The National tribune., 1895-11-28
AN OPEN LETTER.
A Frank Talk With the Com
radeS About the Service Pen
sion.

COMRADES: Let us have an open
Campfire, with all the veterans in the
country present, on the matter of the
Service Pension.
The first question h order is as to
precisely What We Want, and the next
is as TO What is the Best Way to Get
1t?
Now, as to What We Want: There
is some diversity of opinion among the
comrades on this head. A great many
want the Service Pension Bill, pure and
simple. That is, they want every man
who served a specified time in the Army
or Navy during the war, and was hon
orably discharged, 10 be granted a pen
sion of not less than So a month, upon
the simple presentation Of those facts,
the rate of pension to be the same to all
without regard to rank, length of serv-
ice, or his present financial condition.
There are a great many Others who
want the Per Diem Service Pension
that is, a bill which will discriminate
between those who served long terms
and those who served short ones. The
usual idea is to make the rate per
month one cent for every day that
man served. Thus, if he served but
three months he would receive but 80
cents a month; if four years, sl4.6O,
and SO on.
A great many others want the Service
Pension and the Per Diem features COM
bined This has been THE NATIONAL
TRIBUNE's idea. The bill which we
prepared some years ago, and urged
until the political cataclysm of 1892 put
an end to all hopes Of further pension
legislation, for the time being, provided
that every man who had served not less
than 80 days and been honorably dis
charged should receive a pension of one
cent a month for every day that he
served, but that no pension should be
less than IS month.
Still another large number want the
Service Pension to be in addition to the
disability pension.
All these plans have much merit, and
strong arguments can be made in favor
of the superiority of each over the others.
But il must be evident to every think
ing comrade that if we allow ourselves
to be divided into opposing camps, each
supporting a different bill, that we will
run grave risks of getting nothing;
while if we concentrate on one we will
in all probability secure its passage.
This brings us 10 the second question:
What Us the Best Way to Get What
We Want?
THE NATIONAL TRIBUNE replies
with unhesitating confidence, Begin
by concentrating every effort upon the
passage of the Service Pension Bill
pure and simple, and leave the others
to future legislation"
The reasons in favor of this course
are:
!. Past experience has conclusively
shown that it is the wisest plan. All
that We have gained in the past has been
step by step. The comrades have been
united On one plain, simple proposition,
which did not usually contain all that
the majority Of them thought it should,
but they have accepted it, and looked
forward TO more being gained by another
effort, and their expectations have been
justified. We are confident that it will
be SO in this case, and that if We can get
a plain Service Pension Bill passed this
Winter We can rely upon Congress
afterward adding to it other provisions
which we desire.
2. A Service Pension Bill is a plain,
straightforward proposition, with unan-
swerable arguments to the country and
Congress why it should be passed. 1t
is the maintenance of the unbroken line
of precedents Of the country in its con-
duct toward the soldiers of all its pre-
vious wars The time that has elapsed