The National tribune., 1899-09-14
THE REPORT, OF THE NATIONAL PEN
sion COMMITTEE.


J the Grand Army of the Republics existence
it has had many able papers presented to it
of the very highest motive, thought, logic
and style of presentation, but it has never
had one of these superior in any respect to
the report of the National Committee on
J Pensions, which we publish this week
entire. While it is very long, every comrade
should read it carefully from beginning to
end. He can not afford to miss a single
word. 1t Had the rare merit of captivating
at once every member of the National En-
campment-nO matter what course he had
decided upon for himself when he came to
the Encampment-an instantly con
vincing him that it said just exactly what
he thought the National Encampment
should say upon this paramount question.
The report recites indisputable facts with
the utmost calmness and dignity but with
a force all the more crushing for this mod
Grafton in expression, 1t tells exactly what
the laws-particularly that of 1S9O-were
understood to mean at the time of their
passage. and for years after. 1t points
out that two of the most eminent lawyers in
the country[president Harrison and Secre-
tary Noble-eoncurred in the Interpretation
given the act of June 81, 1890, and that this
Interpretation was indorsed by two Con-
crosses, and was never attacked in all the
rancorous political assaults made upon the
then Commissioner of Pensions. 1t
was only disturbed when the politi-
cal necessities of another Administra-
tion induced it to resort to chicanery and
special pleading to invent a pretext for
emasculating the law. In the words of the
COMMITTEES:
'rThe Bennett decision was ingeniously
drawn, and under the guise of the dis
coyery of radical error. and the exhibition
If profound legal knowledge accomplished
Il predetermined object, and cold-blooded
result"
Referring again to this manufactured
construction which had violated and dis
placed the very principle which governed
ratings under the act of June q, 1890" the
Committee says:
The defenders of the Republic did not
measure their voluntary service by fractions,
| but offered to their country d complete urlf
their all. They cannot now fathom the
depths OF q complex system of eighteenths
and their subdivisions into minute claSSifi-
| cations. expressed in words not embraced
in the vocabulary employed by them in the
stern school of loyalty. in the days when the
Nations life hung in the balance. They
| refuse to accept. as conclusive, a certificate
If perfect health from a board of review
| sitting at the Capital of the Nation, while
| they suffer from infiamed muscles, inn
| paired eyesight 4dulled hearing. fast stiff
ening joints and restricted pulsatiOns of
that organ which once sent the life current
| swiftly coursing through patriotic bodies
as they kept step to the music Of the Union.
| The National Encampments since 1893
| nave uniformly condemned Order No. 225
| rs harsh. cruel, and UNJUST, and we agar
feel fully justifiet in earnestly seeking relief
| from its banefui influence We respect
| fully submit that the rule which controlled
| IN the Interpretation of the act OF June q.
1890, from Oct IS, 1890, to June o, 1893, is
| as good law now as it was then. The
statute has not been changed and the in
1ustrial and financial conditions of the
| country to-day are not essentially different
| from those of nine years ago"
The Committee proceeds to analyze all
the decisions and rules which attempt to
bolster the Lochren Interpretation of tn e
law and demonstrates conclusively their
fallacious reasoning and cruel injustice.
| AS strong as words can make it, it protests
| against Evans's continuation and intensi-
ication of the harsh cruelties of Lochren-
ism. The Commissioner s constant stream
| If defamation of veterans and their widows
is rebukcd in these scathing terms:
The officials of the Government ad Judi
| g:ltc claims for pensions. and if there be lIn-
| worthy rame5 on the roll, the men who re
| fu2c to Invoke the legal machinery of the
| o0IIrts; to blot them out are neither sincere
lor patriotic in thSir fierce denunciation OF
alleged wrongdoing No man has q right
| 10 parade the moral weakness of the pos
| 5ibly corrupt few, to create prejudice against
the most S2cred rights of the honest many
1t We're better not to confine ones self to
tales of vice and fraud, but rather to tell of
an occasional discovery of merit and honest
virtue relieved III order that the world
| may know that the moral degen-
cracy Of the closing years of the 18th
century is not confined to the survivors of
the war OF the rebellion, and the heirs of
| such as have passed away. 1t is fair to
assume that the average man having the
virtue of patriotism in u sufficient degree
20 offer to lay down his life for his country
! N fighting her battles for freedom, is free
from intent 10 dcfraud Decency should
the Republic. The Grand Army, repre-
5catiug the ex-Union soldiers and sailors
II the United States. ard their heirs. having
IN mind the glorious past surpassed only
Dy the possibilities unfolding. and to be un-
| folded i'll the future. pleads for justice
More is not desired: with less. this great
comradeship and all it represents will not
be satisfied"
We do not sec how words could be made
to go farther in dcnunciation of TIE course
of the Commissioner i'll filling the country
with calumnics on those who saved the
Nation, and on their widows.
That all this should be indorsed by the
unanimous voice of the National Encamp-
ment, without syllable of dissent from
any one, though the President of the United
States had been present i'll the City, though
the Commissioner of Pensions was trying
TO work every Office holder and expectant
of1ice-holder in his favor, is simply amaz.
ing. IL shows beyond any dispute the
overwhelming feeling of condemnation of
the Commissioner pervading every mem
ber of the EncaIppment.
While thes long report, with it's careful
analysis, its irresistible reasoning, and
its emphatic condemnation was eminently