The National tribune., 1901-07-04
RIGHT TO THE MARK.
The Commander -in-Chief Makes
a Ringing Address to the New
York Encampment.
Old -MaIsdministratio of the PEN
sion Bureau-The Court of Appeals.
Veterans Preference.

At the Department Encampment of
New York, G. A. r., June Z, at Rochester,
Commander-in-C Chief Rassieur said:
Commander and Comrades: l will
not attempt to indulge in any especial
flight of oratory today, but will in the
briefest time and simplest language pos
sible convey to you the sentiments that
bring me here from my home i'll st. Louis
to meet you. l must, however, in the be-
ginning, enter an emphatic protest as to
one thing, and that is the habit of spedk-
ing of you as old and decrepit, and fast
going to your graves. l want to enter
INV formal protest against that. believe
1t is absolutely true, my comrades, that
we are growing old no faster and In fact
little slower, than anybody else. 1t is
owing to the fact that we took care OF our
selves while we were in the service of the
country. We always had a little more
fresh air than the other men had who
were living at about that time. want to
say one thing further on that line, which
suppose you have ali thought of. Peo-
pie say, and | believe it is true, that If
nature had not unfortunately determined
that we should show our heads and faces,
and had determined that we should show
the calves of our legs, we would be as
young looking as anybody. but that is an
arrangement of nature which we cannot
change and we will have to get along as
well as we can.
"I have come here to thank you for the
high honor which you, through your rep
resentatives, helped to bestow upon me at
Chicago in the closing days of August,
last year, in unanimously electing me as
Commander-in-C Chief. l appreciated that
compliment, understanding that it meant
that you wanted me to work hard for the
Grand Army of the Republic. My hope
Is that when the year is up, you will come
to the conclusion that / at least have tried
earnestly TO accomplish the task COM
uitted to my care. In doing what seemed
to me was my duty, have gone to Wash
ington a number of times to aid in the
efforts of your Committees to bring about
legislation that seemed necessary at the
hands of the Congress in the interest of
our comrades, always acting under dlrec-
tion of the National Encampment. My
regret is that so little success has crowned
these efforts. If l am any judge of the
work that has been done, however, no
cause has ever been better served than by
the two Committees of our Order with
which l have acted. We did not succeed.
The Committee on Pensions, of which
Comrade r. B. Brown, Past Department
Commander of Ohio, is Chairman, and the
Committee on Legislation, of which latter
your comrade, Past Department Com
mander Joseph W. Kay, is Chairman, are
referred to. They did all that human
beings could do to secure results. And the
legislation asked for was such as should
have been granted. 1t invclved two mat
tiers of simple justice. My hope is that
you will take such action here as may
make 1t possible to secure this legislation
at the hands of the next Congress. l don't
know as you all understand legislation, but
Il seems to me almost like carrying Goals
to Kanawha' to indicate what that de-
sired legislation is, to the New York De
partment here assembled.
PENSIONS.
"There is one thing that feel called
upon TO state, and that is this: An effort
is being made to convey to the minds of
the people of this country the idea that
the old soldier of the civil war is asking
for more than he should ask for; that he
n chronic grumbler, who must be head,
but who need not be followed. l want to
enter my earnest protest against any SUCH
Idea. Nothing can be further from the
truth. p
81 want to say that my experience tells
me that there is more wrong being per-
petrated in the Pension Bureau of this
Government against the old soldier, and
not in his favor, than in any other Bureau
Of the Government in this whole coun-
try"
a comrade-"Give it to him"
The Commander-in-Ch Chief-'I will not
give it to him, but will state the truth; 1
Will tell the truth, and let the devil take
the bindmost who gets hit.
"The statement made by me can be
proved by very ample testimony. That
h may not appear to you that | am partial
or prejudiced, my belief is expressed to
you that the present Commissioner of
Pensions is an honest man; that he is an
able man; that he is a good Grand Army
man, for all know. That and my former
statement, the one with the other, are con-
sistent Notwithstanding this, it is my
belief that he is so built that he imagines
he is the watch dog of the Treasury, and
must therefore treat every old soldier as
being q fraud. | say that a man who Is
built that way may be ever so honest, and
he may be ever SO true, and he may be
ever SO capable, but he is better fit for
anything else than to be Commissioner of
Pensions"
A Comrade-"Can back Corporal Tan
ner."
Commsnder-in-Ch Chief I'VE will not
designate any particular friend; we will
not say that we want some person who is
probably charged with being too friendly.
All we ask is TO be given q man who has
q heart, and a man who will go in there
as Commissioner determined to do what is
right under the present liberal pension
laws. We want the people OF this coun-
try to know that those who fought for it
when it cost something to fight for it.,
when there was nothing in sight for us
except TO do battle 10 save the Union, are
not tbs men who attack the Commissioner
with unreasonable appeals or demands
We ask simply that what the pension laws
have plainly written in them shall be done
Those laws indicate what should be done.
We ask that they be impartially, honestly
and faithfully carried out In the spirit in
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