The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-04-25

Government pensions rest on the
double ground of gratitude and payment
for services rendered The theory of
ton OF actual services or as partial in
demnity for wounds received while In
the discharge of duty. AS the latter i'm
plies service ii follows that only such
persons can have a rightful claim to
pensions as have been regularly mus
tered or actually employed in the mill
tary or naval service of the government.
recent veto OF the bill to pension one
Charles Z. Jones was right. Jones was
a photographer and was wounded while
taking photographs on a battlefield.
Such Photographic views were in great
demand during the war. and presumably
Jones was operating on his own col
At any rate. 1t Is not claimed that he
was rendering any service to the govern
ment. military or otherwise. He Lar not
been mustered into the service. was not
subject to military orders or duty. and 1t
does not appear that he had ever per-
formed such duty. He was no more a
soldier than any other camp follower. of
whom there were a great many of
| various kinds. No doubt he was loyal
to the Union cause or he would not have
been tolerated in the Union lines, and he
may be a very good man and deserving
of aid. but the fact remains that he was
not In the military service of the govern
ment and therefore has no claim to be
placed On The pension list. Senator Gal
linger. chairman of the Senate commit
tee on pensions. says his service was at
least semi-military." What does that
mean? The government did not employ
semi-soldiers during the war, and the
pension laws do not recognize semi-mili-
tary services. The Journal is of opin-
ion that the President was right In say
ing that "the extension of pension to
such cases would open the door to legis-
lation hard to justify and impossible to
restrain from abuse"
Since this veto was sent in Senator
Mitchell. Of Oregon, has spoken in sup
port of a bill Introduced by him to PEN
sion everybody who has taken part in an
Indian war and the widows of all white
persons killed in such wars. 1t will be
noticed the proposition is not to pension
wounded men merely, but all who have
taken part In any indian war. Many of
these wars, as everybody knows, have
been mere frontier riots in which any
body might a k a hand, and the whites
have been the aggressors at least as
often as the Indians. Those who have
taken part in them have often been
actuated by mere motives of revenge or
hatred Of the Indians. They have not
been mustered into the government
service, and the idea of rendering any
government service has been furthest
ron their minds. II many instances
they have not even been engaged I'm a
good cause. If such a bill were passed
thousands of pension claimants would
spring up under 1t. and probably not one
in a hundred would be really deserving.
Such cases as these emphasize the
necessity of protecting the pension roll.
In theory it is a roll Of honor, and it will
Y continue to be so In fact If properly
guarded, but If camp followers, volun-
teer Indian slayers and sup~erannuated
cowboys who may at some time or other
have led a drunken raid into an Indian
reservation, perhaps only to be driven
out by United States troops-if such as
these are to be placed on the pension list,
honorable veterans who are entitled to
pensions will have a right to feel humil-
lated