Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1896-12-31
SERVICE PENSION.
a wisconsin Drummer Bog's Ringing Words
From Colorado.

EDITOR NATIONAL TRIBUNE; am
glad to see that You are already be-
ginning to agitate the Service Pension
question. There is no longer any
doubt II my mind but that this mat
ter will have to be pressed by the old
soldiers of the country. / looked Tor
some OF the grea. political parties TO
recognize the justice of this while
framing their platforms for the re-
cent campaign but saw they were all
running matters III that respect upon
the ..policy PLAN They wanted to
saw enough upon the subject OF pen
sion legislation to catch the soldier
vote, and not say too much, so to be
liable to lose the support of those OPP
posed to it, and therefore merely
adopted resolutions favoring lust
pension claims" which implies. that
all that can successfully run the
oantlet Of the Pension office may safe
" be called gust claims
The party that adopted Protection
and Sound Money for its watehword
has won the battle. and the laboring
men of today are promised Protee-
ton in every sense OF its meaning
And now | think that the laoorlng
men who protected the governmeh1
with the musket during the late I'M
nleasantness and received deprecated
currency for their pay, while the gov
eminent protected the money-lenders
with "honest money" should now be
protected. While l do not expect
that they will be reimbursed for the
difference between the two kinds OF
money above mentioned, | DO ex-
pect that Congress will look upon a
General Service Pension bill with fav-
or. if every old soldier will only take
hold of this matter anG do his part to
help it along.
Comrades. let us fall into line and
answer TO roll call upon tie question.
Let us throw off our coats and roll up
our sleeves, and now take hold OF this
matter in earnest. and not be mealy-
mouthed nor hashful in demanding
our rights. Let every old soldier IN
every hamlet in the country step TO
the front and speak his ''little piece
upon the subject Every one OF you
can say something. All that IS re-
quired of you can be expressed IN a
few words and you can do as well as l.
for this is my first attempt at writing
for publication. ''God helps those
who help themselves. If we must
fight our own battles, the sooner we
begin the better.
The incoming administration has
promised the country ''broad and
fair protective policy" and has already
begun to sharpen its tools to hew it
out. We protected the nation during
the hour of peril and it should now
protect us in our declining years.
There are no claims more just than
ours. Let us not be elbowed to one
side in this matter. We are all lab
oring men aud still poor. We can
no longer disguise the fact that we
are growing old. Our gray hairs and
sunken cheeks and bert forms plain
" indicate that we are already on the
down-hiI side of life and much less
able to grapple with the burdens of
life than the young men Of today We
cannot be a burden to the government
very long. The pendulum Of time
never ceasing to swing. Ia few
short years-like the Mohlicans-some
fellow with little moisture in his eyes,
will write the obituary Of the last one
Of us. If there are any objections of
Tered to our claims, such as lack OF
revenue. etc, we can whisper in the
ears of the taril1-maker~. and suggest
that they place duty upon this mutt
nous, bomb-throwing, foreign ele-
ment that is rapidly flooding our fair
laud and debasing the dignity Of
american labor and let the revenues
so derived help to pay the pittancc We
ask.-PERRY B. LEABNARD. Drum
mer-boy, Co. f, 23rd Wis, Fort Col
Inns. Colo.
r4E n. r-.4.-1 ~