Evening star., 1905-10-08

states: men who have filled all classes OF
judicial or other high civil positions-when
such men record their calm conclusions. ar
rived at In the maturity of years they are.
to say the least entitled 10 the respectful
consideration of their fellow citizens.
I'VE are confronted by the appalling fact
that our comrades are dropping INTO the
grave 5000 per month, G00Oo per year. In
evitably they will soon be going at q faster
rate. The latest report of our friend. the
Hon. Vespasian Warner, commissioner of
pensions, shows that during the year ed
ing June Is last 1888 pensioners dropped
from the roll by death. anu there rs no
possible doubt that among our comrades
not upon the pension roll fully 10000 deaths
occurred. The fact that many of the sur
viving veterans not upon the pension roll
need little help will not admit OF debate.
Presidents Cited.
What precedents have we? We have
three precedents Forty years after the
war of the revolution, forty years after
the war with Great Britain, forty years
after the war with Mexico The Congress
of the United States enacted service pen
sion laws, putting upon the pension roll
all the survivors of the armies of the re-
public engaged therein.
1t was done in the case Of the survivors
of the war with Mexico, notwithstanding the
fact that great proportion of those sur
NiNoio dAbSi ludS war put III lOuf VI tuS
best years of their lives trying to destroy
the republic The justice of this was very
thoroughly canvassed at the time by very
large proportion of our citizenship and par
ticularly by the members of the Grand
Army and 1 recall with pride on this oc-
casion. that the consensus of opinion there
on found general expression In the deciara-
ton: They stood for the flag once. Let
them have 1t for that
Now. my friends. Appomattox lies forty
In hq md
SO 1t is that we say with a united voice to
the Congress of the United States: AS ye
did 1t unto Others do 1t unto u.s.
The bugbear is the cost The increased
expense will not be near what some would
have us believe. Much of it would be OFF,
set by the mighty inroads which death is
making among those now drawing pensions.
-'Giye us the service pension bill and at
once you can put nine-tenths of the board
of pension examining surgeons out of ex-
istence. Few people realize that every
man who applies for pension costs the
government Sc for his examination, wheth-
er he gets the pension or not, 81 for each
of the three doctors.
Give us the service pension and within
two years great number of present en-
ployes could be turned to other duties.
There the shoe might pinch some, but we
must consider the greatest good for the
greatest and most needy number"
There was loud applause at the close of
the address and other speakers followed.
all indorsing cordially the sentiments of
the commander-in-chief.
Presentation Of Flowers.
AT the close of the meeting a big box
was brought forward. In 1t lay a hand
scme bunch of chrysanthemums, offer
ing Of the Womens Relief Corps to the
cmmander-in-c chief of the Grand Army.
Corporal Tanner accepted this tribute with
a feeling speech, saying that the best thing
the Grand Army of. the Republic had ever
done was the admission of the Women's
Relief Corps on equal footing with itself.
Commander Tanner yesterday completed
the formation of his official staff, and the
names and offices were announced as
follows:
George w. Cook, Colorado senior vice
commander-in-chief; Silas Fl. fowler Min
nesota. junior vice commander-in-chief;
Hugo Philler, Wisconsin. surgeon general;
Rev. ]. F. Leary, chaplain-in-chief; John
Tweedale. Washington, D. c., adjutant
general; William P. Rogers, Washington
D. c., assistant adjutant general; Frank
Battles. New Hampshire quartermaster
general: NJ. ]. Cummings, New York. in
spector general; Charles A. Clark, Iowa,
judge advocate general and Frank A.
Butts, Washington, D. c., senior aid-de-
camp and chief of staff.