The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-09-07
Insists That Money on Hand Has Been Kept from
 Old Soldiers
PRESENTS FIGURES TO
 PROVE HIS CONTENTION
Claims Bush in 1908 Himself Said the Pension Shortage Was an Out rage-Writer Says He Will
 Keep Up Fight.

In the issue of your popular paper of Saturday last, there appeared the re- port of an interview had with MT. ]. WI Bush, in regard to the pensions paid to Confederate soldiers.
 It was my intention to reply on Sat- urday to his strictures of old Confeder- ates, but I was unavoidably called from the city, and did not return in time to make answer to his bitter assault upon those pensioners who had addressed let ters to me in regard to the money paid 10 them, and that which is still due. ferhaps it was we'll that my reply was deferred until today, as 1t gives me an opportunity to reply not only to MT. Bush but also to MT. T. A. Hamilton and MT. H. M. Thompson.
 MT Bush appears to have become greatly offended, because Confederates have deemed 1t proper to publish the iacts In regard to the money that they nave received from the state and the amounts that are yet due. He eyinces towards these grizzled heroes-winners of many hard fought and bloody battles. great resentment because they did not consult him, or obtain permission from some Confederate camp before making public their grievances.
 beIore 1 attempt to answer MT. Bush's vicious attack upon the honor, the in- tegrity and the veracity of these grand old heroes-the grandest, the bravest. the truest, that the world has ever known. or will ever know. and also upon the grand old mothers in Israel, the widows of those departed heroes, who have crossed over the river, and cannot answer the insult to their widows. whom some are trying to rob of the balance of their pen- sion money that was so generously ap- propriated by the legislature of 1907. I would like to ask this defender of Goy- ernor Comer's administration this oues- tion, and to which ask from him a frank reply,
 In the county court house on July i. 1908. when the fourth-class pensioners were making complaint, because they had received only s5 for tfiat quarter when they should have received s12.5o, did you, MT. Bush, say to them: This is an outrage, and I will see that the next legislature shall pay the balance, S.6o, of your pensiong' These may not be the exact words used by you, but they express the substance, the import of your language, and disclose the senti- ment that you then expressed
 If you answer in the affirmative, I would like for you to tell the readers of The Age-Herald, if 1t was an outrage then, is 1t less an outrage now, after to lawyers to cripple the railroads and to write prohibition bills-to defray ex- penses of special sessions of the legisla- ture, and for an election for a constitu- tional amendment favoring prohibition and to enforce the prohibition laws that were passed in the interest and for the advancement of a political party?
 MT. Bush says "the statements came from veterans who are not members of camps" If he refers to the letters of widows of deceased comrades, he may be correct, but if he has reference to the letters from comrades, then he is mak- ing an assertion that is not true. Many of the letters are dated from Confeder- ate camps, such as "Cleburne," etc., and there appears letters from members of Camp Hardee.
 If MT. Bush intended to refer to me, I will repeat that the assertion Is not true, and for the information of the pub lic I would say that I was a member of the first reunion after the close of the war and which convened in New Orleans. I was there by special invita- tion from the late lamented General Moorman This was before the organi- zation of the United Confederate veter- ans, and I am now member of a U. c. V. camp.
 If all the facts could be presented 1t would be seen that I have contributed as much, perhaps more, towards the ad- vancement of the Confederate cause-ex- pended as much money, and exerted as great effort to win success during the bloody struggle, as did MT. Bush, and won my rank on the battle field. How did MT. Bush win his, If he is entitled to any rank in the Confederate army?
 It will be impossible for me. on account of space, to answer every accusation made by MT. Bush. They will probably be noticed in the future. There are sew eral charges, however. which I cannot leave unanswered.
 MT. Bush says that "every pensioner in the state has been paid every cent due him." This statement is false. MT. Bush makes this statement deliberately. and ruttt lot pH xx,t1 ows of dead comrades before him. and if he made it maliciously he deserves to be condemned more severely. Letters from veterans, and widows of veterans from different parts of the state were pub