Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1897-09-06
WAR WIDOWS.

Commissioner Evans sat at his desk
the other day figuring on pensions as
they concern generations yet unborn.
The declaration of independence is 12l
years old. The country is still dis
charging its debt of gratitude in tho
material form of pensions toward the e
VINO f,ugtt FIR it. Of course, there are
no surviving Sc oldiers of the revolution.
There are, however, surviving widows.
The commissioner was specuiatiDg en-
what that fact has to do with the iu-
lure of the present pension list. He
has now upon his roll of monthly re.
cipients 9S9, ,62S names. Before the end
f the current year the grand army
of pensioners will pass the 100000
mark. l. is a fair deduction that nine
ty years hence the government of the
United Safes will still be paying pen
sions for the civil war of 1861 '65.
The army OF George Washington
was squad compared TO the 100000
and more enrolled in the North to
crush secession. 1t suffered privations
calculated to sap vitality, but the wild.
ows of those patriots of Valley
Forge are still drawing pensions.
Unless the twentieth cen ury wo
men differ very much from the
nineteenth century women there will
be roll of honor in the year 1887 OF
quite respectable proportions. Pen
slons conduce to matrimouy. A fixed
income which eau be transmitted after
death as an estate has its bearing on
the question of marriage.
"Suppose," suggested the commits
sioner, with bis sheet of figures before
MIN, "fourteen years to be the lowest
limit ofage for soldier in the revolu-
ton of 1776. A soldier of that age
would have been thirty eight years old
in 1900. Now, the youngest of our
revolutionary widows on the pension
list is eighty-three. She was born in
1914. At the date of her birth the
youngest of the revolutionary soldiers
was fifty two If he married this wo-
man when she was eighteen be VI; 3
seventy. There you have the age con-
ditions of matrimuny not all unresson-
able or unusual. Reasoning from what
has proven true regarding pensioners,
The commissioner has no doubt that
during several years to come girl
oobies will be born to the destiny Of
becoming the widows of the veterans
# 1865, and of drawing pensions. If
there are ten revolutionary widows
ON the roll now there may he
| 600 civil war widows in 1886
This is possible without taking in.
to account the fact that the world
is learning how to live longer. The
snks of the old soldiers are thinning.
The ranks of the old soldiers widows
are not. N, arly one fourth of the 9S3,
62S names now on the roll are widows.
To be exact, the widows at present re-
ceiving pensions number 22S, ,522. The
proportion is increasing steadily. Soon
one.tbird OF the pensions will go to
widows. A few years later the widows
will outnumber the veterans. The time
will come when the widows will ex
ceed the old soldiers in such numerical
relation as they do for the war of 1872.
There are seven survivors of 1912 on
the roll, and there are 2S10 pensioned
widows of that war. The Indian wars
were fought from 1882 to 1S42, from
fifty five to sixty FIVE years ago: The
pensioned veterans of those Indian
wars number 1878 and the widows
1888. The Mexican war widows do
not quite equal the veterans. They
number SO72, while the male pension
ers of that war, fought fifty years ago,
are 1922.
OF the Union soldiers who partici-
pated in the civil war the number now
pensioned is TAI, ,l4l. Unless addition.
al laws are passed this number of civil
war veterans will not grow much. Ihe
deaths are about S5 600 year. me
new applicants admitted to the roll,
with the greatest diligence the pension
bureau can bestow, will not long main
tain the present strength of peosioned
veterans. But the widows will grow
in numbers for manv years to come.