The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1900-06-23


"A paper at least, to the relief
of distress in every part of
the world except that part which is
most Immediately under their notice
has become theme Of good-natureu
satire, not wholly unoeserved. re-
cent example was shown in the osten-
tatious organization in New York of
many ohicered committee to raise a
million dollars for the widows and
orphans of the Beers. This committee
distributed faithfully a vast volume of
pcTforvid literature and succeeded in
getting on it's list of indorsers about
every politician of note in the Demo-
cratic party, but we have seen no ac-
acknowledgement of its usefulness to the
Beers nor has the treasurer called for
assistance in counting the cash.
An enterprise very different in char
acter has been undertaken by the Ma
tional Society for the Relief of the De-
pendent Widows and Orphans of the
Officers and Enlisted Men of the Regu-
lar Army of the United States. This
organization. in spite of it's long name,
means business. 1t il not an adjunct
of any political party. General Fran
els V. Greene is it's president; one OF
its vice. presidents is Theodore Roose-
welt: Levi p. Morton, Daniel S. La
mont and Cornelius Bliss are its trus
tees, and the one who can tell all about
how local branch societies may be
started to help on this good work is
Mrs. James Parker, of Fort Slocum,
New York whose husband is an officer
of the regular army of the United
| in it.
The purpose of the American Army
| Relief society is evident from its title
As those well know who are at all ac-
quainted with the regular army Ameri-
can fighting man that very rarely does
| his income suffice to enable him to
make provision for the inevitable rainy
day. Even the genuine generals like
| Lawton and Guy Henry are not paid
| enough to enable them to meet befit-
tingly the natural expenses of theii
| position and also lay something aside
for wife and children. The lower the
rank, the less as rule is the chance
that when a bullet ends the career OF
the head of the family the other mem.
bers of that family are left properly
provided for.
OF couIse, Uncle Sam in his owl
leisurely fashion bestows pension.
upon the widows and orphans OF sol
4 1t 10, mi.
widows of colonel, for example, get!
$50 month the orphan under /,
years of age gets 81 a month; thC
widows of officers lower in rank re
Ceive proportionally less, until lin,
is reached which barely separates then
from starvation. But even these pen
sions do not come when most needed
that is to say, when the stricken fam
lily has its first introduction to tn
shock of losing it's financial mainstay
At the best there is an interval o
months in which the widow and chill
dren of the fighter killed in battle o
skirmish do not know where to lool
for the necessaries of life. When tn
dead soldier is a brave general, popu
lar subscriptions appear and congres
takes early opportunity to vote a spe
cial pension, but there are hundreds o
instances scattered throughout on
country where the dependents of mere
ly ordinary soldiers, good, faithful ser
wants of the government who CAV
their lives to the service without hav
ing been blessed with opportunity 70
or the accident of widespread distinc
tion, have suffered most Grievously he
cause of the long delay in getting tn
regular pension pittance unwoun
from its encirclng red tape; and righ
here is where the Greene and Roose
welt society proposes to step in.
There is no politics in it; no thri
of sympathy for the under dog; n
chance to twist the English lion
tail or reproduce in America tn
prcjudices inherited from continents
Europe 1t is the commonplace dut
of standing by the dependents of tn
; men who have lost their lives in stand
ing by their country's flag: yet it is
, national Gebt of honor which this grea
prosperous people ought to pay to tn
fullest limit.