The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-11-12
PLEADS FOR VETERANS
MR.. SHAW WANTS PENSION LAWS
MORE LITERALLY CONSTRUED.
mmander-in-Chief of the G.. 4. r..
Thinks Old Soldiers Have Been De-
famed by the Cry OF Fraud.

NEW n, NOV. l1.-AlOeTl NJ 0HdW,
commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of
the Republic was rendered a reception at
the Seventy-first Regiment armory tonight
by the 102 G. A. r. posts of Greater New
York and vicinity Fully 1900 representa-
tives of the various posts were present
Commander Shaw spoke on the subject Of
pensions. saying in part:
Again and again have declared my be-
lief that every needy and worthy veteran
OF the great war who is entitled to PEN
sion under present laws should be granted
one without vexing delays. caused be I'M
necessary and illiberal technicalities or
something worse. Henceforth veterans
should demand equal and exact justice I'M
der present enactments along the lines Of
pensions.
.The war produced two classes, in a
sense: the creditor class, who loaned money
and goods TO the Nation. and the brave de-
tenders, who loaned their bodies and lives
TO save the Union. One has been amply
and grandly paid in the full measure of gold
values of the world; the other has hardly
been half paid, measured by the same
standard. After peace blessed the land
with plenty on every hand, the volunteer
citizen soldiers and sailors voted TO save
the credit of the Nation, in a battle Of the
ballots of unprecedented bitterness and i'm
portance. without allowing any question of
retribution or well-merited recompense TO
themselves to enter into the contest.
There can be no doubt that the cry,
pension frauds pension agent sharks and
the like has Brought down on the veterans
ana pensioners of the Union fierce criticisms
as undeserved as they have been cruel,
and even brutal in a great number of cases.
This organized plan of defamation recalls
the masked batteries of days-those
who shoot from the rear, the copperheads
of that time. 1t has been the cold-blooded
calculation of men who have placed politi-
Cal eXpediency in the patriotic nails OF JUS
tice Tor mere partisan ana seihsn enos:
against pension frauds to which have re-
ferred reached its climax. After the ex-
penditure OF nearly million of dollars APP
propriated by Congress and spent In In
VesJigaIion 1t was proved conclustvely that
the pension roll was the purest roll in the
world
There has never been a period when a
deeper feeling of unrest and dissatisfaction
existed among the veterans than at the
present time upon the question of pensions.
1t Is widely believed that large numbers
OF applications for pensions are purposeiy
delayed in allowance and even many worthy
cases rejected. though the claim is clearly
established just one, so as to Keep
down pension expenditures, regardless OF
the clear intent OF laws passed by grateful
people for the benefit OF needy and deserv
ing veterans, and the allowances are seldom
what the examining board recommend. Iney
are nearly always pared down. 1 fear this
belief is too we'll founded. My evidence on
this point seems incontroveruble. SOL
Cier 5 widow should not be permitted to sur
Ter in this land of plenty, and we stoutly
fI.sist that rule No. % should be abrogated
and rule No. ISL re-established.
What Is needed, and what Is not now en-
forced. is TO have the present pension laws
administered in their plain, simple. con-
structive intent-without any attempt to
authorized
their enactment; and let all financial re-
sponsibility therefor rest upon Congress.
where IL properly belongs.
Alas, how keen many are in their will
ingness to sheer at the veteran add criticise
the pension roll. There are blots in II, no
doubt. but the hue and cry about bummers
and frauds are sad reading TO old veter-
ans who know all the facts about the moral
wrecks and wounds of the service. Keep
up such an unfair cry against frauds in
our churches, as some newspapers are
doing about the pension question. and the
churches would soon feel the hard heel of
blighting and cruel denunciation, and the
same would be true with the lawyers and
physicians.
I'm the financial poverty. comparatively
speaking, OF our country. in the last days
all were granted pensions. Why should not
every needy and deserving veteran of the
great war that saved the government of
unsurpassed period of national wealth be
promptly granted a pension?
i have no doubt our pension laws are rot
being executed in the liberal and Just spirit
IN which they were passed, and this belief
cuts my heart like a poisoned pain. The
time has come when impartial justice must
prevail In the execution of these laws
These laws provide for pensioning all needy
and worthy applicants who come within
their provisions and any policy which fails
10 carry this out is injustice and 4
wrong. Any officials who by their acts
thwart the generous spirit of justice do a
wroEg or almost objectionable heartless-
ness-considered in the light of suffering
veterans. whose bounty Is thus kept from
them In their old age by unworthy men
charged with the honorable execution of the
laws"