The National tribune., 1904-02-11
COST OF 4 ssRyrc. pEHs1oN.


of the Service Pension Bill is the indef
| niteness as to its cost. The War De
partmcnt's figures as to the number OF
| n.en who served in the army are startling
" unsatisfactory. At first sight. it would
seem rs if the Departments records
should be sufficient. but such was the rush
and hurry of the great conflict, that men
were brought in by the hundreds of thou
sands. and sped to the 'front.' with only
the most hasty statements as to them or
their numbers. From first to last. under
the various calls. there were 2.772. 4OS
men furnished to the army. while So IA
paid communication, making a total credit
to the States of 1850. 1872 men furnished.
In truth. this is chaotic mass of fig
nres of imperfect value. The War De-
eartment has put ont the statement, that
''rednced to Il three years standard :
there We're 2.320,272 men, but this figure
IS not felt to have much value.
1t never will be known how many diff
ferent individuals enlisted in the Union
army during the war. Out of gross OF
2.112,4OS men there were hundreds OF
thousands that enlisted two or more
times 1t was possible for man to have
served out five different enlistments: that
IS. he could have gone into the first three
months service. then enlisted in the second
three months service. then in the six OF
nine months regiments which were called
for by some of the States. afterward in
the 100 days service, and wound ND BY
enlisting for one year at the close of the
war.
There has been an estimate made with
some show of authority, that there were
100000 of these reenlistments but moth
ing official has ever been given It is also
| alleged that there should be still further
reduction of at least 10000 for frauds
and ilegalities, bounty jumpers, ETC., in
the reports of the various States of the
men furnished. This would leave about
2,O12,GOO as the number of individuals
who enlisted. The number of deaths and
assertions before the war closed has been
placed at 476, 775. This is probably I'M.
der the real figure. since there were thou.
sands of deaths of which the War De.
partment knew nothing. Very many thou.
| sands died in the service who were not
reported, or borne on the rolls as "miss.
ing" and still other thousands died i'm.
mediateiy after discharge. of whom no
record was made in the War Department.
This would leave the total number of hon
bly-discharged soldiers at the close OF
the war about ], 100000. The estimate is
], 495, AGO. Every one who figures makes
it larger or smaller than this according to
his personal bias. We have had since
then the mortality of 80 years. This must
have been very large in the years imme-
diately following the war, from those who
were broken down completely, but linger.
ed on some years in pain and suffering
The census of 1890 made an enumera.
ton of the soldiers, but Congress refused
to make an appropriation for the purpose
of classifying and correcting it, so that
its results could be accurately ascertained
The Superintendent of Census then found
that there were about 100000 honor
ably discharged veterans living That was
IA years ago.
In 1896 the Record and Pension Office
r a.
lowing memorandum relative to the posi-
BILE number of these survivors and the
pensioners on the roll as follows: