The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1896-12-24
SERVICE PENSION.
A Colorado Comrade sounds tho

A Colorado Comrade Sounds the Firse
Trumpet of the New Campaign.
EDITOR NATIONAL TRIBUNE: am glad
to see that You are already beginning TO
agitate the Service Pension question. There
ia no longer any doubt IN my mind but
that this matter will have to be pressed BY
the old soldiers of the country. looked
for some Of the great political parties to
recognize the justice of this while framing
their platforms for the recent campaign, bat
saw they were all running matters in that
respect upon the policy plan" They
wanted to say enough upon the subject Of
pension legislation to catch the soldier vote.
and not say too much, so to be liable to lose
the support of those opposed to it, and there
fore merely adopted resolutions fav0rins
just pension claims" which implies that
all that can successfully run the gantlet Of
the Pension Office may safely be called
8. Just claims.n
The party that adopted Protection and
Sound Money for its watchwords has won
the battle, and the laborinx men Of to-day
are promised Protection in every sense Of
its meaning. And now / think that the
laboring men who protected the Govern
ment with the musket during the late un-
pleasantDess, and received deprecated cur
rency for their pay, while the Governments
protected the monsy-ienders with honest
money!" should now be protected While I
do not expect that they viii be reimbursed
for the difference between the two kinds Of
money above mentioned, do expect that
Congress win look upon q general Services
Pension bill with favor, If every old soldier.
will only take hold of this matter and do
his part to help it along.
Comrades, let Us fail into line. and answer
to roll-call upon this question. Let us
throw of eur coats and roll up our sleeves,
and now take hold of this matter in earnest,
and not be mealy-mouthed nor bashful In
demanding our rights. Let every old sol
der in every hamlet in the country step To-
the front and speak his little piece upon
the subject. Every one of you can say some
thing. All that IS required of you can DO
expressed in few words, and you can do -
well as /, for this is my first attempt At
writing for publication. God helps those
who help themselves" If we must tight our
own battles, the sooner we begin the better.
| The incoming Administration has promised
| the country broad and fair Protectire
policy" ard has already begun to sharpen
| It's tools to hew it out. We protected the
| Nation during the hour of peril, and it
| should now protect US in our declining years.
/
Let us not be elbowed to one side in this
matter. We are all laboring men, and still
poor. We can no longer disguise the facs
that we are growing old. Our gray hairs.
and sunken cheeks, and bent forms, plainly
| indicate that we are already on the down.
hill side of life, and much less able to
| grapple with the burdens of life than the
Young me-. of to-day. We cannot be a
| burden to the Government very long. The
pendulum of time never ceases to swing. In
few short years-like the Mohicans-semo
fellow, with little moisture in his eyes, viii
| write the obituary of the last one of US. Il
there are any objections offered to our claims,
such as slack of revenue" ETC., We can
whisper in the ears of the tarif-makers, and
suggest that they place duty upon this
| mutinous, bomb-throwing, foreign element
that is rapidly flooding eur fair land and de-
| basing the dignity of American labor, and
let the revenue so derived help to pay the
pittance we ask.-PERRY B. LEARNARD,
Drummer-boy, Co. E, 23d Wis, Fort Collins
Colo.