New-York tribune., 1904-09-12


American people in the future? Do they object
to the fact that the ships carrying the national
flag now have a higher standard than ever De-
fore in craftsmanship and in seamanship as
individual units and as component parts OF
squadrons and fleets? If they object to any or
all OF these things We join issue with them. Our
foreign policy has been not only highly advan-
tageous to the United States, but hardly less
advantageous TO the world as a whole. Peace
and good will have followed in its footsteps.
The government has shown itself no less anxious
to respect the rights of others than inslstent
that the rights of Americans be respected In re-
turn. AS for the navy. it has been and is now
the most potent guarantee of peace, and 1t is
such chiefly because it Is formidable and ready
for
NO EXECUTIVE ENCOURAGEMENT.
When our opponents speak OF "encroach-
ments" by the Executive upon the authority OF
Congress or the judiciary. apparently the act
they ordinarily have in view is Pension Order
No. rs issued under the authority of existing
law. This order directed that hereafter any vet
eran of the Civil War who had reached the age
Of sixty-two should be presumptively entitled TO
the pension OF Sc month. given under the de-
pendent pension law to those whose capacity to
earn their livelihood by manual labor has been
decreased so per cent, and that by the time the
age Of seventy was reached the presumption
should be that the physical disability was COM
pete. the age being treated as an evidential fact
in each case This order was made in the per-
formance of a duty imposed upon the President
by an act of Congress. which requires the Exec
utive TO make regulations to govern the sub
ordinates OF the Pension Once in determining
who are entitled to pensions. President Cleve-
land had already exercised this power by reg
ulation which declared that seventy-fve should
be set as the age at which total disability should
be conclusively presumed. Similarly Presoent
Mckinley established sixty-fve as the age at
which half disability should be concluslVely pre-
sumed. The regulation now in question, In the
exercise of the same power, supplemented these
regulations made under Presidents Cleveland
and Mckinley.
INEsTIMABLE SERVICE OF VETERANS.
The men who fought for union and for liberty
in the years from 1861 to 1865 not only saved
this nation from ruin, but rendered an inesd-
mable service to all mankind. we of the United
States owe the fact that to-day we have coun-
try TO what they did: and the nation has decreed
by law that no one OF them. IL disabled from
earning his own living. shall lack the pension
to which he is entitled, not only as matter OF
gratitude, but as a matter Of Justice. 1t is the
policy of the Republican party. steadily con-
tinued through many years. to treat the vet
Grams Of the Civil War in a spirit OF broad lib
erality. The order IN question carried out this
policy and is justified not merely on legal
grounds, but also on grounds Of public morality
1t is a matter of common knowledge that when
the average man who depends for his wages
upon bodily labor has reached the age OF sixty
two his earning ability IS in all probability less
by half than il was when he was in his prime;
and that by the time he has reached the age Of
seventy he has probably lost all earning abil-
ity. If there is doubt upon this point let the
doubter examine the employees doing manual
labor in any great mandatory any great
railroad and find out how large is the proper
ton of men between the ages OF sixty-two and
seventy. and whether these men still en-
ployed at the highly paid tasks which they did
in their prime AS a matter Of fact, many rail-
roads pension their employees when they have
reached these ages and in nations where old
age pensions prevail they always begin some
where between the two limits thus set. 1t is
easy TO test our opponents sincerity in this mat
ter. The order in question is revocable at the
pleasure of the Executive. If our opponents
come into power they revoke this order and
announce that they will treat the veterans OF
sixty-two to seventy presumably in full bod
lily vigor and not entitled to pensions. VIII they
now authoritatively state that they intend TO
do this? If so, we accept the issue. If not. then
we have the right to ask why they raise an is
sue which. when raised. they do not venture to
meet.
COAL STRIKE AND MERGER SUIT.
In addition 10 those acts Of the administra-
tion which they venture TO assail only after mis-