The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1896-03-19
AN OPEN LETTER
To the Republican Mem
bers i'm the House of
Representatives.

GENTLEMEN: Fyou have any doubts
as to what the mass of veterans and vet
Grams friends anxiously expect of you,
read The NATIONAL TRIBUNE and see
there every week the long lists of Posts
that are unanimously resolving in favor
of the Service Pension Bill. Want of
space prevents us from publishing more
than the mere lists Of these Posts, with
their locations and officers We give
you these particulars to assure you of
their genuineness and spontaneity. You
can verify any or all of them at once
by writing to the addresses we give in
full. You will thus find that they are
not manufactured by US, or even sug-
gested by us, but are the spontaneous
and unanimous acts of the comrades
themselves. Were we to try to publish
all they write TO US, out of the fullness
and earnestness of their hearts, on this
important topic it would take every
week many times the whole available
space of The NATIONAL TRIBUNE.
We strongly wish that we could pub
fish all that they write us. 1t would
make a volume of evidence that would
carry conviction TO the most obdu-
rately opposed. We cordially invite
any of you who are unbelieving TO visit
our Office and examine the volume of
earnest, anxious, imploring letters which
pour in upon us every day. They come
from every postoffice in the country.
We can show any one Of you letters
from men whom you will at once recog-
nize as among your most active and IN
fuential constituents. In the lists pub
lished from week to week you Will find
Posts in your own Districts, the mem
bers of which you well know, and who
ask without a dissenting voice for, the
immediate passage Of the Service Pen
sion Bill.
We can assure you that never before
has there been such entire unanimity
among those who wore the blue, for any
Legislation, as there is now for this
measure.
They all recognize funy the good
that it viii do at this particular time.
They believe that the time has arrived
when it is the Nations duty to accord |
to the soldiers Of the war of the rebellion |
the same measure of justice given the |
soldiers of all previous wars. They are
convinced that the passage of the Serv-
ice Pension Bill will remove and cure
myriad of evils In the administration of |
the pension laws of which they now
justly complain. They are of one mind
{ hat such measure will put the whole
pension system on a sounder, better,
more secure basis, placing all pensioners
on the same footing as other creditors of
the Nation, by removing pensions from
the category of aims and gratuities,
and chasing them as proper debts of
the country, which its honor requires
shall be promptly and cheerfully paid,
without abatement or evasion. They
are solidly united in the feeling that in
this respect the veterans are entitled TO
the same consideration as the men from
whom the Nation borrowed money, and
that the pension of the man who gave
Lhe Government the priceless donation
Of his youthful health and strength should
be as firmly secured to him as are his
bonds and quarterly interest TO the man
who lent it money. Not one of them
can see why any invidious distinction
should be made in favor of the man who
lent the Government a few dollars, as
against the man who made the priceless
donation of years of his life, of his health,
strength, and future prosperity. They
are both debts Of honor, but that TO the
volunteer is much the more sacred, and
National honor requires that il should
be so regarded. Every man who in any
degree helped save the Government by
service in the field should be made as
secure in the possession Of his pension as
The man who bought the smallest of the
bonds. If a man lends the Government