The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1898-01-08
TANNER TO EVANS
Some eliot Stuff About Pen
sion Matters
Goes Into the History of Legis-
IatiOn ON the Subject.
AN INTERESTING TALK
For All the Old Soldiers of
Kansas.
AN INTERESTING TALK

Ianner recently made the following
statement in reply to recent structures
by Commissioner of Pensions Evans
upon the operation of the pension laws
and the methods of pension attor-
neys:
For some time it has been very pop
ular in newspaper circles to assail the
pensioners of the United States, and
there has been a very whirlwind of as
sault on them. Facts have not been
requisite. The widest imaginings of the
most virulent soldier hating minds find
ready access to newspaper columns. We
are 80 years beyond the close of the
war. Most of the soldiers are dead
or ought to be, many valiant knights of
the quill think-so cut and slash.
''As to this saturnalia of nlisrepre-
sentation and defamation, I am sorry
to have to say, in all frankneSs, no one
individual has cOntri buted more dur
ing the. last few weeks than my very
good personal friend, Commissioner H.
Clay Evans.
SO far as these matters of interest
to the veterans and their widows have
been given his attention in the public
press, he has occupied three successive
positions, and each time his guns have
been trailed on his old cOmrades-some
times, to be sure, with the claim that
it is in their interest; but it is a claim
that will not bear analysis.
His first discovery was that at some
unnamed period in the future the finan-
cial resources of this government would
be in danger of wreck and ruin by rea-
son of the (then to be- existence of a
numerous body of widows of soldiers
who would be entitled to pensions. To
be sure, the act of June a.. 1890, under
which a vast number of pensions have
been allowed, provided that no widow
of q veteran whose marriage to the sol
der took place after the passage OF
that act should be allowed a pension.
Ne.@g IL, h.
provisions of the old law are shat fOl
the widow to be entitled to a pension
the soldier must die of the disability for
which he was pensiOned. And where, l
pray you, and in what does the COM
missioner find any justification for his
great fear and his cutlery?
REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD AS AN
EXAMPLE.
why he goes back in the past, to
the period of the revolution, and quotes
the length of years subsequent to the
close of that war that some ladies, who
came to be very old ladies, were per-
mitted by Divine Providence to remain
on earth and were privileged by act
of congress of the United States to
draw a pittance from the treasury.
In these days of societies of 'COlOnl-
al Danes and Daughters of the Rev
olution' the general public is getting
the impression that it is something OF
an honor to be able to trace ones an
cestry back to those women of The
times that tried mems souls but my
friend Commissioner EtyanS apparently
has no use for them except to hold
them up as most reprehensible char
acters in longevity, if in nothing else
Well, there is an orthodox belief that
longevity is a matter subject to the
will of God, and therefore think the
commissioner should go little slow
regarding the old ladies. The women
of this country will never ruin it in
any way, shape or manner.
The second proposition of the COM
missioner to which 1 alluded above,
is the one wherein he urges on congress
the publication of the pension list
name pOstOffice address, disability, ana
amount of pension. This seems to meet
with considerable favor, especially
among those journals which, during
the war, had no word of cheer for the
boys at the front and have not had for
the survivors since AppOmattOX- Ihese
viii be unanimous with Commissioner
Evans, as will those individuals VINO
bit and snapped and snarled at our
heels from 81 to 90
But there is another class who will
not approve, who will in fact earnest
" protest and bitterly resent the ven
ON o. the thing if it is accomplished
refer to the veterans, and those Who
honor them-nOt with a hypocritlcaI
tongue only. They are enough yet 10
he reckoned with. POrter'S census of
1890 showed, I believe, 1,i66,OOO surVlV-
ors of the Union armies, though L have
not verified the figures. They are go
ing fast-prObably $4,000 year-Dut
they have numerous sons and sonS-in-
law and it is not extravagant to say
that in matters of vital interest to the
veterans and their honor, 1000, 200 men
must be reckOned with. 90, SLOW, S'-1l-
tlCmen. go slow.
OPPOSES PUBLISHING THE LIST.
1.-THE commissioner did me the honor,
after he had made his recommendation
to CONGRESS to ask me what objection
there was to publishing the list, and
answered him as 1 would answer the
president, or any one else, that, IN
brief. it would be a damnable outrage
These men served the nation in the
hour of it's great peril, they suffered
and they are on the pension roll Of the
nation through the operation of laws
only enacted by the congress Many or
them were peculiarly disabled by
wounds injuries, or disease, and 1t
would be hideOus to spread the facts
before the public gaze; facts which,
while in no way dishOnOrable to the
pensioner. are none the less humiliat-
ing to proud spirit. This is no mag
NATIVE picture. I am speaking where
of I know. I have in my minds eye
the statues of two major generals in
this country before which our people
stand in admiration and Venerat1on,
and I know their surviving relatives
would rather those statues would be
demolished than have the horrible
facts of the mutilatiOn the originals
underwent made a matter OF public
comment. What right has the govern
ment to publish the pensioners over the
country, as they used to publish horse
thieves where I lived when boy? They
are creditors of the country under its
laws. SO are our bondholders. Why
not publish a list of the owners of the
registered bonds of the United States?
What a howl that proposition would
raise.
"A difference? Yes. Secretary Chase
was glad at one time to sell the bonds
of the United States at So cents on the
dollar and my comrades, dead and
living, put an Endorsement of their
hearts blood on those bonds which sent
them to par and a premium in the
financial marts OF the world.
EXPOSURE OF ALLEGED FRAUDS.
What gratitude is shown in the cur
rent trade? But theY saw il will ev-