Sunday Washington globe., 1902-02-23
LIVING PEN PICTURES
Ofthe old Veterans as True as Gospel
The Tools of the Trusts and the G.
o. P.-NO Hope of Their Re-
nation This Side of the
Grave

Editor SUNDAY Globe;
have read your dissertations on the NAL
administration OF the Pension Bureau with
a great deal of interest, and know from
personal knowledge that your criticisms are
based on facts A feeling of lassitude steals
over me. however, when read that part of
your article in which you tell us Of the ter
ribe things the old soldiers are going to do
to the men, who Though the Governor
General of the Pension Bureau, have abused
misused. and insulted them. think Of the
many times during the past thirty years
these self same veterans have risen In their
might and declared that they would be re-
venged upon the party that had tramped
upon their rights, and at the following cleo
ton they hastened to kiss the hand that
had smitten them.
The devotion of the men who fought the
battles of the Civil War; for tae men who
remained at home and accumulated fortunes
by supplying the army with paste board
shoes, sloddy clothing, and wormy hard
tack, is one of the most remarkable things in
all history. They have rallied manfully to
all of the various campaign battle cries that
have been shouted by those paunchy pluto
Gratis since the close of the Civil War They
have lived on half rations in order THAI the
proprietors of the infant industries" and a
few high-priced factory operatives might
be protected" from "the pauper labor of
Europe" They patched their shabby suits
of blue and marched in solid phalanx 70 the
polls under banner bearing the legend "a
cheap coat makes a cheap man." They
twisted the lions tail and flung defiance
into tile very teeth Of Golden Club, but
later when the proprietors of "the infant
industries" painted crests on their carriage
doors and acquired castles in England, they
Joined in the chorus of God save the
Queen"
Yes, the old veterans are still in line with
emaciated forms aud tottering steps march
ing under the banner of the full dinner
pail" In the next campaign they will still
be in line no matter what the motto on the
banner may be.
With the aid of the old soldiers, the ma
iority of whom barely exist upon the scantY
pittance grudgiugly given them by the
Government they saved, the distinguished
gentlemen who have crests on their carriage
doors and castles in Scotland, have fastened
upon this trust-riddeu country a burden
that no other nation on the globe would be
able to bear. The men who faced death on
the battle fields Of the South are not the
men you would expect Ito crouch and
cover like belabored hound beneath his
masters lash" but they have always re-
sponded with alacrity to every crack of the
party whip, and they will continue to do
what is expected Of them until they hobble
off the stage for the last time. That they
have done what they thought was best for
the country they risked their lives to save,
no one will deny. We admire their courage
and their devotion, but we can't say so much
for their Judgment.
IL is true that the trust agent who now has
charge of the Pension Bureau, has griev-
ously insulted the old soldiers and their
dead comrades widows, but they will swal-
low Evans as they have swallowed every
other bitter pill that has been prepared for
them by the trust doctors, and will even be
persuaded that the nauseous dose is good
for them. L. HAMILTON