The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-11-30
THE GLOBE Is. RIGHT.

published elsewhere, to have the
Glob right in its treatment of the
subject of pensions, we are much in
where the gentleman needs to pluck
out the beam from his own eye before
searching for the mote in anothers.
The position assumed by Mr.. Harries in
his last communication will not, to our
mind bear moments examination.
He is not even consistent with him
self He objects to pensioning depend
ent veterans and excluding those who
have means of their own, or are ca
pable of earning their own support, on
the ground that 1t is class legislation"
He does not seem to observe that this
objection lies with equal force against
any system or law Of pensions that
does not apportion a fixed and equal
income to all who shOuldered the mus
ket or spent day in camp in actual
service during the rebellion.
To discriminate in favor of those who
nave lOSl IlHlDS OF SullGIeu OlIlGI SIICN-
! ances and incapacitating injury would
also be ''class legislation" To COM
pensate fer pain and suffering, as Mr..
Harries proposed before in the case of
| those severely injured, would also be
class legislation. To judge between
| the pure patriotism of the man who
served through four years of battles
and marches, and that of him who,
with an equally pure inspiration, left
| the ranks in ninety days, would be an
other badge of class distinction. The
ancient argument about a ''pauper
class" has been answered often enough.
No man who receives a gift from
friend is made a pauper thereby; and
again, on the other hand, if we dismiss
the actual need Of the pensiOner as
criterion, then there is nothing else re-
naming except a straight service pen
sion. regardless of Individual abilities
or needs.
1t seems to US that Mr.. Harries
must be conscious of the weakness of
his case when he attempts to draw an
analogy between the money paid to
soldiers in the field and the granting
Of pensions. Although everybody rec
ogniZes love Of country as the in
spring motive Of the men who enlisted,
there was, nevertheless, an arrange
ment or contract between them and
the government by which they were to
receive a fixed stipend. There is no
such relation between the government
and those who draw a pension. The
pension being, as we have said a gra-
tuity the obligation behind it is
moral one solely; and, the conditions
upon which it may be received honor
ably being moral also, the attempted
analogy falls to the ground altogether.
The proof of the pudding is in the
eating. The fact is that, human
nature being what it is and the con-
duct of politics in the United States be-
ing what it is, the pension has been
made, as Mr. Harries very we'll knows,
a source of endless abuses and an I'M
just burden to the taxpayer. No one
grudges the money that is paid to
those who served their country in the
late war and are in need of any sup
port in their old age. 1t is because the
list contains thousands upon thousands
Il 81 lit
ton, of men who are not entitled to
participate in their country's bounty,
that the people are overtaXed and the
really deserving veterans receive but
share of what grateful country would
offer them. This is largely the result
of applying Mr.. Harries theory to the
framing of pension acts and the pass
ing of private bills. AS we have point
ed out before. there is no stopping
place on his line of argument, because
if the whole United States and its ac-
cumulative wealth were handed over
bodily to the soldiers of the war, it
would not be more than money
CiuiN eAASAit VI w AioNI biAClA SCI fASCS hClC
actually worth in cash.
Among the many influences that
have been at work to spread CONNER
cialism in this country, to blunt the
edge of fine feeling, to reduce every,
thing to dollars and cents, to crush out
patriotism and gratitude and the emu
Iation of noble deeds, to make man feel
that there is nothing which cannot and
may not be bought and paid for, our
pension system occupies a prominent
place. 1t is not that the worthy are
unduly benefited, but that the I'M
worthy profit at their expense. This is
the direct and inevitable result of a
pension system which is based on the
idea of paying" for intangible things,
such as suffering and patriotism. 1t
needs no other argument than a study
of the actual consequences of this
theory in operation to see where it
leads.
GIT MEANS MUCH TO ME-"
Mr. Hanna finds himself in dire
straits. He is no longer the conquer
49, ~.