The National tribune., 1906-09-20
THE SERVICE PENSION.


No good reason can be given why
Congress should not pass the Service
Pension bill Immediately upon its re-
| assembling next December. Everyone
admits that Service Pension bill is in
evitable. because it is the unbrollen pol
icy of the Government to give such rec
ognition to its soldiers in their old age,
1t was done in the Colonial period be-
fore the Government was formed. and
has followed every war since in which,
the Government has engaged. More
time has now elapsed since the close of
the war of the rebellion than past be-
tween the close of former wars and the
passage of a Service Pension bill for
those who We're engaged in them. The
custom of the Government in giving a
Service Pension bill having the force of
usage has also, therefore. the force OF
a regular contract. 1t is just as much
a part of the Governments duty to its
veterans as if the promise to do the
same had been regularly incorporated
in the articles of enlistment. 1t is now
IL years and more since the last gun
was fired in the great war for the pre-
serration of the Nations integrity. The
was 25 years. so that the average age
of the survivors must be closely ap-
proXimating 20. since there should be
added to the average age of the men at
enlistment their terms of service. That
is, if the average man was 25 years old
when he enlisted he must have been
about 81 at the tine of Appomattox.
and therefore he is in the neighborhood
of 6s to-day. Consequently in the ma
ture of things he cannot enjoy this PEN
sion great many wears. and every
year that it is denied him is robbinS
him of that much of the Nations graft
tude and justice.
In passing the Service Pension bill
there should be carefully included a
continuance of the pension to his widow
at the time of his death. This has also
been the unbroken practice of the Gov
ernment. and from the invariableness of
the custom il has all the force of q law
We have to-day holding places of honor
on the pension roll widows of the Revo-
luton. the War of 1912 and the Mexi-
can War. There can be no possible
excuse given for making an unjust dis
elimination. a cruel distinction between
the widows of the veterans of the war
Of the rebellion and those of their pre-
decessors in other wars
The frightening bogey of the i'm
mense cost of a service pension has
been effectualiy dispelled b. actual ex-
perience under the age order 1t has
been demonstrated that there is no such
preposterously large unknown army"
as was alleged to exist and which. alas.
the friends of the soldiers found did not
exist. The Service Pension bill can be
executed with only 9 fraction of the
cost that has heretofore been alleged
and its passage would immensely sim
plify the whole pension situation. wip-
off some millions of expense OF admin
isterinS the Pension Bureau and place
the whole system upon basis far more
satisfactory to the people of the couil-
try. The members of Congress can rest
assured that they will meet the entire
appreciation of their constituents in
voting for such a bill. No man has
ever been defeated for Congress b.
cause of his support of u pension meas
ure. while many hundreds have been
relegated to private life because of their
opposition to just and righteous provi-
sions for the men who impcriled their
lives for the Nations salvation.
Let us have the Pension bill passed
at once by the coming session of Con-
gress.