The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1897-07-08
NO MORE .AporHEcAnY SCALES"

he electrified the veterans by the decla-
ration that it was absurdly unjust and
ungrateful for the Nation to use
"apothecary scales" in doing out its
pensions to the men who preserved its
existence.
This was one of the many occasions on
which our distinguished comrade struck
the chord of popular feeling with a
masterful hand.
When he entered office he took efici-
ent steps to make his words good, and
pensions were allowed in number and
liberality which excited the vicious
condemnation of the soldier hating crew
all over the land. We all recall with
what virulence he was assailed, but this
did not deter him from doing his duty
to his old comrades, and he is entitled
to the highest honor and gratitude from
them for it.
In one of the fatuous periods which
come to even so intelligent people as
ours, Cleveland was elected to succeed
Comrade Harrison, and the apothecary's
scales were once more introduced into
the Pension Bureau. Worse than that,
they were scales in which Shvlock would
have weighed gold against the hearts
blood Mr.. Cleveland's term was four
long years of constant and persistent be-
Hitting of every pensioners and every
applicants service to the country, of
equally constant exaggeration of the
sum paid him, and of aggravating in
sistence upon his unworthiness to receive
any consideration.
The apothecary's scales-the miser's
scales-were in the hand of every man
concerned in the administration of the
pension system. They were the scales
in which greenbacks weighed like lead,
and the human hearts richest sacrifices
no more than thistle-down. During
those four years fully 100000 veterans
went to their graves with the sting of a
Nations ingratitude ranking in their
hearts.
Comrade McKinley's election was
largely due to the Indignation of the
people against the methods of Cleve-
land and his myrmidons. While Com
rade Mckinley did not make the exact
declaration that Comrade Harrison did
about the abolition of the apothecary
scales in dealing with the veterans, this
was hundred times more strongly i'm
piled than when Comrade Harrison was
a candidate. We are sure that Com
rade Mckinley fully realizes this. and
the veterans and their friends, from one
end Of the land to the other, are strongly
determined upon the removal of every
yestige of the apothecary scales from the
administration of the Pension Bureau.
They want-they will have-no more
of this cheese-paring and pinching in
dealing with the men who saved the
country from destruction. The vet
Grams must be dealt with in the same
broad honesty that characterized the
Nations dealings with the bondholders.
Then the Government set about in an
honest effort to determine what was due
the money-lenders in an equitable con-
struction of their contracts. When this
was determined it paid them in full to
the last cent 1t was pre-eminently
right that it should do this, and it is
just as pre-eminently right that it
should treat the veterans in the same
way.
No bondholder had reason to COM
plain that his dues were denied him by
haggling over the bargain he made, by
claiming that he did not need the money !;
that he only lent money at the eleventh
hour, when he was sure of getting it
back; that he was actuated by sordid
considerations rather than patriotism,
and so On through the whole dreary
gamut of pretexts given for defrauding
the veterans He was not swindled by
having payment withheld until he was
dead and beyond the reach of payment.