Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1897-08-12
THE PENsION ROBBERY.


THE PENSION ROBBERY.
During the past five years the li'e' i"'
revenue taxes amounted in the aggresa'e
10 s5sS 9l5. ZIG. and the customs duties INC
eo.ernment's only other source OF IN
come to S61s14019i During the same Pc
Rod the appropriations for pensions
amounted to 1868. 49,. O92. In other words
the pensions practically absorbed tne IT,
ce,nts from one or the other or our
sources Of revenue. Again, to put the
matter in another form. the people OF
this country have been taxed during tno
past five years 81, 2o2 10000, nearly nan oi
which has been paid out in pensions
Twenty-Five years ago James A. uaiileid'
who could not be suspected OF pei'e
inimical to pensoning worthy reuei"'
veterans, declared on the floor OF INC
House of Representatives that the pen
sior LET was then "swollen beyond all ac-
count" and a little later, as CHAIRMAN Vi
the Appropriations Committee, eNpresseu
The opinion that it might reasonably De
expected that the expenditures for pen
slons would thereafter steadily decrease
unless pension legislation should De un-
varrantably extravagant. At the time
Afr Garfield made these deliverances inc
pension roll footed up about SSo'o'v'VV''
now # amounts to over Sll'WO.OVo.
The total ordinary expenses of the gov
eminent for the past five years amounted
~ ss3g 1925 900. Therefore, the hgures We
have given, comparing the appropriations
for nensions during that period with the
customs and the lnternal-revenue receipts
respectively, show that but Tor inc pen
sion roll either source of revenue "ou'u
nv itself come very near meeting all ihe
demands on the Treasury. TO be more
oxact according to our authority, at
the nresent rate OF expenditure the
annual pension list has been con-
Stunning more than nine-tenths oil
all the revenue taken in at all OF the
| custom-houses of the United states; Or
~ the customs duties are considered as
navin. the ordinary expenses of the gov
ernuent the pensions have been using
up not less than SO per cent. Of the to'di
receipts from internal revenue.
The above exhibit affords a startling
Illustration Of the outrageous FRAUDS thaI
have crept into the pension system OF
have been thrust into it by the poilu-
clans that have been trading on the old
soldier vote" But the New York Sun, IN
n recent issue, makes the illustration still
more vivid. "Thirty-two years after 'he
end OF the civil war" says the Sun, tine
number OF pensioners on account OF that
war exceeds by about quarter OF a mil
lion the number Of soldiers actually en-
gagged lin service in all the armies OF the
government at any time between the
firing upon Sumter and the surrender or
Lee at Appomattox. The army OF pen
sioners after third of century is De-
tween 90 and 30 per cent. larger than the
lighting army at any one time during the
war" From the same source we learn
that the total cost to the United States
of conducting the civil war. save interest
ON borrowed money, was 1907, 70S, Ssl. The
total of pension expenditures since the
war has been over s., 600, 900. From this
II will be seen that. roundly speaking
there has been already paid out In pen
sions two-thirds as much as 1t cost thf
United States Government to carry Oh
the war.
Despite the sectional character OF the
pension system. in the sense that this sec
ton gets back none of the money 1t con
tributes to pensions, the South has never
objected TO the pensioning Of honorably
DISCHARGED Federal veterans or the widow
of Federal soldiers OF honorable record
who were killed or died during the war
or have died since the war. But she does
protest against the pensoning of desert
ers and bummers. and camp-followers
ana their aunts and their uncles. and thel
descendants to the end OF time She doe
protest against the highway robbery s.
largely represented in the pension roll
to-day, and Is glad 10 see that the mat
: ter is being brought forciby and cleari.
| 10 the attention OF the taxpayers OF IN
North and West. She is glad to know
2 that her protest is being echoed in IN
= North and West. and to observe tina
s there are signs of the iniquitys bein
= made an issue by the taxpayers
5 certain sections