The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1904-06-17
County As.nt D-vis Rot fled Thai
Soldiers Relief Fund Is Low.
Therefore The Monthly Allowance 10
Veterans Must Be Cut Some.
Recent Act Of Congress Forces JsBs,ees
to Be More Economical.
Inmates Of Home Can Have Control
of All Their Pensions.
from Wednesdays Daily.

4
Careful pruning is likely to be hads
in the list of those who draw aid froiin
the soldiers relief fund.- DR.. E. J. Davis,
who is county agent for Blue EaxtA
county, as well as the other county
agents, has been notified by the board
of trustees that the fund is running aow,
and that a reduction must be made i
the demands upon it.
The circular issued by the board to II
county agents states that the demands
made upon the soldiers relief fund dms
ing the last winter and spring have been
SO large and urgent, that the allowances
made by the board in response TO sudh
demands and in recognition of the neces-
sites of comrades, their widows and d.
pendent families. have reduced the bal
ance in the fund to small proportions.
| The board believes that the ecunomiz
| ing can be done better in the summer
than in the winter It is necessary -
preserve larger amount for disbnzse-
ment during the period of cold weatheE
The county agents are requested to as
sist in this cutting down process. They
are urged to withhold recommendations
for relief from all persons who can d
without it without distress and suffering,
and to point out cases in which redue-
tons may be made.
The board of trustees, who have in
charge both the soldiers relief fund and
the soldiers home, held meeting to
consider the state of finances last Thurs
day. The present lowness of the fu.a
is mainly if not entirely due to the re-
cent act of congress pertaining to the
soldiers homes. Congress has been
granting to each state soldiers home
500 annually for the support of eaeh
inmate. The board of trustees in this
state has for many years been accuston-
ed to take from every inmate of the
soldiers home all of his pension except
81 per month, which has been left him
for pin money. All of every SOLDIER
pension over and above this 81 per. mouth
has been appropriated to the support Of
the home. This recent act of congress
puts stop to this practice by prosiit1ls
that the 500 of national aid for each in
mate will not be given if the policy ct
appropriating part of the soldiers pen
sions is continued
The revenue that the soldiers home
has been receiving from the pensions Of
the old soldiers living there has amount
ed to about $751; 600 per year. The reve-
nue. that the home has received from the
federal government, in the 500 per year
allowance for each and every inmate, has
aggregated about $4,000 per year. The
trustees thus had the option of con
tinuing to take the pensions and losing
the $4,000 of federal aid, or discontinu-
ing the pension source of revenue, thus
losing the $4,000 annually, but avoid
ing the loss of the $4,000 OF course
they chose the latter.
The pensions of the inmates of the
soldiers home will still be taken into the
hands of the trustees of the home, but
this pension money is simply to be held
in trust for the benefit of every soldier
up to the time that he lnaves Lac i.oaAe
Inc pens;.. honey can no longer be sex-
pended to help keep up the home. This
money may also 60 to soa'e -aspsnden..
member of the soldiers family, if The
trustees deem it advisable. They are
guardians of the money as long as TIE
old soldier stays at the home.
The loss of the 5000 annual revenM
from the pensions has of course the ef-
feet of greatly depicting the soldiers'
relief fund, out of which the expenses q
the home are, in a large measure paid
Consequently, as above stated. the trus-
tees have decided to cut down, as far
as may be done with propriety, the relief
money that the state has been paying 10
comrades, widows and dependent fami-
lies.
Only three counties in the state draw
more of this state money than does Biue
Earth county. These are the counties
of Ramsey, Hennepin, and Anoka. Ans-
ka's large share may be accounted for
by the cottages in that county built as .
home for soldiers widows. Blue Earth
county draws of this state fund about
$1,000 per year. By far the larger part
of this money is disbursed to bene-
ficiaries living in Mankato. Most of Tie
remainder goes to Eagle Lake and Madi-
son Lake.