The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1902-08-01
at higher prices than is allowed by
state law. The penalty is fine Of
$25 to $500. T.

Trade follows the flag, the Consti-
tuition does the best it can tu kee p
up, but pensions never desert or lose
sight of Old Glory. (
Here and there it is just possible
that pension may have forgotten,
there is fag-until its memory is
logged by a claim agent-but in the
great majority of cases the pension
follows the colors so closely that
sometimes it appears to forge trifle
ahead of them. ,
Colnonel Ware, the new COM
missioner of pensions, has noticed
some of these things, and they have
greatly surprised him. The number
of pension applications growing
out of the Spanish-Amreican war is
80 great that he has been induced
to make comparisons, taking the
records of five regiments Of
volunteers and five regiments of
regulars which were before Santiago.
Of the volunteers there is total
of 8, 119 applications for pensions;
of the regulars 2,240. OF the
volunteers three were killed in
action and thirteen we're wounded;
of the regulars eighty five were
kille(an 1876 wounded; of the
regulars eighy five were killed and
1876 wounded. From ten regiments
there are $3.50 applications for
pensions. One Ohio regiment landed
in Cuba with an enrolment of l, $50
members; it has so far made pension
claims representing So per cent of
the total strength.
Commissioner Ware does not
understand why there should be
such scrambling on the part of
PENSIONS to keep up with the flag;
neither does the American public.
Our soldiers, both regular and vol
unteer, are supposed to have went
into the war under warm patriotic
impulses. This should have pre-
vented them from storming the
pension Office with even more vigor
and almost as much unanimity.
But the commissioner has no ex-
PLANTATION. He tanicies that many Of
the boys came back from Cuba
feeling that heir health had been
greatly impaired. On this sup
position claims were doubtless filed
by many who have since recovered
their health completely. If his is g
good guess, then we may expect to-
learn that many of the applications
made in poor health have been with
drawn in the flush and vigor of a
good physical condition.
However, the commissioner doubt
less found the reason for these
pension demands in another
direction although he generously:
or automatically refrains from
commenting on it. The captain of a
company which served in one of the
northern volunteer regiments was
a pension attorney. His short
service under the flag did not cause
him to forget his former business,
and it is said that practically every
member of that company has an
application filed for a pension.
Here, then, is the secret of these
demands, which cannot, except in a
very few cases, reflect credit on the
applicants. The pension agent has
to make a living. He does this by
increasing the number of pensioners
or applicants for pensions. If it
were not for the pension agent there
would not be nearly so many
pensioners. Therefore, purely as
a good stroke of business, it would
pay Uncle Sam to literally pension
the pension agents on condition that
they would cease to imulate this
peculiar method of showing
patriotism.