The National tribune., 1902-09-04
COMING Down ro rLA1n rAcrs.

If we eoald ever get the pension haters
! TO do us the favor of dropping for few
minutes their incessant and senseIess
Trades about ''bounty jumpers coffee
coolers" 'tdeserters.'' ''shirks.'' etc, and
consider a few plain facts. it would be
of inestimable benefit. These facts are as
prairie.
The first of these is, after all, the voci-
feration about Fat pensions" the pen
sioners OIL the roll under the old law-for
injuries received while in line of duty
receive on an average but S3.25 Il week;
while those under the Act of June u,
1890, receive on an average trifle over
81 . week.
That is substantially the whole story.
Every decent-minded man will say at once
that the country certainly owes as much
as S3.25 a week TO any one who entered
its service, braved the shot and shell of its
enemies, and has proven beyond doubt
that he was severely injured by that serv-
ice. And if the country is going to offer
anything at all to the old broken men who
in their youth gaveit all they had to save
it from destruction, it could not decently
offer them less than 81 week.
That has always been the rate to old
soldiers in all former wars. The veterans
of the Revolution, of the War of 1872, of
the Indian and Mexican Wars all receive
SS a month, for far less requirements Of
service than is exacted of the Union vet
eran.
The report of the Commissioner of Pen
sions for 1901 shows that the average
annual value of pensions under the old
laws for disabilities due to the service is
$16S.67, Il fraction over S3.4 week.
This includes all the larger pensions al
lowed for loss of limbs, eyes, hands and
feet, etc, etc. Counting all the widows OF
Presidents. and of Generals, and of the
Generals themselves in, the average pen
sion to all is less than $3.25 week.
Yet every man who receives this sum
has been able to prove, beyond shadow
of Z doubt, that he served the country
faithfully and honorably and received his
disabilities while engaged in duty for the
country. The mere statement is sufficient
answer to reams Of wild asseveration.
The same is true of those pensioned
unuer tHe Acl OF June -, 1CUU Lie. SOlh-
missiOner's report shows that the average
annual value of the pensions under this
class was $10S.O9, or $2.O4 week. To
get this amount a man has to prove that
he served at least 80 days and was hon
orably discharged, and that he is now
suffering from some disability not due to
his own vicious misconduct. The fact of
his service and honorable discharge is a
matter of record in the War Department,
and that he served during the rebellion
necessarily makes him now in the neigh
borhOod of 60, when disabilities follow in
the course Of nature.
The whole trouble comes from the num-
Der of men required to put down the re-
bellion, and the obstinacy with which the
rebels fought.
If the rebellion had been no bigger an
affair than the War of 1872, the Mexican
War, or the Spanish War, there would be
but few thousand pensioners on the rolls,
and the pension expenditures would be in
significant. In proportion to the length
of the war and the amount of fighting
done, there are much fewer pensioners and
smaller expenditures than in any war in
which the country was ever engaged.
All these are indisputable facts with
which any well-informed man should be
familiar