The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1906-01-04
THE VETERAN QUESTION.
George WI. Bassett Writes About Mo
tiges for Enlistment.


Editor, Barre Times Ihe declaration
Of SOMEONE that @there was not man
that eyer enlisted through pntriotisnit
i was for pay, may need verifying
Id the declaration VI u. n. Ihuraton III
Saturdays Times eof hundreds Of tbs
brave sons of Vermont going u the
front at thirteen dollars per month with
gold III 234 needs toning down until Il
reaches the plain level Of the truth
Whether he intended 10 extol the patriot
ism OF the old soldier Or to make d
thrust at the psrsimony of the govern
ment Ii hard Ia determine III this ease
Of patriotism vs., pay see will not taks
sides, but present the facts and let TIM
reader draw has own conclusions. Ir
order to understand the case, the reader
must know the conditions AZ they exist.
ed ia 1861 Then tha skilled mechanie
received from $500 To $3.50 ller daY
working from sun to sun, with very
slight prospect of work during the whites
season The common Iahorer secured
from IS to rs dollars per month fol
the season of six of eight months, the
other months picking up odd jobs here
and there ali bcst ha could, Or perhaps
going home to live He who could hire
ont for year Tor two hundred or two
hundred ana forty dollars with board
was the best Of workiilgmen and for
tsaatc fellow.
Next, bear III mind that IN 1861 there
WAS no premium or gold, but gold
silver and stare bank Bills xerc The cir.
cltiating currency and were at par. Ii
March, 1864, gola was d per cent pre-.
nlium and Ia August II. When it was
seen IN the spring If 1861 that the South
was 10 determined ~ secede and that
there must be q conflict between ths
North and tho South, the governor ii
the state called special session Of the
Legislature, and II Immediately passed
all net paying every soldier who should
enlist from the state the sum Of seven
dollars per MONTH iii addition 10 the pay
received from the general government
80 that every private soldier received
$500 plus $500 plus 500 (clothin1
allowancel, making S24 per month, with
no lost time, and medical attendance
thrown in. 1t Is also important 4
remember that at that time a larqs
majority Of the people Of the North
did not believe there would be d serioH.
conflict between tie two sections of ths
country They did not believe the South
woald or could engage ID d prolonged
contest. The South produced cotton
sugar, rice and tobacco. These were ex-
changed III the markets of the NORTH
for the necessaries Of life
With her ports hl0ckaded and shut
ont of our own and foreign markets
it was shongit the cause of the South
Esust collapse from inherent weakness
William H Seward, LintoIn's secretary
Of states predicted that with seventy
ase thousand nrD The rosslict would
he oSer in ninety days Was then look.
"a like gpcd pag asd astiine. Bus
how deceptive the deiNsicn the defeats
and disasters oi 1863 and 1893 deef-
lnating eiir army Gold waiit up. se
did everything baf pssrsetisns, that went
down. Calls ana calls were issued IS
the president for volunteers to FL Up
thc ranks. but neither patriotism nor
the pay offered would 10 It. Ia 1864
Congress passed an net enrolling Tic
militia u the country. The president
and secretary of war ordered a draft
70 all tho quota Of the STATES aud the
ranks Of tho army. This was a dismal
failure. one-half of tie draftcd nsen
being lHyalids or couid not be found
4 large portion Of the other half paid
Communication money, leaving only a few
without friends or monny TO 20 into
u ~
tenn was inaugurated The general gr,y-
eFHnent gave the ncw recruit bounty
of three hundred dollars, and to the
soldiers re-ealisting bounty of four
hundred dollnrs and a furlouch of thirty
days cn an enlistment Of three Years
or during The war. white the local ma.
nicipality, To On its quota 81 men. paid
bounties, rsngine from one 70 six hun.
dfed dollars This filled tho ranks.
Was il pay Or patriotisms II patriot.
ISM, II might &c safe to conjecture that
its growth was stimulated by the money
that fertilizea il.
Talk mt, then, 81 cniistments ~ $ia
per month, when the soldier never re-.
cclSed less than $40, with rations, cloth.
ing and medical attendance. TaEk not,
then, Of premiums 81 eald and a depre.
ciated currency when one hundred If
those paper dollafs would buv hun.
dred dollar bend. boil principal and in.
tcrest payable in gold. Talk not then,
.of the lew pay. when the people have
by pay BY hounty and ~ pension dealt
more liheralls BY its soldiers than All
other nations Of The earth. and wl,en
forty years after the war has closed
there are more than one-third as MANY
names az The pension rolls as thrre were
men IN thc army. and the government
is jisbursing enc hundred and forty mil.
lions u year.
George w. Bassett.
r. S-~The last cnlistinents from
Barre were nineteen one year men. They
received from the tuvn $1,000 bounty.
/ think but am moi positive. Each 70.
ceived the government bounty Of saon.
making tho sim $fs76.00, 81 $3.50 AL.
vance pay for one years service 10 each
man. Do Won wonder there was n .spon.
taneous combustion Of patriotlsms
&. w. II.