The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1899-10-27
VETERANS ASK
FOR JUSTICE.
Assert That They Will Rebuke
Their Prosecutors.
CARPING POLITICIANS CHEAT
The Men who Saved the Union and They
Have Organized to Let the Political
Tricksters Know That They
Are Alive


as in the days of old, when they march
ed uoon the enemy, the old soldiers of
Ohio are marshaling their forces to re-
buke the national administration at the
polls in Ohio this November. Ever since
President McKinley's accession to pow
er his pension commissioner, Evans, has
uorsted the ex-Union soldiers and sail
srs of the war of the rebellion. They
have been denied increases TO which
they were entitled under the most lib
eral construction of the law. They have
been forced to submit to unwarranted
delays. The granting of original pen
sions has been attended with hitherto
unprecedented difficulties. Their wild
sws have been insulted by the direct
order of the commissioner, who has held
that they must prove their chastity be-
fore being entitled to the benefits of the
pension laws enacted for their benefit.
Applicants have been treated with dis
courtesy and contempt. In every way
possible Pension Commissioner Evans
has shown his disposition to deny to
the ex-soldier and sailor the rights Sc
cured him by the pension laws. And
Evans course has been endorsed, not
merely tacitly, but by direct action and
speech by the president and members
have been authorized to speak for him.
PRUDENTIAL COMMITTEE.
The natural result Of this condition
of affairs was a revolt by the ex-soldiers
and sailors against the unjust treat
ment given them. Loyal as ever to the
nation and to the country, they have
banded themselves together in an effort
to secure the rights due them under the
law. AS the result of frequent confer
ences prudential committee, consist
ing of fifteen of the most prominent eX-
soldiers of the state, was organized in
this city some weeks ago, with head
quarters at 1884, South Front street.
Every member of this committee is a
Republican, but the logic of circumstan-
ces has forced them into the Democratic
ranks during the present campaign. In
q rebuke administered to Pension Com
missioner Evans, through the polls in
Ohio this fall, they see their one chance
sf relief. Once President Mckinley sees
that the ex-soldiers are arrayed against
kim. and determined to make him grant
them their rights, he will yield. His
pension commissioner will be directed
to cease his present unjust and disloyal
course and gave to the men who in 1S61-65
preserved the Union the small sum now
needed by them to keep the wolf from
the door in their days of age and pow
erty. 1t is not charity the veterans are
asking. They simply wish the national
administration to obey the laws author
izing the issue of pensions, and not at
tempt to withhold vast sums from the
cid soldiers in order to carry on a war
of conquest in foreign lands.
ONLY WANT JUSTICE.
In their youth they fought for the Un-
ion, and through their efforts and their
Valor it was preserved. Now they ask
that the grateful nation for whom they
fought be permitted by the authorities
in Washington to make some slight tes-
timonial of appreciation. The sentiment
of the public is known. But that SEN
timent has not swayed the administra-
tion and thousands of soldiers are suf-
fering in undeserved indigencc because
of Commissioner Evans illegal parsi-
mony.
Washington G. Marshall, the chair
man of the prudential committee, is well
known in this city, where he has for
years been prominently identified with
church missionary work. At tAe age
of 16 he enlisted in the 10th o. V. l.,
in Guernsey county, and served through
the war with it. when he re-enlisted,
this time in the Fourth United States
cavalry. He was a brave and faithful
soldier. not only in the war of the Re-
bellion, but through several Indian wars,
and carries on his body the scars which
mutely testify to his worth on the firing
line.
Yesterday the prudential committee
held a meeting, at which reports were
received from every county in the state
tn oh fyya L.
perfected, and reports show that 10000
old soldiers have Joined the movement
to secure for themselves few comforts
at an age prematurely brought on by
exposure in the field.
AN ADDRESS ISSUED.
At the close of the meeting of the
committee the following address to the
soldiers of the state was issued by Mr..
MARSHALL:
Columbus, o., Oct. 81, 1899.
ITO the ex-Soldiers and Sailors of
Ohio: The prudential committee Of the
Ohio ex- soldiers and sailors has finally
completed the organization in every
county of the state, and conveys to it's
ten thousands of comrades words of
cheer.
"The brutal conduct of Pension Com
missioner Evans, indorsed by President
Mckinley, and sustained and upheld by
Senator Hanna and Judge Nash, the
Republican candidate for governor, in
turning down in Ohio thousands of old
soldiers, their widows and their children
in claims for pensions or increase there
of, has excited a whirlwind of indigna-
tion from the river to the lake.
Hanna and Nash had Congressman
Henderson, who is to be the successor
of Speaker Reed, come to Ohio to make
speeches to turn the tide and keep the
veterans from voting for John r. Nc
Lean, but in vain.
"Henders in his speeches said that
the old soldiers were chronic grumblers
who had got all they deserved and wan
ted the earth and closed his TRADE by
adding that Pension Commissioner Fv-
ans's course was right and admitted OF
no criticism. His speeches have con-
firmed the intention of thousands of old
soldiers to rebuke McKinley's admins
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