Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1904-10-11


THE VOTE OF THE VETERANS.
1t is possible that the old soldier
vote will elect either Roosevelt or
Parker this year.
If Mr.. Roosevelt should he elected
and with him republican congress
the old soldier can rest secure. because
the past history of the republican
party has proved that his interests will
be fully conserved.
How would 1t be If Mr.. Parker and
a democratic congress should be elect
ed, judging from the position which
that party has taken In the past? We
need only mention the fact that when
in 1875 the democrats captured the
house Of representatives, their first act
almost as soon as they had organized
that body was to turn out the crippled
union soldier employees, shouting ITO
the victor belong the spoils We
need only mention the further fact of
the many vetoes of Grover Cleveland.
and not only need we call attention to
these vetoes, but that they were many
times accompanied by insulting and
disparagtng remarks by him against
ClO olu SOiulOlS VI IuS CoulIly. llC
vetoed over 400 private pension bills
and. as has been stated, In sending
these vetoes to congress he used the
most unjustifiable language possible
in regard to our veterans. Twice the
voters OF the country placed Grover
Cleveland in the White House, and
during his second term, within five
months of his Inauguration, 1000 pen
sioners were dropped from the roll,
and the work went on at the rate of
300 day until wave Of indignation
swept over the north, prevailing upon
the democrats at Washington to call a
halt upon the cruel warfare against
the veterans and their widows.
President Roosevelt loves the old
soldier. He will, so far as lies in his
power, see that the veterans of the
civil and Spanish wars get such re-
ward for their loyalty as is due them.
A republican congress will see to it
tinued and maintained. Judge Par
ker, on the other hand, has no SYM
pathy with the union soldier, and he
and his administration will be Inf1u-
enced If not controlled by the south
and by the vote that would make his
election possible. 1t cannot, Of course,
be asserted that Judge Parker would
advocate the extension of our pension
laws to the veterans of the south, and
yet we find in his letter of acceptance
the following words: 81 will contrib
ute my effort toward the enactment Of
a law to be passed by both houses of
congress and approved by the execu-
tive that will give an age pension
without reference to disability to the
surviving heroes Of the civil war"
There are thousands of surviving
heroes of the civil war who wore the
gray, who fought for what they
thought was an honorable cause, al
though they were mistaken patriots.
Does Judge Parker include those
among his Surviving heroes of the
civil war" and would the treasurer of
the United States, If Mr.. Parker were
elected, be called upon to disburse mil
lions to those soldiers who wore the
gray, as well as those who wore the
blue? 1t would be well for the veter-
ans of the north to vote to uphold the
union, restored by Lincoln and the
boys in blue led by Grant and Sher-
man, and to keep aloft the stars and
stripes, and to consider what might be
the consequences should Alton B.
Parker be elected president and with
him democratic house of representa-