The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1903-10-15
LONGEVITY OF
The PENSION ROLLS
he Soldiers Widow Will I'd.
DraWingHer Allowance for
Many Decades.
SERVICE PENSION NOV
Effort to Pass Law Will Be Resumed
i q Next congress-Probably So
Per Month Would Be the
Amount Fixed.

FGt
Per Month Would Be The
Amount Fixed.
Washington, Oct. 13.-The report tina,
IAN effort will be made ut the coming.
coIgress5toSgfalt assersteespension to-
all@veterans of the civil war who served
sixty days has caused much comment.
here.
1t is difficult to estimate what proper
tion of the survivors are 81 years old.
ror more, but it is quite probable that
enough are of that age to bring the to-
tai number of new pensioners, includ-
Ing the widows, up to about 100000.
The amount that this would add to
the annualspension expenditures would
depend upon the rate of pension to be
allowed. If a service pension law
shout be enacted 1t is safe to a that
the rate would not be less than Sc a
month, or S72 a year. At this rate the
addition Of 100000 names to the roll
would add S21,60O,000 to the annual ex-
penditures.
Advocates of a service pension for
the civil war would hardly, however,
be contented with, such aAbeggarly pitt
tancel as So a month, especially in view
of the FAX that the last congress In
creased the rate of pension for surviy-
sors of the Mexican wal to $12 q month
or $144 q year. 1t is certain that con-
sgress would not give the survivors of
the civil war a Service pension Of $12 a
month.
So a Month this Rate.
1t is probable that, If such a pension
should be provided for, the rate would
be SIS a month This would involve in
creasing the pensions of 37,748 pension
Eel Who are now drawing less than IS
a menth, and would bring the addition
al expenditures UP to approximately
$50, 900, 900.
The idea Of how long the civil war
pension roll Is certain to maintain for
mtdable proportions, whether a service
persion law is enacted within the next
few years or not, can be based on the
fact that there are on the pension roll,
f1fty-fve years after the close Of the
Mexican war, 1884 survivors of that
and $40 widows, or atotal of
1884 pensioners on account of the little
army of 78,T1S men that participated in
1t.
AT the same ratio there will still be
on the pension rolls in 1921, or ~ffty-flve
years after the date from which the
pension office reckons the close Of the
civil war, no less than 400, 900 pensioners
on account of that war.
Some further idea of the longevity of
pension rolls ma be obtained from the
fact that there are now on the rolls,
.eighty-nfne years after the close Of the
wal of 1872, one survivor and Lib wild
,oWs, and although it is only 120 years
since the close of the war of the revolu-
ton, there are still on the pension roll
two widows of soldiers of that war. In
other words, widows Of survivors Of the
civil war in considerable numbers will
s. ho 7ro wing mansions I'm tho veoT 1QSE ~
Some Of he future widows of civil
war veterans are little girls in pima
1ores. Many more of them are being
rocked in their cradles. Some Of them
have not yet been born. It is now
thirty-seven years after the official
close of the civil war. The youngest of
the two surviving widows Of the war. Of
the Revolution. Esther S. Damon of
Vermont, was not born until 1914, or
thlrty-one years after the official close
of the war. Within the last few years
idows Of the revolutionary war have
died who We're born more than thirty
seven years after the close of the war.
Revolutionary Widows.
The willingness Of girls to marry old
widows Of the revolution, who died dur
dng the last year, was Nancy Jones,
who was born in 1916, or thirty-three
years after the close Of the war, and
who married Darling Jones, a survivor
of hat al in 1882, when he was 6S
years old and she was 16.
In the case of Mary Sneed, another
revolutionary veterans widow, who
died last year, the date Of her mar
rage. is not on record, but the dispar-
lily between her age n that Of her
husband was greater than in the case
aof Nancy Jones. Bowdoin Sneed, the
revolutionary soldier, in this case, vas
S6 avpar re- n11 when his wife wa horn A
and IL they were married when she was
i6, he was a gay bridegroom of ". He
died In 1841, at the ripe age Of 81
years, when his wife was only Is years
vold.
There comes a time in every pension
list when the number of survivors Is at
the maximum, Inc when the number of
widows is at the maximum. The num-
der of survivors of the civil war was
greatest Of course, Immediately after
the war. Whether the maximum num-
her of survivors on the pension roll on,
account of that war has been passed
or not will probably depend upon
whether q service pension law is en-
acted within the next few years.
There is nc question as to whether
the number OF widows Of soldiers III
;Inat war: t1l2i,as .&2Jndging from
1.-THE figures for the Mexican war, the
number of civil war widows will go on
increasing for the next fourteen years
t4at least, as the maximum number of
widows of soldiers in the Mexican war
was not reached until 1899, or ~ffty-one
years after the close of that war. This
would make the number of civil war
widows .each the maximum In 1917.
g~TEAMsHIPS MAY war
~ AHa-Er htheE ETIsEI[E 6A=Hrft