The Opelousas courier., 1898-09-24
Pension for Confederate Veterans.

| from the new constitution of Louisiana
relative to pensions for the guidance
! of the readers of tho COURIER who may
| be entitled to it's benefits:
cart. 303. A pension not to exceed
| eight dollars per month shall be allowed
| to each Confederate soldier or sailor
! veteran, who possesses all OF the fol-
lowing qualifications.
list. He shall have served honorably
| from the date of his enlistment until
| the close of the late Civil war, or until
he was discharged or paroled, in some
military organization regularly mus
tered into the army or navy OF the
Confederate States, and shall have re-
NAMED true to the Confederate States
until the surrender.
"snd. He shall be in INDECENT clrcnm,
stances, and unable to arm Il livelihood
by his own labor and skill.
Gle shall not be salaried OF otherwise
provided for by the State government.
"In case he enlisted into any organi-
cation mustered into said service as a
Louisiana:organization, OF in case at tho
date of his enlistment, he resided i'll the
State OF Louisiana. he shall hay" re-
sided in this State for at least five years
prior to his application for q pension.
In case he resided elsewhere than in
this State. and enlisted in an organiza-
ton not mustered in from Louisiana,
or in the navy of the Confederate
States, lie shall resided in this State for
at least fifteen years prior TO his appli-
cation for such rension. A like pen
sion shall he granted to the widow, who
shall not have married again, in indig-
ent circumstances, Of any soldier OF
sailor who, having entered The service
of the Confederate States during the
late Clyal war, lost his life prior to
June 1st, 1865, from wounds received,
or disease contracted in such service;
provided that il her deceased husband
served in an organization mustered III
from Louisiana, or ii he resided for
II year prior thereto, then, in order
that such widow shall be entitled to
tho pension AS herein provided, she
shall have resided in this State for at
least five years prior to her application
therefor; and if her deceased husband
enlisted elsewhere than in Louisiana,
such widow shall, in order to entitle her
to the pension Hs herein provided. have
resided in this State for not less than
fifteen years p.ior to her application for
such pension; provided, further, that
pensions, whether to veterans or to
widows, shall be allowed only from the
date of application under this article,
and the total appropriation for all pen
siOns shall not exceed fifty thousand
dollars in any n year.
For the information OF the old sol
diers, relative to pensions the following
extract is copied from the P%icaynne:
Speaking of the system to be EN-
ployed 10y the board, Colonel Chalaron
said:
"All applications for pensions must
be made to the secretary Of tho board of
pensions commissioners at Baton
Rouge. Application blanks will be
sent ont by the secretary to all those
who forward request for same to him.
| expect he will get the printed forms
in a few days, and then applicants will
le supplied. A simple postal card ad-
dressed to Captain L. F. Brian, secle-
tary, will be sufficient. Now IA the 81
crctary receives the application blanks
properly filled out, he files them away,
and when the board meets and APP
proves snc!l applications the pensions
dates from the time of filing. Tie
board, | will state, has naturally form
ulated q set of questions for applicants, |
which is entirely in accordance with
the State pension law. On the back of
each application are printed article 3O3
Of the new constitution and The full
law, act 1875 of 1898. We are having
the application blanks or forms made
out in conformity with the law, you
know, with such safe guards as the
board thought proper to place.
can important feature of the law is
The statement made therein that no
widows can get pensions unless their
husbands were killed or died in the
service, previous to June 1,
1866. This relates only to widows in
INDECENT circumstances.
"The board is already in receipt of
several hundred applications for pen
lions, and printed forms will be sent to
Of these applicants stO be properly
out and returned. The board has
lot yet graded the amount Of pension,
,ut it will no doubt be able to do this
alter on, when it will be in a position to
consider all the circumstances in the
ase. No pension is to exceed So per
month. Of course richer Southern
states, like Georgia and Tennessee can
ford to ipay larger pensions, to their
confederate veterans who are manned
r injured, and Louisiana may be able
do better gsome time in the future.
The new pension law in this State calls
or an appropriation of $4,000 a year,
nd the legislature at its last session
100000 for the year 1893
nd 1899.
The board is composed of able, rep
esentatiye gentlemen, who will serve
pay. The idea of the United
tates pension law will practically be
ollowed out under this new state law,
kept that tho latter has little, so far
s ! can see, of the element of fraud in
The board will use much wise dis.
retion in its pension decisions, and will
ry and be fair and impartial towards
low at first, owing to the limited APP
The purpose of the law is
noble one, and one which has been
ut to practical use in other Southern
tate several years ago"