The Portland daily press., 1898-02-25

+be pensioners revised Think q moment
what would have happened to this coun-
TRY had there been no old soldiers. Woul
there have been any country A voice
nNo") No; there might have been five
or six countries. If theSouth could secede,
IN could oGher sections of the country.
And then there is another thing that-to
use plain laguage-that makes me tired.
They talk as if the old soldiers had new
er done anything to add to the wealth of
the country, forgetting that the veterans
when they returned from the war took
up again the acts of peace. Then they
say that it is strange that 81 or SO years
after the war there should be SO many
applicants for pensions and they accuse
the pensioners of being beats and bum
mers. Well, in plain New England Ian
guage, they lie. Does the Maine veteran
who had his eyes blown out in the war
need surgical examination to tell him
SOP He found it out to his sorrow long
ago. Then they had an examining board
of surgeons to look after such fellows as
you. The things that those boards have
done are such that had you seen man
doing them in the street you might nave
knocked him down and been justified lin
doing SO. No surgeon should twist q
mans arm behind his back when the
man is unable to raise his hand to his
hat but it has been done. l know case
where a man had rupture and one of
the surgeons put needle into 1T three
times until his two companions made
him desist. Later, when this surgeon
was called into the office of an eminent
was suffering from a rupture, he said,
ssWell I don't know but you're right,
DOCTOR but he never sent the papers that
would say so to Washington. know
this is so and know the man, too. When
your cases get to Washington they go be-
fore men who have. never seen you, but
who know good deal more about your
needs than you do. The New York Sun
recently printed two pages and half
of the names of pensioners. They called
il the roll Of honor. In that list We're the
names of IL Maine men who are dead.
luhU - otSiAPAO VI ujkO WAJ pAASoS 49oeS
are made up. So far as Maine Is CON-
cerned, no reasonable demand has ever
been made on the legislature which has
not been granted and none ever will.
Mr.. Milliken told his hearers OF the
case of a soldiers widow, in the kenne-
bee valley, who was reduced to destitu-
| ton SO that she and her children were
or the verge Of starvation. Her appli-
cation for United States pension was
| rejected ON account of an informality.
One of her neighbors interested himself
and she soon had state pension of So a
month. 9 What was the informally 2..Why,
when the war broke out, they were mar
ried, but the clergyman had no certif-
Gates and did not send her one until
several months later. Then he forgot and
dated it wrong. The government said
THAT this could not be because the man
was In Virginia when it was done.
Finally she got her pension, when the
matter was Strengthened out. l have
told you this story that you may not
believe all these statements you hear
about pension frauds. will tell you one
more. There is a widow in this state who
cannot get pension because her husband
was reported as ''abgent, wounded" when
the First Maine Heavy Artillery was
| mustered out. The government says il
| can't complete the mans record and u
his wife cannot get pension. Q
| Somebody blew up battleship. When
l II i 1. GoI hoI, I~;-
II he was inside the ship, he is beyond
help; if ne was outside, he will need 1t.
| Mr.. Milliken addressed the boys in the
rear gallery, telling them that they
would Le the mainstay of the nation II it
became necessary to force the Spaniards
to evacuate Cuba and go home to Spain
and stay there. And that, he added,
means more pensions. (Laughter.)
| Col. Stanley Plummer of Dexter fol
lowed in an earnest protest against the
use In the schools of books Of history
which misrepresent the story of the Re
bellion.
Past Department Commander Burbank
In the course Of his remarks said that he
should not object to the publication OF
the pension list. He would publish the
photographs of the pensioners and beside
them he would have the pictures of the
accursed prison pen, the hospital and
the surgeons knife.
Then the veterans went back to Hotel
Atwood. When they went to bed it looked
very much as if ex. Gov. Robbie would be
+ha next commander