Arizona republican., 1897-12-11
STRENGTHENING ROLL
Some Figures Regarding the
 Crescent Pension List
ALL THE THREE YEAR MEN
Were Only Twice as Many as the Number of Pensioners
The Pensions Appropriation VIII Equal If not Exceed All Appropri- at,onS Covering the Entire Gov ernment Salary List.

Washington, Dec. 10.-(Special J. One of the best known federal officers in the war of the rebellion was Gen. eral Henry " Boynton. He served with gallantry in an Ohio brigade, and in the last few years has attained prominence in connection with the establishment of the Chicamaugua national park. General Boynhon is a staunch republican and has gained fame since the war as a Washington newspaper correspondent. Therefore the following dispatch, written by him to the New York Sun, on the subject of the pension list, is attract ing general attention:
 For the first time since the pension appropriations began to assume enor- nous proportions it seems certain that the subject will receive proper and earnest attention from congress It begins to be seen that a pension list which thirty-two years after the close of the war closely approximates
  enlistments, and which is still rapidly growing, demands serious considera- tion. It is a case where the assist ance is needed of the veterans who sprang to arms in 1861 before pen sions or bounties were talked of or thought of. Their aid is a patriotic duty, now as then. They owe it to themselves to frown upon unworthy pensioners on the rolls and unworthy applicants.
 The pension roll now far exceeds the membership of all the patriotic societies of veterans which the war created, in fact is considerably more than double the membership of all of them-Grand Army of the Repub- lie, Union Veteran Legion, Union Vet erans' Union, Military Order of the Loyal Legion, Society of the Army of the Potomac, Society of the Army of the James, Society of the Army of the Tennessee, Society of the Army of West Virginia, and the Society of the Army of the Cumberland.
 Turning from the contemplations of numbers to the consideration of the cost, it appears that next years expenditures for pensions will require more than half the yearly receipts as calculated upon those of the month just closed. The present estimate is that the roll will cost $15O,OOO, ,OOO. To put the matter in still more strik- ing form. this annual outlay will re- quire $32,00O.OOO more than the total receipts from customs, estimated upon those of the month of November last as an average. If this annual ex- pense be compared with Hhe internal revenue receipts estimated on the same basis, it is found that the en- tire revenue from this source, with lhe exception of $12,OOO,OOO, will be required to pay the pension Gol1
 Looked at in another shape, if line could be formed equal in length to one made up of all the three-year veterans of the war ard every other man should be advanced a pace to the front, the numbers in either line would then but slightly exceed those on the pension roll. and more than every other dollar of the government revenue would be required to pay it.
 More startling still does the mag nitutde of this pension payment appear when its amount is compared with the items of annual appropriations. These in round numbers were the appropri- ations for the current fiscal year:
 Teoicla tivo ( ? 71o Oon