The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-12-14

paid, the unpaid debt to them now
 amounts to more than $42,000 00O, 900,
 which Is certainly ten thousand million
 dollars in excess of the present total as-
 sets of the nation.
 Let us say here that it is unwarrant-
 able to assume, as some pension advo-
 cates q do not mean Mir. Linsley) are
 apt to assume in their fanatic talk,
 that the wealth of the nation would
 have been annihilated but for the vic-
 tory of the Union army. Had dlsunion | been accomplished there would still
 nave been farms and homes, mills and l shops and an industrious, intelligent l population to make them profitable. Returning to consideration of the | loan fallacy, there was no loan, ab-
 solutely none, either recognized or im- piled, not even in the case instanced l There was definite, formal contract,
 so much service for plainly stipulated wages, with promise that in case of | wounds, disease or death incurred in inc or duty, some extra compensation | Tn the nature of a pension should be | made to the soldier or those dependent upon him. That contract and that promise, both of them, the government has fulfilled not only to the letter, but ] Tn the item of pensions with a generous | excess of consideration that no one who enlisted had any reason to anticipate or nope for. Our country's liberalty of appreciation and expenditure oh &C., count of military service is unparalleled
 in the annals of nations. Conquering
 nations which have made the van quished foreigner pay all the expenses Of the war and a monstrous sum besides nave never treated their soldiers so gen l erously.
 But, says MT. Lnsley all the money paid for pensions is disbursed among our own people. True, but every dollar IS flrst collected from the people by tax ation, and the greater part of it, under our unjust revenue system, Is extorted rom the poorer classes. Although for several years the national revenues
 nave not equaled outgoes and new pub nc deot IS accommodating to embarrass posterity, more than a fourth of all the money collected for the national treasu- ry Is paid out on account of military service in the war that ended a genera
 ton ago, and the cry of those who serv- ed, or of many of them, is for more,
 more, more. No sooner is one specific request granted than new one is for lnulated. And upon the "loan" theory there IS no limit to the demands that may be Justly" made short of general con1lscation and national bankruptcy.
 MT. Linsleys claim on the basis of having made loan of what he might nave earned by keeping his job in the shop Is ten-fold stronger against the man to whom he gave his chance than against the government. The shopmate IS the one who received the wages he re- linquished. But for MT. Linsley's act the other might have enlisted, and per- haps he would have served the good cause equally we'll Yet Mir. Linsleymust know that he has no legal or right ful claim against this man. What he gave to him had no string to it. or the seeming generosity has no substantial merit. What he gave to his country in excess of what he was paid was vol untary gift, not secret speculation, or 1t has little merit of patriotism or sacri- flee. Certainly the government never undertook to make good to him what he relinquished in wages, or any part of it not nominated in the contract of ser vice. The two acts are wholly and ne- SS5oniitS lldepcnueliL anu unrelHCeQ so far as the responsibility and obligation Of the government are concerned
 The proper way for those who served in the army and navy to regard their service is as a duty and privilege. They owed a debt of gratitude to the fathers who builded the nation, a debt | which could be disharged only by doing everything in their power to preserve the nation from dishonor and disinte- grafton. They were under an equal ob- l ligation to those who in turn would in | herit its institutions and it's blessings. | This double responsibility summoned | all to tolls and sacrifices, and many to wounds and death. No one from drum I, mer boy to President gave more than | the cause was worth. Our great re- | ward is the satisfaction and pride we | may have In the restored Union, the de- | struction of chattel slavery and the perpetuation of free institutions. Why discredit the motive of our enlistment | and the genuineness of our patriotism | by clamoring for gratuities in the man. ner of dissatisfied hirelings?
 WALTER ALLEN,