The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-12-28
THE QUESTION OF STATE PEN
 ST0EJS

The newspapers of Virginia are en- gagged in a very serious discussion of proposition before the General Assembly to almost double the sum appropriated for pensiening Confederate soldiers and widows. It is not that Virginia objects to giving aid to needy veterans. for that State, like all other Confederate States. is willing to do all in its power for them and would gladly make their last days easy and pleasant, if it could do so. The trouble comes up now, however. in con nection with the abuses which have crept into the management and disposition or the fund. The expenditure for the present year amounted to about $165, 900 but the proposed bill increases that amount to s3OO,Ooo, and that is what is bringing out so much discussion. For example The Norfolk Landmark says:
 The Landmark believes that the State of Virginia should be as generous with the old soldiers-the deserving old sol- diers as her means will permit. Every precaution should be taken, however to keep the State from falling into the hands of swindlers. That something strange has happened in the enforcement of the present unsatisfactory law is clear enough. The minority report of Senators Glass and Keezeil refers to the fact that some counties have added during the past year only dozen pensioners to the rolls, while other counties, of equal population and of no more prominence in the militia " service of the State, have added hum dreds. We are in danger of travelling In the evil pension path of the federal gov ernment. Whereas 1t was believed that the new pension law would cause the rolls to be purged of as many undeserV- | ing beneficiaries as new beneficiaries were added under it's wider provisions, the exact contrary has been true.
 The Virginian Pilot argues pretty much in the same way, while The Richmond Times is equally emphatic in its con demnation of the abuses which have crept \ into the system. A chairman of one of the Confederate Pension Boards declares that he will resign his position. and gives as his reason that "a class of men have come before us who were on the reserve list, and never had been, except on stated occasions, called out. Many of them were working in machine shops and drawing wages, and were never in the | regular army. I think l might say that at least 50 per cent. of the pension money | disbursed by my board went to people | who did not seem to need 1t or deserve l It."
 l. Various other newspapers and speakers speak of the many abuses which have been practised, and which are annually | increasing. AS we have already re- I H. "a nt l Virginia object to being taxed to pay l pensions to those who really need anc deserve them, but because so many un deserving names have found their way on the lists that there Is but an insigni' ficant sum for any.
 The Advertiser regrets to say that the evils complained of in Virginia have ] fastened themselves on our own State i We very justly and properly criticise ant condemn the frauds connected with tho | Federal pension list, but it must be ad 1 mitted that we seem to be journeyint along the same road. There Is a wide | difference, however, in the effects whicf follow the addition of undeserving pen
 sioners to the list. The Union soldiei
 receives a fixed amount which is no
 diminished. however many pensioneri
 there may be. In Alabama the tota
 amount appropriated by the State mus
 be divided among all the pensioners, anC
 any increase of the whole numbel
 decreases the amount received by each
 Consequently, every undeserving case il a robbery of those who are honestly entitled to pensions, and are really il need.
 However much we may deplore ant deprecate the evil it is useless to den! | it's existence. Any man who will lool
 over the list of pensioners in a count!
 where he is well acquainted with tn, people cannot fail to see that there ar' many names on these lists which hay,
 not a shadow of right to be there. An'
 the unsatisfactory feature of this condi
 tion of affairs is that the list of claimant
 is continually growing, just as the list O
 Federal pensioners is growing large
 every year. That the undeserving pen
 sioners are robbing the deserving one
 is certainly true in Alabama, and tha
 this should not be allowed is no less true
 What the remedy is we are not prepare'
 to say, except that no underserving sol
 dier or widow should be allowed on tn
 rolls. To keep them off is the problem
 which confronts us, but one thing is cer
 tain, if something Is not done our Stat pension system will soon grow to be farce and an imposition on the State.
 S-@D-S-
 The statement is made that the Presi dent advises that all matters and ques tions connected Wien the Schley investi gation shall now be allowed to drop Very likely 1t is beyond the Presiden