Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1907-12-06
SOLDIERS STORIES.
"REMINISCENCES
OF THE WAR.
Graphic Account OF Stirring Scenes
Witnessed on the Battlefield and
in Camp-Veterans of the Rebel
lion Recite Experiences.


mark that the pension roll Of the Unit
ed States is too big and that probably
more than half Of those who are draw
Ing pensions never served their country
as they claim to have done.
President Eliot of Harvard and
Mark Twain, citizen OF the world, are
the latest to repeat these attacks upon
both the integrity Of pensioners and the
management Of the pension Office.
1t Is dangerous to talk about things
of which one is ignorant President
Eliot Is learned man and good citi-
zen, but he can't keep track Of all that
happens in the world. And evidently
he sometimes "goes off half-cocked,"
for more than once his good judgment
has Jagged behind until his tongue had
done mischief which a little time and
attention to facts would have prevent
ed.
AS for Mark Twain, he has lived so
much in Europe, OF In retirement when
at home-retirement, so far as public
affairs are concerned-that his opinion
upon such a matter as the pension roll
or the pension system is of little value.
Nevertheless. the hearts Of the veterans
are sore over his sighting words about
them, and his utterances have been the
theme of more than one speaker at the
soldiers reunions.
The gist Of most of the complaints
against the pensioners u.s. plainly speak
ing, that the Civil War soldiers ought
to have had the good taste to die, some
years ago, and that those who are upon
the pension rolls probably never were
really soldiers, anyway, because the
war was ended in 1865.
The usual charge is something like
that of Judge Parish B. Ladd, in the
Open Road magazine, in his series of
articles upon 1.-The Errors and Crimes
of Government" He glibly says:
"A large part of our federal expendi-
lures are the outcome Of war, such as
the maintenance of an unnecessarily
Large army and navy, and the keeping
up Of the pension list, which, at the
close of our Civil War, amounted to
only about $30,OOO,0OO; but the Con-
gress, strange as 1t may seem, has
managed to increase the pension list
until it has reached over $149,OOO,OOO
annually. Our Civil War closed over
forty years ago. AS most of the pen
sioners were the survivors Of that war,
the pension list should have been the
largest at that time but by some hocus
pocus engineering of Congressman, the
list has increased while the death rate
of the pensioners has increased, until
at this time but a handful of the Civil
War veterans are now living, but the
constant rise of the pension bounty has
kept on"
Congress has, as the years passed,
made new laws providing for soldiers
who are disabled by age or other dis
abilities for obtaining living by man
ual labor. Pensions have also been in
creased, steadily almost every session
Of Congress, since 1870.
At the close of the Civil War the
highest pension paid to private SOL
der was. l believe, $15 month. That
was the pension for the loss of leg Or
an arm. Many pensioners were paid
but So q month, and now Sc month
is the lowest pension and 500 a month
the highest. With the increased cost
of living, and the new standards of
comfort. the government has increased
all pensions except that of widows I'M
der the act of 1890.
Then, as the veterans grew older,
they naturally applied for disability or
age pensions under the new laws pass
ed for their benefit. No one grudges
them what they are paid But it is a
cruel SANDER to question their right to
the money they receive, as is constant
w done by those who assert that many
pensioners never saw service at all.
The law provides pension to every
soldier who served in the Civil War
and was honorably discharged, and
who by reason of age or disabilities,
is physically or mentally incapacitated
for manual labor. At the age Of 62
every survivor is entitled to a pension
provided he served as above indicated
and received an honorable discharge.
The people who charge that pensions
are granted to men who are not entitled
to them under the law know neither the
law nor the men who receive its bene-
fits. 1t cannot be too often told that
a most searching examination Is made
into the military service of every appli-
can't for a pension as soon as his appli-
cation is received in the pension Office.
If a man has not served the required
time, and been honorably discharged,
his claim is Immediately and finally re-
iected by the pension bureau.
The pension roll Is roll Of honor.
Whatever his character may be as
private citizen, one thing is certain Of
every pensioner he served MS country
when his services were needed, and at
the end Of his three years, or two years,
g. civ or throa mnnthS-wh afaypr his