The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-06-04
4 BRAYrNo DONKEY.

Auc N1tiOual IHeuue, pupusncu at Washington. D. C., in a recent discus sion of the Florida law providing pen sions for Confederate soldiers. says;
 It will be perceived that the property of all the Union veterans and other loyal men. who have done so immensely much to develop the State, and of all the ne- those who tried to destroy the Govern ment-
 The Tribune is the avowed organ and mouthpiece for alr the pension sharks and treasury-looters of the Union. No pension scheme or claim for Union soldiers can be too glaring- ly unjust and no pension claim can be too palpably fraudulent to receive its endorsement and support. It goes on the broad principle that every man whose name was on the Federal mus ter rolls. whether he did any service or not. is legitimate pensioner and 8 fit subject for government bounty.
 In the somewhat sneering paragraph quoted The Tribune evidently desires to call the attention of its readers to the surprising fact that the property of Northern men is taxed to help pay Confederate pensions. It appears to- tally oblivious of the other fact that for more than one-third of century Southern ,men have been taxed to pen- sion those who :ougit against the views of government held by the peo- pie of the South.
 They literally. wrecked this section, destroyed forever billions of dollars worth. of property and left the South ern States little better than a waste of ruined homes and impoverished peo- ple, with nothing between them and starvation but their own hands and stout hearts.
 These Southern people, on the ruins of their fortunes. have built up pros porous country and have made them selves practically independent and comfortable, but out of their scanty and hard-earned savings they have all the time bean forced to pay portion. and a liberal portion. to support those who deprived them of their property. And the bitterest part of 1t has been the knowledge that large per cent of these pensioners have no more moral or legal right to a pension than have those who have come into the world since the war ended.
 And The Tribune affects to think 1t a hardship that the property of me- groes must be taxed to pay Confeder- ate pensions. unmindful or convenient ly forgetful of the fact that the ne- gross in Florida pay practically no taxes. and of the other fact that these same Confederate have been supplying the money to educate the negro race in all the Southern States from the be- ginning. and that there would hardly be a negro school in the South were it not for money furnished by the whites. The property 'of all the me- groes!"-bah!
 And The Tribune is outraged over the fact that the property of the "IJnion veterans" must help to pay these pensions, as if the Southern peo- ple had gone North and conscripted men and brought them down here to nay taxes. We take 1t that no North ern man came South unless he expect ed to be benefited, and that none of them remain here except of their own free will. Many of them came South with hardly a change of clothing and had no other object in view than to better their condition. Others came because they had money to invest and saw that this section was . profitable field fer investment, and still others came because they liked the country and the people. Northern men are among our best citizens and so far as can be seen they are prosperous and and retain their citizenship here because they choose to do so. All intelligent Northern men among us see and know how the Southern people are taxed to pension Union soldiers ana II such men are not willing to help pay the beggarly pittance which goes to the disabled Confederates they ought to pull up their stakes and get oacA where they came from.
 The Tribune is an ass.