The National tribune., 1906-10-11
THE NATIONAL TRIBUNE IN POLL.
TICS.

to us as no other publication can. Its
history, stories and "reminiscences OF
the civil war, Of all Of which we. al
Goethe said, were a part" warns and
reinvig orates our old hearts. We like
YOU and your paper and your loyalty to
grown to think Of The National Trib.
une not as an ordinary newspaper
but as the voice Of the Grand Army OF
the Republic. Perhaps this is wrong
You may say NO pent-up Utica in
mine; still, am sure that most of Us
feel this way about you. and take your
paper in this spirit. II this is true
would be glad if partisan politics
found no expression in your columns
| This to me Is the one discordant note
| in the harmony of The National Trib-
ure. Conditions to-day are not what
| they We're 40 years ago, and all old
soldiers do not believe that the pros
perity and safety of the Nation depend
upon the retention in power of the Re-
publican Party of to-day. We do not
| all of us desire the reelection to office
of many Republican Congressman and
Senators. Some of us remember that
such patriots as Mr.. Joe Cannon, the
present Speaker of the House, prefer
red to hold his office of District Attor-
ney in Illinois, while men like our be-
loved comrades Gen. J. c. Black. Col
Sam Busey, and many others of his
neighbors. went to the front to fight
for their country. There was mo
money in going to the war" for Joe
Cannon, and consequently he did not
60 I do not like to have such men
held up as models of patriotism. They
are not the patriots recognized by
Grand Army men.
1 shall continue to take and read
The National Tribune and to esteem 1t
highly. but as we do not talk politics
in the Grand Army, I would be very
much pleased if we could have less of
it in The National Tribune.-E. @
Nye, Co. G, I'D ILL.,, Milwaukee, Wis.
This is a frank. comradely letter, and
we thank Comrade Nye for writing it.
We know he was a good soldier and
won the right to admonish us, for,
rightly or wrongly. the public will as
sume that The National Tribune voices
the sentiments of the veterans of the
war of the rebellion. Therefore the
veterans are right in watching us
sharply that we may not say things to
put them in a wrong light. Comrade
belonged to splendid regiment The
72d Ill. left Sc dead on the field of bat
tie to attest it's fighting qualities.
Among these were a Lieutenant-Ccl-
onel. two Lieutenants and 25 men
killed at Vicksburg. and 10 killed and
So wounded at Franklin.
Now, as to our "partisanship." The
editor of The National Tribune has
now occupied that position for %
years. In all that time The National
Tribune has been as true as a needle
to the pole to the principle that "all
other things being equal, the Union
veteran should be preferred" 1t has
never favored or opposed any candi-
date because he was Republican or a
Dem ocrat. 1t has supported whenever
rades-such as Gen. John c. Black
Gen. Aquila Wiley, Gen. A. v. Rice,
and scores of others. 1t has praised
Democratic public men when they were
friendly to veterans. and denounced
them and Republicans with equal vehe-
plauded. for example. Daniel w. voor-
hees. of Indiana, for his consistent and
untiring friendship for the veterans. tho
this cost us the friendship of many thou
sands in Indiana, who could not forget
Senator Voorhees, record during the
war. 1t did all it could to keep Judge
Meters in Congress from Indiana, be-
cause he was a reliable friend of the
veterans.
During Cleveland's first term The
National Tribune warmly approved OF
him, and his Pension Commissioner
| Gen. John C. Black-because of his
just pension policy-but as strongly re-
proved Mr.. Clevelands policy of turn
| ing out veterans to make room for
political heelers. From the first, we
announced that if Mr.. Cleveland would
turn out Republican veterans t. make
places for Democratic veterans we
| should not have word to say, and our
approval was loud and manifest when
| ever a Democratic veteran was ap-
pointed. During Mr.. Cleveland's Sec
oiiu ttih VIC "tit htliSciy iioStAic, pe-
cause of his preliminary proclamation
| of hostility t. pensions, and particu.
larly to the Act of June 81, 1890. We
We're unsparing in our denunciation OF
Pension Commissioner Lochren, but
our bitterest and longest-continued
| fight was against President Mckinley:
| Pension Commissioner-Henry Clay
Evans. This cost us the favor of the
Administrative. but we had become
used to being out of favor at the White
House. 1t also brought down on us the
active hostility of the combined Re.
publican and Democratic press of the
country. The National Tribune wa.
bitterly abused by every prominent
daily from Boston to San Francisco
but it never wavered until Henry Clay
Evans was removed from the Bureau
of Pensions.
/ So we think we can point with
pride" to a very straightforward ant
consistent non-partisan record.
AS to the issues OF the present hour
we are trying our very best to see then
with the eyes of experience, with the
eyes Of the men who gave everything t.
the country in its hour of need, ant
| whose vision was widened and clari
-