The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1897-08-26
rs THEY VIEW 1T.
Veterans Opinions of the Pension
Question

Many comrades write to The NArroyAL
TRIBUNE what they think about pensions
Below are given some of the views expressed
and the action taken By Posts
John A. Murrell: / an glad to note that
we have such a friend in influence as Hon.
Webster Davis appears to be- He seems 70
have q correct view of the act of Juue 81.
1890 II ID is acted on in the spirit in which
II was enacted we do not need any Service
Pension, Per Diem, or other general law
have seen in my travels veterans ask for
jobs The answer would almost always be
abont like this: De you get pension ?"
NO" We'll, you ought to have one.
You could not do days work in our bust
ness. and 1t don't pay us to hire any bus
abiesodied men," "Weil,r the veteran will
say, have you no light jobs %, "So You
see, we employ boys in the light jobs; they
learn the business, and we can advance
them" i hope that Webster Davis will
construo the law "a Comrade Ben Harrison
meant 1t should be; viz, every soldier unable
to earn living by labor should be PEN
stoned and that would give most all of as
at least So per month, and save Congress
and the country months Of haggling over q
Service Pension bill.
J. G. Raiston, Co. G., 43d Ohio, steuben-
VILE, o., says that on pension payday ono
may go to the Courthouse and learn some
thing. A soldier hands his paper to tbs
clerk to be filed out for Si2 per month.
Ask him: What army were you in ?" ST
was at Fort Delaware | was in the 100
days." Another hands out his paper fer Sc.
What regiment were you in?" lss Ohio.
1 was out over three years was six months
in Andersonviiie; taken out most dead. and
nursed to life in the hospital before / was
fit to be sent home. "Comrad Ralston says
he IS not objecting to che three months men
getting $l2 per month, but thinks she boys
who went from home in '61 for three or
four years are certainly entitled TO as much
as the men who left their families for 100
days, and were fed up on cake and good
things from home. We poor devils VINO
were with Grant and Sherman under fire Of
the enemy all the time we were out.
ought to have the same, if not more. I
favor Per Diem bill.
n. J. Martle Friendship, Wis, writes that
at recent Reunion of the Veterans Asso-
citation of the three Counties of Adams,
Marquett and Waushara a census was taken
of the number of soldiers present who were
20 years old or over. Out of several hun-
dred present only five were found. "Now.n
says the cornrade, in view of the growing
intirs1ities of age, l think a law should be
passed allowing that 20 years and over
should be presumptiye of disability suffici-
ent to require occasional attendance and
entitie the applicant to $50 per month"
John Burt, Norwalk o., writes that at q
meeting of Post 62S Norwalk, il was the
consensus of opinion that the act of juno
27, 1890, should be amended so as to give
every soldier entitled to pension si2 per
month; that to be the lowest rating, and
the highest to be $50. One and all thoaght,
as the boys were getting feeble and unable
IN some cases to earn support, so that help
should be extended in proportion to their
disabilities. We wound up by inviting all
comrades of the Post to take THE NATIONAL
TRIBUNE, the soldiers friend"
A. j. Kress, Co. T, 35th ILL.,, Marion. Ind:
/ was one that enlisted at the first call, and
served three years and seven months. was
mustered out after participating in 10 hard
fought battles and as many more skirmishes
never was absent from duty nor In a hos
pital on furlougb. Now, after three decades,
i am permitted to live wreck on the shores
of time, with 10 years cut off my natural
lifetime, and receive the paltry sum of IS
a month. Give Us Per Diem bill with
disability clause.
j. T. Curtis, Pomona, Kan, asks if a
Service Pension bill will be passed before all
the veterans are dead. They would rather
have one now, he says.
B. NJ. Vincent, North Fork, No., faross q
Service bill of So month.
George s. Andrews, Hamden, y. Z, says
If Service bill cannot be secured, efforts
should be made by the veterans and their
friends to have a bill passed granting pen
sion of S12 month to all over 60 years Of
age.
James McElhauy, Honeybrook, Pa, says
he served amid countless bariships for three
years. He has been trotting all over the
country for examination, turned inside ous
and upside down, and gets IS month pen
sion. He says the war would be going on
yet or the South would be out of the Union
if the wartime Examining Surgeons had
taken as long to find able-bodied men as the
Boards of Examining Surgeons do now to
find disabled ones.
r. B. Hayes Post, 90, Lowdell, W. Va, by
resolution has indorsed the views of THB
NATIONAL TRIBUNE as to the injustiees
practiced by the Cleveland Boards of Ex-
amining Surgeons. J. G.. Skinner is the
Post Commander.
III. M. Hutchinson, Co. c, 10th Ky, En-
fork, KY, says the veterans are looking for
the eternal reversal of all unjust rulings in
pension practice, and liberal construction
of the laws. Says he: I do not believe the
pension-haters can howl loud enough to
scare Hon. III. Clay Evans or Hon. Webster
Davis from diseharging their duty"