The National tribune., 1899-11-30
THE INFINITE SORROW OF 1T.


we can view his success with something
of philosophy. At the worst. it means only
delay. The thing is right, and will succeed
in time, and all that is lost is some valuable
time.
Thus, when the lobbyists succeeded in
defeating any action on the Nicaraguan
Canal, those of us who were its earnest
advocates consoled ourselves with the
thought of how near success it came
that the people We're thoroughly aroused
to its necessity, and growing more so every
day, and that in the next Congress the
Pacific Railroads and Panama lobDies
would not be so powerful. while the ad-
vocates of the Canal would be more so, and
the enterprise would be begun. There
would be an immense loss to highly I'M
portant interests by years postponement
in the commencement of the work. but this
might be in some measure compensated for
by greater readiness when the time of be-
ginning should arrive.
1t is so with a thousand other proper
public expenditures-the payment OF the
Nations just debts to deserving creditors,
bondholders. purveyors of supplies, con-
tractors, the construction of badly-needed
public buildings, the Inauguration of a
comprehensive irrigation system, the ad,
dition of vessels to the Navy, etc. Each
of these offers an opportunity for some
more or less sincere Economist TO get in
his defeating Work.
But the only harm done in these is the
delay-the lost time, which can be generally
made good at another time. If the eX-
penditures are just they will be made sooner
or later. If the bondholder, contractor, or
other public creditor dies his heirs will get
the money.
But how altogether different it is with
pensions. There delay or denial means
needless intensification of suffering, a
bitter wrong that never can be righted, a
cruel injustice that never can be atoned
for. Every man and woman who is a
rightful applicant for pension, or for a
proper increase of what they already have.
is now old, infirm, feeble, and painfully
needy. Every day brings their sad end
nearer, makes their needs more grieyous,
their crushing disabilities more tyran-
nously painful. 1t is cruel mockery to
talk to them of what may be done by some
future Congress. To-day dollar may he
worth more to them in the food and medi-
cines that they need than all the gold of
the Klondike next year. Next year they
may be where all this worlds billions are
no more to them than the dead leaves which
whirl across their graves in the chill No
vember blasts.
When We think how these poor old men
and women are suffering, and how many
of them there are, the magnitude Of the
wanton misery inflicted by the malad-
min;stration of the Pension Bureau be-
comes terrifying-truly appalling. There
is not a community in the East, North, and
West-not even group in that community
but contains some man once glorious
specimen of stalwart youth; once an ardent,
enthusiastic young patriot, ready and will
ing for any duty that promised aid to his
country in her vital peril, but now pre-
maturely aged, decrepid man, racked by a
thousand pains born of the exhaustion of
his physical powers in the long years
when he and his comrades were waging
battle for the Nations salvation. His
stiffened joints and halting steps are pain
full legacies of the days and nights when he
stood picket in the dreary swamps of the
Mississippi, amid fens and morasses SO
malarial that it was supposed that nc
white man could stay there and live. Or
it may have been on the bleak nights of
the Cumberlands, when he was helping
to hold back Bragg's marauding hosts
from the rich cities of Cincinnati and Louis.
vile, and the fertile fields of Kentucky,
Ohio, and Indiana. Or his heart beats
feebly because it was worn out i'm the fierce
race under blazing suns from the Kappa
hammock to head off Lee in Pennsylvania
| from HIS fdiu OH new 1OTh. IflIduelDnla
and Baltimore. Or his eyes may lie dim
med from the glare of the binding sand.
| in front of Charleston, where he had to live
watch, dig, and fight for years. Or his
| jaws may be toothless, and dyspepsia
make his days torment from the starya
ton and scurvy of Andersonville. Or j
he is dead, the widow who survives hin
is the wreck of beautiful girl whose let
ters from home cheered him during hi
service, whom he married as soon as h
was mustered out, and who was faithful
wife and nurse to him as long as he lived
and Wore herself out in trying to make he
strength exc out his failing powers in thei
mutual support.
In the day of his youth and strength
this man gave the country all the rich gift
of his health and vitality without stin
or question. 1t was enough for him t.
know what was requirded of him, and h
gave it instantly and in fullest measure
Now, in the day Of his feebeness and sor
need, when every other resource is close,
to him, he turns to the Government for tn
ulfllment of its promises to him. Blu
where he gave lavishly all and even NOR
than was asked, he is now met with in
sulting suspicion and cruel bubbles. III
! finds the intent pf tho lawS naccad for l.;