The leader., 1899-03-01
CONCERNING CONFEDEATE PEN
SIONS

II is our honest conviction that
there never graced this earth a more
honest, true and loyal set of men than
the exConfederate soldiers of the
South. Without a single exception we
believe that every survivor of the Con-
federate army appreciates President
McKinley's remarks in his 81 ech in
Atlanta last December concerning the
United States government caring for
the graves of our fallen comrades.
When we read that speech our heart
throbbed with gratitude, and we
thanked God for such President, but
we are quite sure that any measure
having for its object the pensioning of
ex-Confederate soldiers would be most
heartily condemned by every true
Southern patriot. The "Outlook," in
speaking of "The South and pensions"
has this to say:
"All that remains of the Lost Cause
is a splendid tradition of heroism.
That tradition is of priceless value to
the South. 1t enriches the life of the
Southern people by the sentiment and
poetry which come with it, and to put
the Confederate veterans on the pen
sion list would go long way toward
destroying that sentiment and blurring
that memory of heroism which the
South now sacredly preserves. The
indiscriminate extension of the pension
system in the North has cost the
country an enormous amount of money,
but it has cost the North still more in
the sacrifice of a noble sentiment 1t
has gone far to blur the fair memory
of the heroism of thirty-five years ago"
AS an Confederate soldier, we
wish to say to one and all that rather
than stain should be put ON Southern
heroism we'd prefer to eat our morsel
of bread and drink stump water the
balance of our days. We are pleased to
know that most of our Southern States
are making some provision for our
aged, helpless ones who bore arms in
what they considered to be righteous
cause. To this noble purpose Alabama
appropriates annually 100000; Georgia,
$4,000: North Carolina, 100000;
Texas, s25O,OOO; Virginia, s145OOO, and
Mississippi, $4,000. This, you see, is
sort of family arrangement and no
man dare to molest or make us afraid.
No, sir; there is no good common
sense in doing our level best to lick
man, and, failing in the attempt, then
ask him to pay us for so doing. Such
would be foul blot on our Southern
manhood. We are Baptist and be-
lieve firmly in the eternal purposes"
Our faith is that the wealth once
wrung from the South by swords and
bayonets and powder and ball will
come back again, but not in the form
of Confederate pensions. You remem-
Der away back in Bible days the Philis-
tines captured the ark of God which
proved such great curse to them that
they, of their own accord, sent it back
to where it rightfully belonged. They
hitched two unbroken cattle to it and
without guide or driver they went
away towards Israels camp. On hear
ing the rumbling of wheels and lowing
of cattle, Israel looked up and saw the
ark coming, when great shout went
up from the camp that day. Prior to
the civil war, enormous sums of money
went North from our beloved South
land and slaves were brought in in
stead, and when the war closed the
North had the money and nobody had
the ''niggers." Today that money is
like the ark among the Philistines.
Among our Northern brethren it is
carrying elections by bribery and op-
pressing the poor, who are in far
worse condition than ever the slaves of
the South WERE Many Northern capi-
| talists are today looking South for en-
terprises in which to invest their
money, and already we hear the rum
blings of wheels that are to bring back
our wealth that has been so long north
of the Ohio river. We hear the hum
of spindles that are to spin the cotton
raised in the South. The coming of
this capital, spliced in with Southern
pluck and push and with what our peo-
pie have been able to scrape up since
the war, is destined to make our be-
loved South land the hub of the world,
all of which will be accomplished in
peace and good will between North and
South and without the jingling of gov
ernment money in an ex-Confederate
soldiers pocket. S.