The National tribune., 1895-07-11
THInTY-oNE YEARS AFTER.i

1 ltiSb n pm.
The last rebel army surrendered 81
years ago last May.
Thirty-one years ago the victoriou;
armies of the Union marched proudly
up Pennsylvania avenue in the Grand
Review, and the men composing them
dispersed to their homes and peaceful
occupations.
Thity-one years ago the last camp
fires died out on the hilltops and in the
valleys, the war bugles sang their last
Taps" and the watchful picket gave
his last challenge.
Thirty-one years ago the thousands of
hospitals whose long, sad line marked
the fierce swelling and swaying of the
" battles deadly wave" from the At
lantic to the arid plains, sent ont their
last pale-faced patients either home or
to the grave, hauled down their yellow
flags, eloquent of pain and death, and
became no more.
Thify-one years ago the last rebel
prison-pen opened Its gates and restored
10 life and liberty the last emaciated
wreck against whom it had been barred.
Thirty-one years ago the survivors of
The grand host which had been battling
for four years for the rescue of the Ma
ton. and who had seen one ont of every
four Of their numbers 20 down in the
deadly strife, and at least another fourth
hopelessly injured, received the acclama-
ton of the country and the world that
they had done work which human his
tory had never seen paralleled. They
had carried on the most stupendous OF
ali known wars with courage, forti-
tude, heroic constancy that were I'M
precedented. They had been as IN
selfish and humane as they had been
brave and persevering. No atrocities,
no outrages, no spOliations such as have
always mxked European wars furnished
the brillisncy Of the record written by
their bayonets. In their hour of over
whelming victory they had been the
gentlest and most forbearing of con-
querors. They merely required of their
vanouished foemen that they retire, with
themselves, to the condition of peaceful
fellow-citizens.
As they stacked their guns and ex-
CHANGED their worn uniforms for the
garb Of peace, they could poin. 20 work
most gloriously rounded up. Not
hostile sword was brandished anywhere;
not gun in the hands Of the country's
enemies. The land had been purged of
the deadly virus of slavery. The ques-
ton of Secession, which threatened the
Nation with destruction from the day of
It's formation, had been killed beyond a
possibility Of resurrection. The Nations
authority, for the first time in its history,
WAS supreme and absolute over every
foot Of its soil. The country was at last
Tiyeted together in unbreakable bonds
Of steel, with every fctter swept away
which held it back from its career Of
linlitiess prosperity and glory.
The men who had achieved all this,
who had purchased it all by the liberal
Of their young manhood's
health and strength, went home and
awaited the peoples gratitude and just
ice. They waited while they nursed
their wounds, and tried TO medicine their
hurts and weaknesses.
80 have they waited for 81 years,
from youth to old age. Nearly half Of
them have died while waiting. Forty
thousand of them are dying every year
while they still wait.
How long must this be?
II is rank injustice-it is a National
shame, that they have had to wait, not
81 years, but 10, or five even. Not
man who served his country faithfully
and who now suffers should be off the
pension roll. There should be no ques-
ton, quibble or circumlocution about
his being mt unou II. Ii should he