The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1898-12-29
THE NATIONAL WASHINGTON THURSDAY
CARELESS INJUSTICE.

CARELESS INJUSTICE.
/ 1t is aggravatingly astonishing that so
gen orally well-informed Journal as the
Youths Companion should print such a
paragraph as this:
| 1t is pity that some of the worthy veterans
of the civil war, who are men of high prncl-
pie, and heartily condemn ordinary fraud,
should feel that the demand TO investigate
the validity OF questionable pensions implies
hostility to the old soldiers, and to the PEN
sion system. 1t is well known that thou
sands of persons are drawing pensions who
have no right to them, either under the law
or under any theory of the country's duty to
its defenders. The old soldiers owe 1t to their
sense of right and to the honor of all patrl-
otc men who deserve to receive pensions, 10
advocate and even demand that the names of
these unworthy recipients OF money should
be struck from the pension list.
There is not the slightest foundation
for tn severe reflection on the veterans
and their widows contained in the asser-
ton that there are thousands Of persons
drawing pensions who have no right TO
them. The Youths Companion is
simply and carelessly repeating the
ISLANDERS set aAoat by the vicious and
unprincipled soldier-haters. 1t is pecu-
liarly unfortunate that paper of such
wide circulation among the young as
the Youths Companion should make
itself the vehicle of such injurious stuff,
for it has tendency to prejudice the
mirds of the rising generation against
the veterans, whom they should honor
and respect above all men.
We call the attention of the Youths
Companion to the fact, well-known to
all men, that after Mr. Cleveland, for
his own purposes, made the declaration
that there were thousands of neigh
borhoods which had their we'll known
cases OF fraudulent pensioners" he had
the whole power of the United States
placed at his disposal to prove his cal
unny, and for four years he used it
vigorously to find those thousands of
pension frauds. Never did a public
man make more humlliating failure to
support his accusations. Never did the
pensioners receive such thorough vim
,lication, for it was at the hands of their
worst enemy, who was given every
power to sustain his allegations. Con-
gress at one time appropriated 100000
to enable him to make special investi,a-
lions. When he had exhausted this,
more was given him. Ali the great
force Of the Pension Bureau was set to
fraud hunting, and they We're assisted by
the Postmasters, the officials of the De-
parlment of Justice, aud every other Gov
eminent employee that could be pressed
into the service They were all ami
mated to the greatest activity, in order to
make good the assertions Of their chief.
After four years of this work, at cost
winch must have run into the millions,
they found absolutely nothing. They
made great furore over the Bennett
Case" and the Bald Headed Case"
but it was at once shown that In both
these the unfortuna claimants were
entitled to more pensions than they were
receiving, and the Clevelandites SUBJ
sided into merciless still-hunt. In all
those years and with all the enormous
expenditure of money and effort they
found no fragrant case of fraud, no I'M
usual amount of dishonesty. In their
biggest year they found but 377 fraudu-
lent pensions, where in the ordinary
routine OF the Pension Bureau there
develops about 3337. This would make
a proportion of fraud Of less than / in
5000 cases, an astonishingly low per
centage. In no other class of expendi-
lures, public or private, is the dishonest
proportion SO small
We are only reciting well-known
facts of public history, which the
Youths Companion should know as
well as we do, and we sincerely hope
that it will turn its attention to these,
and give the veterans the vindication
that they have the right to expect.
| HE present attitude of some Of the
ex-rebels suggests an old campaign
story: