The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-12-21
THE sERVICE PENSION,

CoInrade Aliens Comments on the Sig
 nificance ofthe Opening Fire of "Battery No, !,'
 To the Editor of the Journal and Courier: In Friday mornings issue of the Journal and Courier some one has talk
 en hand in the discussion of the pen- sion question who prefers not to stand
 out in the open to be seen and identified,
 as the others may be, taking the full | responsibility for their opinions and language, but shields his individuality
 behind the designation of a body of men whose collective opinion he per- haps represents and perhaps does not. There are certain advantages in fight | ing from ambush, and after reading his communication I am not surprised that
 he chose this way of participating in the discussion.
 In the first place, comrade Battery
 No. l." referring to me by name, but without quoting my words, insinuates a
 meaning which my language does not
 support. For example: "Comrade AL
 len in his reply to Comrade Linsley's | communication seems to think that his
 motives were more sordld than patriot | ic." If this has reference to my opin- | ion of the motives of Comrade Linsley's
 service in the war, it nisrepresents the plain tenor of my communication. | made no disappearing reflection on his | motives. On the contrary, I think much better of them than he appears to 1 think when he now represents that the | loss he claims to have suffered is not to | be considered as a willing sacrifice but l only as a "loan," repayment of which, 1 with compound interest, may be de- | manded.
 Battery No. r. says again: Com
 rade Aliens fine sense of patriotic duty
 seems to go to the extent that no veter- an who is drawing a pension has good | reason to consider it badge of hon.
 or" It can seem so only to those who l have no actual good reason for drawing | a pension, and not content with their
 certificate of honorable discharge or | their G. A. R. insignia, or their con-
 sciousness of duty done, or the honor
 and preference commonly and conspicu- | ously bestowed on deserving veterans, l crave with an unsuitable longing the | badge of honor which consists in receiv- 1 ing quarterly a gratuity from the na- | tional treasury. Not a line of my com- | munication expressed disapproval of | pensions for those who were maimed in
 the service or disabled for life by dis
 ease then contracted or for the de- 1 pendent relatives of those who were killed. Nothing written by me goes even to the extent of the passage from l the communication of Comrade "Bat- | tery No. l." wherein he specifies as one | of two classes who should be deprived | of their pensions now received, 'The l veteran in good circumstances who, no
 matter how much entitled under the | provisions of the law he may be, should feel ashamed to be considered q gov-
 ernment beneficiary" Whatever I may | think, what he has said is on record
 It would be pertinent perhaps to in- | quire how this rule of deprivation is
 consistent with the scheme of pensions | which Comrade Battery No. 1" pro- 1 poses as the panacea for all the wrongs of the existing system, as follows: q
 maintain that the only just measure to | be adopted is the granting of a service | pension to every veteran whose record during the war was such as to warrant 1 it?" There is nothing here about ex-
 cepting those who are "in good circum- 1 stances"
 l But Comrade Battery No. F has an answer to the opinion which he wrongly | alleges that I seem to hold, and this, 1 too, is worth examination for it's sub-
 stance, ignoring the point that it is ir-
 relevant. This is the answer: Cir 1 cumStances alter cases. The refusal of proffered aid from a government or an | individual from considerations of un- worthiness, when a person is in dire need, is not only an exhibition of un- 1 warranted sentiment but of extreme i folly" This, he says, "is the only reply l which he thinks will best apply" and | perhaps he is right. If he thinks it | knocks over the image he created, I wish him joy in hugging himself. I Nevertheless, regarding the sub-
 stance of his proposition, it is pertinent
 to remind him that there is a mighty difference between the grateful accept I ance of ''proffered aid" in cfrcum-
 stances of dire distress" and the delib-
 crate organization of social and politi-