The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1902-09-25
A Manly Refusal.


A Manly Refusal.
Portland Oregonian.
Judge Eli Torrance, Comm nder-
chief of the @. A. r., recently sent out
an appeal to the members of that order
for help to build cottages for impover-
ished ex-Confederates at the Mountain
Creek Chiffon County, Ala, Confederate
Home. Grand Army posts and individual
members were asked to send their con-
tributions to Col. ]. NJ. Falkner, Mont
gomery. Ala, who has charge of the
PROJECT.
The Federal soldier has been generously
cared for since he left the service of
bursement of over s1S9 600 is proof of
that, and then we have splendid Federal
Soldiers Homes in Maine, Wisconsin,
Virginia. Ohio. Illinois Kansas. Indiana,
California, which shelter some 1900 vete-
| rams. The widows of more than fifty
general officers of the Union Army draw
pensions ranging from 5000 to $1,000
year. Nearly every Northern state sup
and Federal civil service in Republican
States has not been closed to competent
veterans, so that altogether the Union
| veteran has been well cared for by the
country.
On the other hand, very few of the
Southern States have provided pensions
for the poor and disabled veterans, and
where this has been done it has been
of the most Inadequate character. For
the first twenty-five years following the
close Of the Civil War the Southern
States were too poor 10 make liberal
provision for their disabled veterans, but
they are prosperous enough today to
provide asylums for these old soldiers
who are disabled by wounds and disease.
and are most of them upwards of 60
years of age. But the Southern people
do not like to pay decent tax for the
education of their children. white and
black, and such people are not disposed
to make generous appropriation for the
hundreds of ex-Confederates. who are
spending their old age in poverty with the
prospect of a pauper's grave, This is the
situation which moved Grand Commander
Torrance of the G.. A. r. to appeal to
the order for help to provide homes for
these Confederate veterans. General Tor
france in his appeal said that the ex-
treme outposts of the highway of kind
Jointly held by the surviving soldiers OF
Grant and Lee" The sentiment and ac-
ton of Judge Torrance did him honor.
Kindness, courtesy and humanity are
to no party or section, but are venerated
and indicated by the manhood of the
surviving veterans of both North and
South. Noble thought noble sentiment,
noble deed has no sex, no cline, no
nation. no party; it is as much the pride
and property of all who stand for the
decent opinions of mankind as the air we
breathe, the sun that warns the uni
the thirsty earth beneath and swells the
springs under the earth. the breeze that
touches the fevered brow with it's cool
kiss the world over.
1t was a Southern soldier that paid
peculiar marks of military respect to the
body Of the soldier-poet General William
H. Lytle, killed at Chickamauga. and
said. Poetry is neither Union nor Con-
age, to humanity" The motive of Com
mander Torrance of the G. A. r. had its
root in a fine feeling of humanity. and
sympathy for the brave veterans of the
federate veterans at New Orleans de-
cline with thanks the proffered aid of
the commander of the G. A. r., they do
honor to his motives. The declination Is
duty of the South and the South alone
to provide for Confederate soldiers who
may need assistance; that there are GER
tain duties which high-minded people
this is one of them" The Confederate
veterans have spoken like gentlemen in
thanking Commander Torrance courte-
ously. for his humanity, and have de-
cided with manly good sense in defining
to accept 1t. They say truly that If the
example of valor and devotion to ''the
Lost Cause" is not precious enough to-
day to the South so that it can afford
to tax itself foIt the decent support and
shelter Of the IMPOVERISHED veterans of
the Confederate arms, then these vete-
rams cannot AFFORD to allow the q. A. X.
to discharge the debt and duty owing
from the South to it's superannuated SOL
diers.
The aid proffered by Commander Tor
rance, although declined with thanks,
will serve an excellent purpose in rous-
ing public opinion at the South to make
decent provision for these veterans In
the mild climate of the South suitable
homes could be far more cheaply main
tanned than at the North. If States of
small population, like Washington. Ore
gon and Vermont, can maintain State
Soldiers Homes, there is no reason why
every State In the South could not take
decent care of it's impoverished veterans,
who, compared with the dependent SOL
diers Of the Union Army, are few in num-
Der.
The allusion of Commander Torrance
to the tie that should at this late day
bind the veterans of both armies to each
other is clothed with authority, for it
dates from the last words of Grant
Grant was by his own request borne to
the grave by the Generals of both armies.
and so was General Sherman. The Con-
federate General Johnston had leading
Union Generals among his pall-hearers
and with the single notable exception
of General Early, every eminent Con-
federate soldier initiated the example of
Lee in casting his influence without a
break for peace and unity after the great
battle was over. 1t is fortunate that
this conservative influence on both sides
was opposed to the vast crowd of parti-
san demagogues on both sides that were
the curse of both sections.