The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1899-01-30
ALLEGED INJUSTICE
TO THE SAILOR
Not as Fortunate as His Com.
rade, the Soldier.
Has Less Number of Friends in the
Halls of Congress.
Statement of Il Former Marine on
the Legal Discrimination Against
the Men Of the sea.
To the Editor Of Tic Times:


! In the Star" of the Goth inst. appears
I an article entitled Soldier and Sailor,
and pertains to proposed legislation grant
| ing to sailors the same rights with respect
i to extra pay that soldiers enjoy, reference
being made also to Congressional discrim-
ination in favor of soldiers.
That the public and possibly Congress
may better understand the precise condi-
tions with reference to enlisted men in
both branches of the service, and the great
and unjust discrimination existing between
the two classes in favor of the soldier, 1
will, with your kind permission, point out
some of the uncalled for distinctions
against the sailor.
| A soldier of the regular army who in
ours disability in the line of duty dis
qualifying him for further military ser
vice and interfering with his ability to
earn a support by manual labor is enti-
tied to admission to the Soldiers Home,
Washington, d. c., and to a pension pro-
portionate to the degree of disability, no
part of which is retained by the Govern
ment, and which he can allot, in whole or
in part, TO his family or other persons de-
/ poses.
The law says that when sa ilor who is
/ entitled to pension is admitted to the
Naval Home at Philadelphia, or to a naval
hospital, his pension, while he remains
there, shall be deducted from his accounts
and paid TO the Secretary of the Navy for
the benefit of the fund from which such
home or hospital, respectively, is main
tanned.
If the Navy Department heretofore prop
erly deprived beneficiaries of the home of
their disability pensions, why was 1t nee
essary TO secure the passage of legislation
above referred to? A further explanation
of conditions therein may explain it.
Admiral Farragut in his report of 1865 &c
to the Secretary of the Navy stated that
the naval pension fund amounted to SILL
GOO, 600 with interest for the year ending
January l, 1866, amounting to s6G0,OO0 in
gold. AT the present time the fund
amounts to Sl3. 600 900, an increase of but
81 600 in thirty-four years, on which
the Government pays interest at the rate
of per cent per annum. This money
belongs to the enlisted men of the United
States Navy and the income from it is ex-
pended under authority of Congress. abou
in such monthly amounts as the pensionel
requires, the treasurer OF the home
who is by law the custodian of his pen
| sion, deems proper he should have. Should
he be unfortunate enough to incur disa
bility five minutes after his enlistment
he is entitled to all of the benefits abov,
mentioned.
The United States Naval Home at Phil
adeiphia is the oldest and, possibly, thu
richest institution of the kind We hav
In this country, but is open only TO mel
who have served honorably for twent,
years in the navy or marine corps and VIII,
have not been discharged for misconduct
The erection of this home was authorize,
by act of Congress in February, 1911 il
connection with an act providing for tn
erection of naval hospitals
To be legally entitled to admission [,
this home a man must have twenty years
honorable service and because of age o
t disability be physically disqualified for re
enlistment, or in lieu of the benefits o
the home, he is entitled TO one-half o
the pay Of the rate he held during hi
, last enlistment. Under a rule prevailin
! in the Bureau of Navigation and which ap
, pears 10 be extremely illiberal and Oppose
to the spirit and intent of the law 1t
5 held that the time giving a sailor or ma
| rine title To the benefits of the home O
half pay. is the last twenty years of hi
service, so that II a man serve twenty-fiy
= or thirty years and should be discharge
. Tor misconduct at any time after complet
ing his twenty years honorable servic
required by the law, he is barred from tn
| benefits of the home or half nav becaus
all OF his previous good service is declare
VOID on account OF his bad conduct dis
charge.
, | sailors and marines are also entitled I
pension for disability incurred in the ser
wee and line of duty, or such other pen
sions as they may have title to under tn
! | general law, but when they become in
. ! mates of the naval home every dollar r
DC faIr.
OF by the Navy Department and diverte
to the naval hospital fund and the pen
sioners wife, child, mother, father ,
h | dependent brother or sister toward who's
, | support he contributed while in active SCI
wee cannot receive penny of his per
sion, and for all the Navy Departmer
= cares, or, at least, the officers responsible
e for such practices, they can exist by hes
= ging or become public charges, and a
4 this is done without authority of law;
e fact, in plain violation of the pensio
3 statutes.
e Men who served during the war wit
/ Mexico and the war of the rebellion an
n have seen as much as forty years actiy
a service, are inmates of the home and d,
= prived of their pension money. it beir
taken from them by the naval authoriti,
and used toward maintaining officers ar
men IN active service who may have o.
casion 10 require treatment in a nav
hospital.
:, Certainly this Government never i,
tended that the pension money grant.
sailors, for disability due TO servic
should be taken from them and used
10 the Government to purchase medicines al
n provide comfort FOR men in active seryi
}. and nigh salaried retired officers who b
'e come patients in naval hospitals. viii
in the pensioners wife, child, or other d
he pendent is left without anything
y The Navy Department has accomplish
=. this by one of its famous decisions TO 81
10 conditions. practice that the legal for
I'd OF the department readily adopts If nece
- sary 10 do so, whenever the interests
enlisted men are at stake.
e AS heretofore stated, the act creatil
!" the naval home also provided for Il
~. erection of naval hospitals and about rs
ia Congress enacted a law (section 1913,
in s. providing that
es Whenever an officer, seaman, or marine.
gu titled to a pension. is admitted 10 a naval h
ii pital, his pension, while patient therein si
81 be paid 10 the Secretary Oi the Navy.
In explanation of this It is proper
state that men in actual service at Ii
time were permitted to draw pensions Il
continued 10 do so until 1874, and the O
ek ject of the law was to deprive them
-. pensions while in hospitals.
~ In order to secure possession of the De
,e. sion money accruing to inmates OF
en- Naval Home the Judge Advocate OF
OK Navy declared in an official opinion II
~ the home is a naval hospital within
nc meaning of section 4sl3 Revised Statut
as and that its inmates are all patients thei
DC in, although some OF them are ha
rs, hearty, old men, who have never receiy
w. or required medical attention since ent,
ing the institution, and the further I.
| that the home is under the control of