Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-10-23
PAID FOR PENSIONS,
Three Billion Dollars Since
Union Was Founded.
The Work Of the Department Which
Cares for Veterans.
Interesting Facts from the Records Of
the Office.

Washington. October PA cubic foot
of coinage gold is worth $290917.92. Pen
sion Commissioner Ware has computed
that the outlay for pensions since the
f. undation of the Government, if not in
gClC would make an obeliSk 10 feet square
and 1Os feet high. This illustration per-
haps gives an idea of what three billion
dollars means; a billion ordinarily eX-
presses something of which the human
mind has little comprehension.
1t is worthy of note that the total cost
OF the pension system from thu founda-
ton of the Government to June 80, 1865,
or until the Civil War was itself over, a
period of three-quarters of a century,
amounted to only SGT, 100000, or the present
disbursement for eight months and nine
days This is an examplesof the. magni-
the Revolutionary War have cost up to
date inly $70000.0O0, and as there are only
five Revolutionary pensioners now on 1.-The the
Revolutionary total represents about six
months expenditure today
The war of 1872, which has continued
as Inactive charge until the present time,
has cost only $io,O0O0O0. Its pensioners
include one participant and eleven hun
dred and fifteen widows. Were the 1872
pensioners to have a reunion, poor Hiram
Cronk of Ava, Oneida County, N. Y,
would be rather lonesome among so many
women. He is now 103 years old The
last survivor of the Revolution died in
1860. at the age of 1903. u
1t may be regarded as Il general truth
in pension records that the widows last
thirty years longer than the participants
of any war. BY widow, should generally
be understood in pension nomenclature
all dependcnts-everybody except actual
participants. For the of 1872, how
ever. practically all of the dependents car
ried on the roll are actually widows. 81
During the last year the number of
civil war participants on our rolls fell off
nearly forty thousand. while the plumber
OF civil war widows Increased by 24,5Sl
This shows that wives are younger than
their husbands, more often than older
and also that our pension laws operate to
Z put something of a premium upon the
! Young wonan,s marrying the old soldier,
/. Ware recommends In his recent report, as
ehave several of his predecessors, that a
claw he passed to%prevent the granting
Of g IT. the as who
peneIQner. This would permit the veteran
\ .dy3fi 80 leave his widow eligible to. a
pension. but itwould cut off the induce
4 meht k9 marry old soldiers near the end
sspf theifd yes for the sake of their pen-
~, The average aEsof the participants re q
years The questi6Hls constantly asked.
How many survivors of the civil war
remain unpensioned, exclusive of desers-
srsn This h snb]s a has been
missioner Ware seprirate secretary. with
results which WIFI occasion some sur
prise He believes that.the number of
survivors of the war ofythe rebellion on
June 30. 1903. was 1874 5s5, 0f5n round num-
bers about 100000. The ftuber OF these
who are wing pensions is 703, ass, leav-
ing about 100000 from whom future addi-
lions to the roll may be drawn. Special
tests have been made of the ratio of pen
sioners to survivors on small scale
with about these results OF the o0l
soldiers employed in the Pension Bureau
40l are pensioners 1t has been computed
that 70 per cent. of the numbers now on
roll would be added by Service Pension
act, exclusive, of course, of the few per-
sons who would refuse to accept it.
From the contingent. which has rot yet
asked for pension under the liberal laws
already existing, H.0O year are now
coming In.
Those who served in the Civil War, but
are not on the pension roll. have been
very properly described by Commissioner
Ware as the unknown army. ile es-
death during the coming year. If to this
number be added the 1900 who enter the
known army" by getting on ,ne roll it,
membership win be reduced by 22.ooo,
Hence. If the pension laws remain TN
change1.s this unknown army VIII be
reduced to G0O0O by 1905, and in ten years
will cease to be a factor altogether. Doubt
less If the individual stories were related
Of the members of this unknown army,
giving the reasons why they have gone
along year after year without pension
when most of their associates have one,
1t would form a creditablc showing. All
most any man of sixty years has some IN
trinity fairly assignable to military SER
vice, and so can get a pension. and, yet
nearly 100 900 such men have not received
any such aid
1t is interesting to note for how long q
time the pension roll has lowered about
the million line including, OF course.
widows and dependents, as wen as par
Elephants. Eleven years ago Commission
err Raum in his report suggested that tne
number of pensioners would ultimately
reach one million 1t has never done SO
on the 36th day of June of any year whei
the tabulation for the official records Is
made. and probably never WILL and yet
at the close of four of the months of last
year it exceeded that figure On the last
day Of June, 1902. the number of pension
ers stood at 500. 446. In month it had
crossed the million line. reaching Loo, 494
This seems likely to remain the nigh.
water mark, unless service pension aci
is passed. Since July. 1902. the number
has been steadily falling until by july
1903 1t numbered but 545 1t has beer
in the SOS since 1897.
Tho cost to the Government for pen
SiOns on account of the Spanish and PM
ippine wars has thus been small. slightly
more than s5.0OO.000. How much it viii
reach affords material for interesting con
lecture. The number of soldiers and sail
ofs participating in the Spanish war was
31s000. and in the Philippine and China
campaigns $4,000, making total of JUS
about one-fifth the number of participa t:
Of the civil war On account of tina
struggle pensions amounting to S2,SO0.Uoo.
ono have already been paid. One-fifth o.
that would be 500 .Q00 but it is unrea
sonable to suppose that the smaller wal
will amount to so much as one-hftn. 81
notable are the contrasts between TN