The Indianapolis journal., 1903-11-15
WARES GOLD OBELISK
PENSION COMMISSIONERS TACTLEss
SPEECH AT SAN FRANCISCO.
Pictured the Cost of the War Pensions
in Cubic Gold and Was Not
Well Received.
Washing ngton Post.


| civil war veterans. 1t concerns Commission
er of Pensions Ware and Corporal James
Tanner. of this city. and centers upon a de-
scription of an obelisk of gold. The scene of
| the episode was in the rooms OF Thomas
post at San Francisco. but the newspapers
published no account of it. Since then, how
ever. the story has been told among Grand
Army men almost entirely across the conti-
nent, and was repeated few evenings ago
| in one of the local post rooms.
| A reference to the same obelisk of gold in
Commissioner Wares annual report, just
published, has stimulated the talk of Grand
| Army men anew. 1t is said that hundreds Of
| letters from old soldiers in different States
have been written to Washington of late in
| quiring for the truthful version.
Commissioner Ware and Corporal Tanner
were stopping at the same hotel in San
Francisco and were invited to attend the
regular meeting of Thomas post, one Of the
| largest and most influential posts on the
| Pacific coast, on the evening of Tuesday,
Aug. Is. They went thither together and
found the hall packed to the doors. 1t was
strictly post meeting and, therefore. every
man present was a member of the Grand
Army.
The regular business was hurried through,
whereupon the commander introduced Com
missioner of Pensions Eugene F. Ware. He,
IL a sentence or two. expressed pleasure at
Beng on The Pacific coast and permitted
to meet the comrades of Thomas post and
| stated further:
MY comrades. some time since I had one
| of the statisticians Of my bureau prepare a
statement embodying in its total the amount
| paid by this government for all pensions
fhn tfp7n hn aax,f ar-< haexa
paying pensions until the present time. My
| comrades. it amounted to So, ,00, 900 600. then
wrote to the authorities of the Philadelphia
| mint, and asked them to inform me to
| the money value of a cubic foot of gold, and
| they told me that in round numbers it was
| s291 600. My comrades you will bear in mind
| that all of this vast sum thus paid out, and
| Justly paid, went to the old soldiers of the
| Republic.
"Then, my comrades, one Sabbath day, I
took my pencil and some paper, and spent
a great deal of time that day figuring, and
the result was that demonstrated that If 1
had all of this vast sum in coined gold that
square at the base and 1O7 feet inches in
height. My comrades, I thank you
| This speech, as the story Is told by those
present, was followed by dead silence. 1t
| was broken by the commander of the post.
| MY comrades" said he. you have heard
| the indictment You will now listen to the
defense. do not think 1t necessary to in
troduce Corporal Tanner to this audience" !"
TANNER BUILDS TWO MONUMENTS.
A round of thunderous applause greeted
this statement OF the commander. Corporal
Tanner was finally able to be heard and
with all his old-time fire proceeded:
MY comrades, confess that our distn-
guished comrade. the commissioner Of pen
sions has given my thoughts sudden twist
by the line Of his remarks I, myself, have
| never dwelt much on that line 1t has not
| been for lack of time, for like so many 9TH
| ers of our unfortunate comrades, / have
many long hours, in fact whole nights, when
| pain drives sleep from the brain, and the
eyes refuse to do further duty on the printed
page; then there Is nothing for fellow to
do but to sit back and think of the olden
| times. In those hours of reflection 1t is very
often that the shadowy troop and column go
marching by oEce again, but i. in those
| hours, am much more prone to think Of
| what 1t cost them to save the Nation, rather
than what expenses those who dropped dead
| or wounded on the battle line, their wild
ows. and their orphans have been to the
great government they preserved
But If building obelisks be in order to-
night, then beg your permission to briefly
build two. and in building the first one I will
follow the lead of the commissioner Of PEN
| sions, and will build it on financial lines,
| as he did, and without going into details at
| this moment, but holding myself prepared to
furnish the specifications If my statement
| be challenged, will state that will build
my financial obelisk broader at the base
than he built his, and will build it SO high
| that it shall overtop his. In 1t, pledge you
Il
those represented by the depreciation In
| value at which the government was forced
| to part with its bonds in order to carry on
| the war. and the interest paid thereafter
| upon those bonds when we redeemed them
"All the bonds Of the war period were sold
at less than their face value, and in what
| we may call the darkest hour Of the war
from financial standpoint, the great war
secretary Of the treasury, Salmon P. Chase
| went to the White House with joy in his
heart. He brought Joy to the heart of Abra-
| ha In w hp i'm hot bo
had been able to dispose of block of the
government bonds 20 the Frankfort, Ger
many, bankers at the price Of 3S cents on
the dollar.
There came a time afterward when
thrOught the efforts and sacrifices Of you
and your comrades, living and dead, after
and skrmish with the Endorsement on
those bonds, I may say written in the
hearts blood of 100000 Of the best and brav-
est. who. on field, In hospital and prison pen
went to death that the Nation might live;
there came time when those bonds went to
par in the financial marts of the world, and
the government Of the United States, prin-
cipal and interest being paid In the coin OF
California and the world, gold. So much fol
my financial obelisk.
REAL COST OF THE WAR.
"And as I come to build the other one ]
would present for your view, have to say
that if your heads were not barred, I would
ask that you uncover in veneration, for this
obelisk represents the true and mighty and
awful cost Of the war, the only cost of the
war which ought to rise In the thoughts and
to the lips Of patriotic men, when they speak
of what the war cost the country
| 1.-The foundation was laid the rock
| ribbed streets of Baltimore, composed OF
the corpses Of the slain members Of the
| Massachusetts, Sixth. 1t was built up, one
bloody course after another, on every battle
field we trod until at last there was en-
| bodied in it's awful majesty the 100000 of the
| dead of the war. 1t was cemented by the
| tears Of anguish of parents, wives, children
| and sweethearts, and then just at the close
for its apex there was demanded of US the
| awful sacrifice of the father of all his peo-
pie, the preserver of the Nation, the Moses
| Of that period, the greatest of all Americans,
| In my opinion, bar none, Abraham Lincoln. -
| Every sentence Corporal Tanner uttered
| was applauded to the echo. The assembage
in its applause divided the time just about
evenly with him. Evidently they were not in
| accord with Commissioner Wares idea OF
an appropriate reunion address.
Turning from the subject of obelisks, Tan
ner made very felicitous speech, which
| commanded the unbounded approval OF the
great assemblage.
The veterans in Kansas had heard of the
story by the time their encampment met at
Lawrence. in September and Corporal
| Tanner attended that encampment, he was
often pressed to repeat the speech Mean
while the annual report of Commissioner
Ware. emphasizing the burden of pen