St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1896-01-15
1T IS HUMILIATING.
The Method of Procedure at the
SOidieHs1 Home.

To the Editor OF the Globe.
Some time ago there appeared an article In
the Minneapolis Tribune signed by one john
Gilman vice president board Of trustees.
Nj. S. H.. about the management or the SOL
diers' home and the amount of pensions taken
from the inmates. That article was misead-
ing and not true. 1t conveyed the impress
sion that part of soldiers pension was
taken il he the head of a dependent fam
lily and was temporarily in the home. l en-
tered the home temporarily as the head or
dependent family OF seven children, Oct. Y.
and was discharged Jan. IL. 1885, for refus-
ing to comply with the pension rules. The
last eight days of my stay l was clerk at
headquarters, and l know something about
the management, and all about this pension
business
The vouchers are made out and sent to the
agency on pension day. The checks and new
vouchers are returned through the United
States mail in sealed envelopes addressed to
each pensioner individually. They are taken
from the mail when 1t arrives at headquarters
and kept in the safe until a sufficient number
arrives, when they are broken open by the
commandant the checks taken out by him
and handed to the penStoner to sign and hand
back. The captain or commandment then
takes them up town and gets them cashed
and retains the new vouchers and all but
81 per month OF the pension OF every soldier,
whether the head OF a dependent family or
not. If pensioner refuses to sign and hand
back his check. he is summarily discharged
from the home. 1t seems to me that this
mode of procedure is humilating to the sol
der. clear violation of the United States
postal laws and of the act of congress ap-
proved Feb. %, 1888 Should the head Of a
dependent family desire assistance he must
apply to one l. II. b. Beebe. at st. Paul and
II his application is favorably considered, he
will get a state order for the amount Of the
proportion OF his pension deducted. payable
in ninety days, and good at some store for
groceries at about 60 per cent of its face. In
plain English, he makes a loan to the state
for ninety days, and trades his evidence of
Indebtedness out in groceries.
This is the truth about the pension bust
ness and plain enough. so that any soldier
in the state can understand it and not be
misled by any evasiye statements published
by John Gilman. or that may appear in the
st. Paul Dispatch
ment of the home is excellent. and the wants
of the inmates well provided for. The sal
aries of the officers might be curtailed with
great advantage to the state. They might be
cut in two and still be munificent. Among
the old Minnesota soldiers of the state there
would be glad TO serve for 80 per cent of the
present officers salaries; $4,000 or s., 900 per
annum might be saved 10 the state in this
way. TIC the old soldiers it looks now as
II they were being robbed of their pensions
to initiate the pockets CT the officers. Another
thing they find fault with they claim it is a
state institution and should be differed by
the home are from foreign states-two of
them from Wisconsin and from Pennsyl-
vana.
There other matters that should be
investigated. Our next legislature should in
quire into it, and such laws be enacted as
would set this pension business at rest and
regulate the salaries of officers.
Thomas II. Parsons,
Late Company II, seth Vt. Vols.
Minneapolis, Jan. "A.