The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1901-09-19
FIRST DAY.
Thursday, Sept. Il, 1901.

lEBESudsg SSpks 49, '>N
Opening OF the Business Session-The Com
nandsr-in-.Iie is Address - Reception 0
Senator kawiey.
The Commander Chief called the En-
campment to order at 1880, and Acune
CbanIain-in-Chief l. II. Stewart, OF
cleveland. opened the proceedings WITH
prayer. in which he alluded touchingly tC
the afIiction which has fallen upon the
people of the United States in the assaul'
upou the President, and invoked Gou
blessing upon his recovery, and TO Sehu
him from his sick-bed stronger and better
eGuipped for his great work thau ever.
Mrs Mckinley was remembered and
praised for her fortitude and devotion.
Gen. Sickles offered a resolution send
ing to the President the affectionate con-
gratulations of the comrades upon MS
rand convalescence, for which all CIV
ilized Nations pray.
Comrade Thistlewood, Of Illinois, Of
fered as an amendment a series OF reso-
lutions calling for a law Furnishing at
Jacks upon the President as treason.
The amendment was not seconded, and
Comrade Sickles's resolution was adopted
by a rising vote.
The message was ordered to be tele-
graphed to the President.
Comrade ThistlewOod asked for unanl-
nous consent for the consideration of the
resolution.
Declared out of order.
The roll of the officers was called by
the Adjutant-General.
All present but the Chaplain-in-Chief'
who was detained by the sickness Of his
wife.
The Committee on Credentials reported
that the roll prepared by the Adjutant-
General was correct, and should be adopt
ed. Adopted.
Total voting strength of the Encamp-
ment, 1,340.
The Commander-in-Chief then read his
address, of which the following related TO
pensions:
THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE PENSION
BUREAU.
Without any effort on the part of this
organization or its officers, to give the
pension problem any undue prominence
that subject has 0yershadowed all others
and has called for more attention ana
thought in the past year than all other
questions which concern US. a consider
ate Deople will bear with us when, IN can
dor and with fairness, we set forth the
facts and conditions which have caused
our activity and justified our complaints
One of the cardinal objects Of our order
as described in our organic law Is 10
assist such former comrades-I n-arms as
need help and protection, and to extend
rNCvu- md NTsF.t llF n
of those who have fallen" Every mem
Der is required when he assumes his mem
bership to subscribe to this honorable and
charitable obligation. 1t rests upon nun
every moment while his membership con-
tinues. and is an ornament Of our Order,
Of which we are justly proud, for we all
are thereby dedicated to do what the i'm
mortal Lincoln babe us dc when he re-
quired us Ito care for him who has borne
the battles and for his widow and his
orphans"
In 1897 at the St Louis meeting of this
Encampment when a large number, If
not a ma jUTity, of our comrades believed
in the adoption of service pension law
to obyiate the complaints Of suffering
comrades who. by reason of the lapse of
time, or because of the nOn-existence Of
hospital records, could not establish their
claims under the general pension law then
in force. that Unselfish sage and cOmrade,
the late ex-Nice President, Hannibal
Hamlin, the companion of President
Lincoln. whose wisdom and patriotism
no one will dare to question, begged us
and prevailed upon US to indOrse and re
quest the passage of the so-called de-
pendent pension bill, which gave TO every
Observation-Disclosures soldier and seaman
who had served at least 80 days, and was
unable by manual labor to earn a living
a pension of So per month. That bill
became a law during the benehcent Ad-
ministration of our cOmrade, the late
President Harrison, and was intended TO
relieve the immediate wants of that class
of our deserving comrades who could not,
for the aforementioned reasons, secure
pensionabie status under the general law,
which required that proof should be made
that disability was incurred in the service
and in the line Of duty.
Upon the passage Of the law, on June
q. 1890 large number of deserving
comrades applied for pension, and as a
matter Of course a large number were
relieved by the granting of same. The re-
lief unfortunately for many, gave them
but a pittance of 81 or Sc per month, but
that small amount enabled many to re-
main out Of the poor-hOuse, and many
more to remain with their aged wives, IN
stead Of going TO the National Soldiers
Home, to which they individually might
have retired, if ready to desert those who
had been true to them so many years.
In 1893 the ruthless dropping of names
from the pension roll without notice and
without hearing began to take place. and
thereupon the Congress. by its act of Dec.
81, 1893, declared that a pension once
granted was a vested right which could
only be taken away upon 30 days notice,
and an opportunity to the pensioner TO
be heard. The high-handed and unjusti-
fable dropping OF names ceased.
About the same time. however the
harsh change of the rule was made where
by widows We're denied pensions if they
possessed an income of S96 per year. in
stead of $3.50 per year, as had been the
benign rule heretofore
In 1897, notwithstanding the declara-
tons on the part of all political parties
as to The liberal policy to be pursued in
case of success at the polls. the same
illiberal and harsh policy was persisted in
Nay, more, although the Government. at
an expense Of about 100000 per annum.
employed competent and reputable sur
geons and physicians to make personal
examination of applicants, and thus as
certain the actual physical condition of
each claimant, these reports of its own
officers made with every possible safe
guard thrown around them, under a rule
then existing for years which required the
extent of each separate physical defect
TO be reported on, separately and in de-
tall' indicating the extent or nature of