The National tribune., 1903-01-29
AN ELOQUENT APPEAL FOR SERVICE
PENSION,

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riotism of its citizen soldiers. With mar
velous Judgment the Fathers of this Gov
eminent saw that the defense of the Re
public must be vested in all of its citi-
zens, and not in a standing army. Instead
of standing army maintained at large
expense to the people and always men
ace to their liberties, the wise founders
adopted system of mutual self-defense,
and in which the people would reward the
soldiers who rsked their lives, their health
and their future prospects in the defense
of the Republic, by appropriate pensions
and certain emolumcEts. They adopted
the plan of community of interests, by
which the people We're expected to take
care of those who fought for them. Upon
this has been based the pension laws
passed from the beginning of the Govern
ment down to the present time. He would
stay for the moment the sweeping spirit
of comnercialism. to prevent the nobler
and sweeter sentiments being blasted by
the cold winds of greed or the flowers to
fade by the Winters wind of avarice. He
said:
Il beg to assure you, Mr.. President,
that | am moved by memories that are
sacred to NE, memories OF bygone days,
memories born amid scenes of carnage
and strife, and, standing here beneath
the shadow of this noble structure, every
stone OF which represents n human Sacri-
fee, whose lofty dome as it rises to meet
the sun i'll its coming speaks for those
whose voices are husiied in the silent
chambers of the dead, ~ ask this people,
whose country, whose Constitution, and
whose flag live by their heroism and their
blood, to hear the feeble voice of COM
rade speaking for those who can not be
heard. Allow me to Ia! the hand OF pa
triotism upon the busy wheels-hush the
mad thirst of commercialism, and BID them
be still, while our brothers blood cries
ont from the ground not for vengeance,
but for justice.
81 want to see my country, the land
Of the free and the home of the brave.
whose flag is ever uTfurled to shelter the
oppressed: whose great hand reached forth
and touched the harp that sent the songs
Of liberty playing upon lhe waves of the
Caribbean Sea; that gathered the broken
fragments of the Antilles and reset them
in the corOnet of nations; unfuried the
lOne-star banner of Il newborn republic,
and erected the temple of human liberty
upon the ruins of monarchial tyranny,
whose stars now shelter the bleaching
bones of her heroes from the tropical skies,
be just and liberal to those who gave this
arm its strength, and but for whom this
giant, if at all, would be dismembered and
disemboweled."
Senator Scott continued:
GLOW can we, Mr.. President, the bene-
fciaries of this glorious heritage, longer
.,rf.f ,Ir,O mt raat
ingratitude? This measure, following the
precedent incident to the Mexican war, is
intended to remove fayoritism and to do
equal justice to all alike. We turn today
and read the aggregate of the pension roll,
and rejoice that SO much has been given,
and SO many have been provided for. Di-
vine teaching bids us rejoice with those
who do rejoice and weep with those who
weep hlr. President, l feel moved to
add my tears to their tears, rather than
my rejoicing to their rejoicing, for can
never rejoice so long as 1 feel that there
is one who offered his sacrifice left wan
dering, uncared for, homeless, and unshel-
tered.
Large, Mr.. President, as the roll now
appears, mammoth as seems the aggre-
gate of Nations bounty, It is an aggre-
gate summed from all its wars. Yet how
ever large that roll be, it is not so large
as the muster roll, and no man was sum-
moned who was not needed, and needed
at the most momentous hour, and having
answered to the call that tried the souls
of men, and to which call none but the
true and the brave responded, they should
not now be forgotten. Go, Mr.. President,
read the muster roll from 81 to 60, sub
tract from it those that sleep in the ceme-
teries, and then compare the remainder
with the pension roll, and tell me where
that vast army is.
who cares for them? There is not one
of them, perhaps, but was as brave and
true a patriot as his comrades, who are
now provided for. Their names have never
been enrolled upon the pension list; they
have been knocking, but knocking in vain.
Their names are not written upon the pen
sion roll, but they are written by their
heroism upon many a battlefield. By what
process OF reasoning, upon what principle
OF justice, by what teaching of humanity
shall One-half be clothed and the other
naked, one-half be fed and the other hun
CRY! They were as brave as their COM
rades, their sacrifices were as great, their
devotion as true, and their patriotism as
loyal"
After bright picture of the country's
present greatness, Senator Scott said:
eve write its praises and sing its glo-
ries, unmindful of the hands, now wither-
ed with age, once crimsoned with blood;
of shoulders, now stopped, that once car
ried the knapsack and the musket; of the
head, now bowed beneath the burden of
years, that once marched erect to the can
mons mouth. Shall we, revealing in the
heritage earned by their valor, withhold
from them the crumbs that fall from the
Nations table? Shall we demand a
pierced hand or n wounded side as evil
dence, Or will we accept the enlistment and
honorable discharge as the basis of YER
dict of well done, good and faithful SER
wants" Are we to sit patiently by and
wait until the veteran becomes a pauper
before answering his cry or until he begs
Cor bread before we appease his hunger?
What commentary this would be upon
our boosted greatness, what cloud upon
the sky of our glory"
Sixteen years ago, though the Nation
was a weakling compared with the giant
OF today, we removed all conditions, threw
wide open the doors of our Pension Bu-
reau and gave pension to every soldier
of the Mexican War who had reached the
age Of G2, or his widow. There was no
searchlight of the physicians skill, no X
rays of judicial investigation, no hospital
record, no pauper's certifieate-only the
enlistment, his honorable discharge, and
age. When that law was passed IA 1885
we were then an isolated people ranking
scarcely fifth among the commercial Ma
tons of the world. Today, we are first,
with n balance of trade of more than
SGO0,OC0,0G0 year to the credit of the
American merchants. Senator Scott con-
tinued: