The National tribune., 1896-12-31
TIE FEE DIEM Bill.


inspoiitie at this time" You say many
Representatives and Senators who will vote
for liberal bill, giving a known amount OF
money, will strongly oppose one giving an
unknown AMOUNT You intimate that the
Treasury is in depressed condition. That
they, the members ofCongress. are haunted
nv a bugbear as 10 the immensely OF the
number OF soldiers yet living, and the size
Of the sum that will be required to pay
them.n
AT present we can hope to get straight
Service Pension Bill. giving IS month 10
every man, because all the arguments, ms
torical and otherwise. are oyerwhemlngly IN
favor of it, and we eau show very satisIac
torily what 1t viii cest.D
Now. it rs generally supposed that the
records of the War Department and Pension
Office are subs antially complete, and 1t Is
incomrrehenshie that you can arrive at an
approximate conclusion as to the nnmser oi
surviylnc soldiers who are drawing no pen
sion, OF less than S. per month. while you
have liItie or no knowledge OF the number
who served three Moaths or three OF Tour
years.
In absence Of the facts, do not believe
he Per Diem Bill will est any more than
the Service Pen.ion Bill you advocate.
Please give MS straight goods the facis
on IN S subject
know oil many comrades, including my
self, who served four years and are drawing
the minimum rate of Sc per month.
If this hair-splitnng pension business must
coat,nne nj least until the Treasury Is
fuller." why not commence on those who
have done Lite or no service, as the PeI
Diem Bill prop ses to do 10 some extent! ]
would IKE % near from some oil the comrades
on tins subject through THE NATIONAL
TRIBUNE Boys, or old men ] should say
don's he afraid 10 speak out IN mee1ng.
Now. ii this finas place in the waste basket
all right; | viii ssili continne subscribe fol
and read THE NATIONAL TRIBUNE as long
As ! iave-NAT MCCoLM, Go. G, 10Th ONO
Wagg' ner's Ripple, o.
Z Our comrade has grasped many o.
the facts very clearly, but missed ono
controlling one. And that is the one
that we fear will certainly give a black
eve to the Per Diem feature. In the
first place, We only know approximately
bow many veterans of the war there are
vet living. The census of 1890 at
tempted an enumeration of these. Ihe
returns are in the Census Bureau await
ing the action of Congress to provide
for the expense of collating and digest
ing them. As this will cost very many
thousand dollars, Congress has so fal
not seen fit to make the appropriation
A superficial and very casual compila
ton Indicates that in 1890 there were
about 100000 men vino said they had
served in the army or navy during the
war. Since then the mortality of SIX
years has greatly reduced the number
but how much can only be estimated
If we put this at 100000 there are still
100000 veterans yet living. Of these
the report of the Commissioner of Pen
sions for the year ended June 80, 1886
| showed that there were already on ths
pension-rDll:
Army invalid, old laws s4a. 80; 70,
Navy Asa
Army invalid, act of June u, 1890. ST.. Isl
Navy inraiid, Is g = 1882
lib 4 i:
Now, if we assume that there arr
100000 veterans of the army and nav,
yet living, and that every one OF then
served at least so days and was honor
ably discharged, We have at the very out
side 226, 55S veterans who would be bene
flied bythe Service Pension Bill. To Civ,
every one Of them SIS a month would
only cost s21,T49,56s. From thi
should be deducted a great part of Tia
enormous sum now expended in RUNNING
the Pension Bureau, with It's mulifariou
and costly examinations, Its special eS
aminations, etc. Such a showing a
this, which nobody can dispute, will a
once strike every member of Congres
| favorably, and incline him to supper
the bill. Ii will present tangible ao
vantages which he cannot deny.
/ But the Per Diem feature will at ono
present complications which will |
made the most Of by soldier-hater
Just now they are preaching that con
{ paratively few on the pension roll or G
it saw any considerable service. On'
begin to urge the Per Diem bill seriousl
aud they win change their tune, al
vigorously declaim that everybody like
to be benefited served from three to 70,
wears, and the bill will involve the e.
penditure of countless millions. III
will scare off enough timid friends
insure the defeat of the measure.