The National tribune., 1906-06-07

=
- THE Ex-PRIsoARns OF WAR.
Again is repeated the earnest hope
that Congress will not allow this ses-
sion to expire without doing something
to relieve those long-suffering. eminent
ly-deserving veterans who suffered un-
told horrors in tire prison pens OF the
South. Their lot in the terrible war
was cast in harder lines than any other
class of comrades. They suffered priva-
tions. hardships and mortality far ex-
ceeding those of the men who were In
the field, and they did not have the
compensation of victory and of con-
sciousness of helping do a great work
for the restoration OF the Union. They
did indeed great work, since their re-
tention in prison kept from the ranks
of the rebel army three or four times
their number of rebel soldiers who were
held in Northern prisons. The desperate
purpose of the rebels was to force an
exchange on uneven and unjust terms,
by which they could receive possibly
100000 or more well-fed, well-rested
III put lItO TIE Talks DIT the
most critical tine against Grant and
Sherman. Had the Government yield
ed 1t would have protracted the war
much longer and cost many lives. Prob
ably, however, 1t would not have cost
as many as died from starvation and
hardship in the rebel prisons The
Union soldiers who were confined at
Andersonville. Salisbury and elsewhere
We're fully conscious oe the design OF
the rebels to force this disadvan ta &c Gus
exchange and secure an immense re-
cruitment for their army. and it is to
their eminent credit that they with
stood as bravely as ever men did on the
battlefield all the temptations of the
Confederate agents to induce them to
enter the army and the still more in
sidious efforts of the rebel agents to
infame them into disfoyalty to the Gov
ernments While this is undoubted his
tory. it has never been fully known and
appreciated by the country-at-large. No
man who was ever confined for even 50
much as month I'm those places of
torment escaped without serious detri-
ment to his health. He is now prema-
turely old and needy because of 1t. and
the simplest justice requires that Con-
gress should take particular care OF
him in his days of decrepitude and
want. 1t Is matter of exact statistics
that at least one out If every four who
so much as set foot in Andersonvi.le
died before leaving that horrible pen
Hoy many men died in other prisons
after having been broken down in An
dersonville the Recording Angel only
knows. What Is true of AndersonyilTe
is equally true of Salisbury. Danville.
Florence. Camp Tyler and other places
used for the detention of Union prison
ers.
There are comparatively few OF the
survivors of those prisons yet alive.
They are certainly as deserving as those
who lost limbs upon the battlefield. and
Congress should not wait longer to give
them the same recognition and reward
were manned in battle Both are of the
same class. The men who were in
prison must necessarily have been at
the front in order to be taken prisoner.
Therefore they were an exceptionally
good class of soldiers. as were the men
who received wounds from the enemy's
cannon and musketry. 1t will take but
com parativeiy small sum to put every
surviving prisoner on the rolls at lib
eraI pension IN accordance with any of
the several bills which are now before
Congress. Congress has the choice of
several bills which II can take up and
pass at any time. and any one Of these
will be welcomed as a boon to the men
who have waited patiently SO long for
National justice for all that they en-
dured and suffered.