The National tribune., 1900-02-15
PRIVATE DALZELL.
He Discusses the Pension Situation With
Candor and Force.

EDITOR NATIONAL TRIBUNE: 1t is
unnecessary to say-a manof the humblest
private walks of life, whose opinion, ac
cording to the President Montesquieu. sis
dLwdys valueless"-that ] have nothing
personally against Commissioner of Pen
sions Evans. He has never crossed my
path, nor ! his, so that the personal eJua
ton disappears at once from any estimate
| may have of the Commissioner of Pen
sions-for of the man know nothing and
care less.
/ acknowledge at once with bluntness
franknesS and candor that are as natural
to me as breathing that do not like ol
lndorse the present administration of the
Pension Office.
There, now, we start with fair under
standingo my position. anyway. under.
stand this to be the attitude or the living
soldiers and their sons, and the widows and
children Of our dead comrades generally
all over the United States: at least, Their
letters all seem TO say, oil | have seen.
and they are not a few nor from one State
not one exception. In some of these letters
grave and bitter complaint is made against
that ofiics. 1t has displeased all-pleased
none. This may be wrong; it may be un-
illst TO Evans; it can't be helped: there is
, the ugly fact staring at You as plainly as
a rock against a blue sky; t noon. | will
MT 81 ecify: s. all not enter into details
The complaint is general. II is wide.
spread as the cOmrade5hip who have been
disappointed III Evans. Say they expected
TOO much. May he that is true. Let lis
be reasonable. But the promises were
, larger than any exp, ctation can lie to Sc
c;Ire the solid soldier vote in 1896. Has i,
been redeemed:
No.
The comrades had fared badly under
Roke Smith. and almost in a body voted tc
condemn him, under the pledge and
promise of better things under Mckinley
Ii swept the North like a cyclone, and
elected Mckinley. Great things were ex
pected under his rule, and no one will DENY
that the soldiers have Jared better unde,
Mckinley than they did under Cleveland
in some respects, but not To the exten,
promised and expected by us. It's best ti
be plain, honest and truthful, and not to
lie for the sake of toadying TO any one oil
| liattenng any ones vanity or conceit. O.
| how bitterly the Toys write me of these
things. Not in anger, not in disappoint-
ment, but in sorrow and despair that are
pathetic. The Committee of the GAR
make the mistake of thinking that two OF
three little matters of law need tinkerinp
and all will be well. That is, that a patch
or a poultice will cure the cancer. No, no
ii is not that. The knife is what s needed
10 cut il out
The laws are o. K II is the tardy.
| technical administration that is wrong,
not the law. Ii makes me laugh TO see
the efforts put forth to doctor the thing up
smooth it over and whitewash it. 1t cant
be done. The boys are no fools. They
know that Office is hostile to them and
| their pensions. and they. with one voice
| condemn it generally.
The indictment is of the spirit that dom
mates the Office sweeping, and contains
| more than one or two legal. technical
points that the boys know nothing about
and care less
Alger had to go in obedience TO popular
demands. My poor little opinion is that il
was unjust. No matter he had TO go.
FoX populi, yox del Poor Tanner had
| 10 go, and that was unjust and defeated
| Harrison. No matter; the people demand
ed II, and Tanner was made a yicario,Is
sacrifice, like Aiger
1t can't be sidetracked by insinuatinp
that soldiers widows are not "like Cesar's
! wife, above suspicion" nor by hurlinp
abuse at pension sharks. These little
tricks are too thin TO cover up the thing
complained of-the delays and hostility 81
the Pension Office! Good and bad attorneys
there are practicing before the Supreme
Court of the United States, but that does
not excuse any wrong decision or un
necessary delay of that Court. Lawyers
practice for fees. fees in all the courts. AND
in the prosecution Of claims for patents
pensions and other claims. But does that
excuse delay and denial of practice, and
the treating every claimant as fraud and