and contempt for SOC, 600 Demo-
cratic soldiers, as expressed in many diff
ferent forms in his veto messages, furnish
more evidence of his pretensions.
AS the competitor with Alonzo Green
Smith for the Democratic nomination for
Governor next year, Captain Myers is
doubtless impatient to get before the peo-
pie. but the Journal warns him of the dan
ger of previousness, as illustrated in his
haste to indorse the Presidents pension