The Portland daily press., 1895-05-31


nature that too often we reserve, until
men are dead, those fragrant garlands
and glowing words which would have
come with better grace while yet the re-
cipients were in the land of the living. 1
have sometimes feared that there was a
possible danger of such being the fate of
the surviving members of the Grand
Army.
There seems to be a growing sentiment
among certain class of men which,
while it eulogizes the dead soldiers, yet
begrudges any substantial recognition of
the claims of the living soldiers.
This sentiment finds public voice
Commissioner of New York city, whose
recent scathing arraignment of the Grand
| Army is too fresh in your minds to need
| repetition. Indeed, in the presence of
| these "blue coats" and under the shadow
| of this flag such words repeated would be
only adding insult to injury!
| This class of men to which I have re-
ferred, would have us believe that the
Grand Army is made up largely Of lazy
adventurers who are engaged in swind-
ling the government by means of the pen
sion system. That may not be misun-
derstood let me say word concerning
the man who has voiced these sentiments.
! Personally I don't know him. But I
judge that he is an honest official and is
doing we'll the work to which he has been
appointed. But 1 am not aware the office
and work Of keeping the streets of New
York clean involve the necessity of pass
ing public Judgment upon the Grand
missioner of New York I have no criti-
cism to pass upon him. But the state
ments which he is reported to have made,
as a citizen, concerning the surviving
| Union soldiers, and which find reiterat-
ed and defended in communication to
| ~f - LIZ
demand attention, for they constitute a
most serious charge Either it is true and
the pension system is an imposition upon
the taxpayers of the country, OR else it is
a most infamous insult to the American
people. There is no middle ground,
propose, for little time, to consider
with you the rationale of the pension
that can do this with some degree of
propriety for two reasons: (D was not
born until five years after the civil war
ended; and (2) no kith or kin of mine
receives pension. The few relatives of
mine who were in the war were fortunate
enough to die from wounds received in
open battle and from brave and worthy
foemen; and so escaped those deeper,
sadder wounds which are, in these days,
being inflicted upon their surviving COM
rades by the cowardly tongue of slander
The question which confronts us is this,
| I1dV6 tllc ulSciUl6u SURVIVORS VI bu0
Army, and the widows and orphans of
the dead, a rightful claim on the tax
payers of today for aid and support?
I say most mphatically-Yes! And in
support of my affirmation I appeal. not
to ponderous tones of history, nor to the
profundities of political economy-but
simply to the men here tonight whose
memories go back to the beginnings of
the war.
You will rcall that ever memorable
18th, of April thirty -four years ago,
when the awful news was flashed from
South to North that the stars and
stripes" flying over Fort Sumter had
been fired upon!
To your dying day you will not forget
the tumultuous thoughts which filled
your souls for the news meant-Civil
War! And it seemed to you that the
worlds dream of peace and good will
which, for the first time in history, was
taking form in the free institutions. OF
America, must now go out forever in a
and fratricidal strife.
The government of the United States,
unlike European nations, had no vast
standing army" Of mercenaries, and
so from Washington there went forth the
call for citizen volunteers to every city and
hamlet in the land You heard that call
here in Portland Business was suspend
ed. Bands marched up and down the
streets playing the patriotic airs Of 1776
and 1912. Everywhere appeared immense
placards announcing mass-meetings and
rallies.
The farmer boys came in from the hills
the clerks forsook their desks, the lawyer
his CLIENT the preacher his study, the
banker his office, by tens, hundreds and
thousands they came together filling this
very hall where you sit tonight. And
then you remember how tn eorators, stand
ingupon this same platform and pointingto
the flag of the Union, thrilled your hearts
young men then, your hearts were
strained with noble emotions like tense
harp strings, and the speaker smote them
as he would
Then came the call to enlist You were
more than ready to do it-but 10! sober
ready to go, but who will care for my
loved ones if l am killed, or who will
lend helping hand if I survive and re-
turn crippled and broken down?" And
then you remember how the orators de-
clared, amid the cheers of tho assembled
citizens and taxpayers, that the Nation
would never forget those who preserved it
that so long as the government had a
dollar it would share it with its needy
soldiers. With this promise ringing in
your ears you enlisted. You gave up the
trades you were learning, the education
you were just completing the professions
you were about to enter; you said fare
we'll to the sweethearts you loved, to the
wives and little ones dearer than life you
left all and went to the 'front.' and for,
four long years, bloody years you followed
wherever told Glory led, until at last
her tattered stars and stripes waved in
triumph over the field of Appomattox!
In the beginning of the war you re-
ceived II a month EAfterwards, when it
took So. S5 in paper-money to buy one in
gold your pay (gold basis } was not
worth more than S. 90 q month.
Was it for this you fought the bitter
war to an end? Was it for this, or for the
plttance in the shape of pensions after
ward, that the citizen soldiers preserved
the Nations life and saved the Union OF
the States?
Thousands left their bones in unknown
graves beneath the moaning pines and
hemlocks OF southern battlefelds Thous-
ands survived and came home shattered
and old before their time. Four golden
years OF young manhood had gone by
while for the munificent sum of S.. 90 q
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