The National tribune., 1909-04-22
ANSWERS To o
CORRESPONDENTS. (

NJ. F. p, Mount. Ida. Ark: Personal
appeals for help seldom reach PnlIan-
thropists whose names are @ .anrlha, ~ ua
secretaries, who answer all such letters
| If they think t worth while. The
chances are that you would waste your
postage stamp and stationery in ex-
planning the condition of the family
whose poverty you so vividly describe to
US. One does not need to go outside
of New York City to find wretchedness
and appalling distress. These philan-
thropists could find thousands of cases
of individual want far more hopeless
than the condition of your friends The
girls who support their aged parents
by working in the fields and whose shell
ter is log house have world OF op-
portunity before them compared to
| hundreds of thousands who live in
crowded tenements of New York, a hall
| dozen persons in q single room and
often two families cooking, eating,
sleeping and dying in the same room,
| and in most cases room furnished
with light and air from court or air
shaft. no sky in view and forever hid
den from the sun. Under these condi-
| tions children are born. A half million
people in New York City do notoknow
where they will get the food they need
! for the following day. An investigation
| recently made revealed the startling
fact that over $4,000 breakfastless chill
dren were attending school in New York
City, going from homes SO poor that
there was nothing in the home for
them to eat when the light broke over
the great city. Your friends are in the
| country, with its free air and Gods
sunshine and the possibilities of the
soil. Flowers and vines could be trained
over the exterior of their log tenement
and the interior made habitable with
little industry and taste. Your friends
are fortunate compared with millions
in the great cities, where life is fierce
struggle. The philanthropists general
| ly do their work in a way to attract at
tention and applause, and this would
not be possible by helping individual
cases of distress. Save your postage
stamp. Millionaires are above the in
| dividual They see things on a large
scale. and open their purses only when
the earth quakes and fire or storm lay
in waste the homes of the many. Your
hope for these girls is to show them
that they can help themselves. These
girls are not helpless and hopeless when
they have friend like you and live in
a country where nature is as kind and
bountiful as 1t is in Arkansas. Mrs.
Sage is reported to have said that she
gets enough letters every month to use
up her fortune of many millions II she
met every appeal for aid.
A s., Bellows Falls, VT, and others:
The National Tribune of March print
ed in full all of the pension bills intro
duced during the Goth Congress. There
were %, of which 16 were House bills
and six Senate bills. No bill got beyond
its reference to a committee, except Sem
ate bill 1860, which passed the Senate,
but it was not reached in the House.
Therefore, no general pension law
passed the last Congress.
S. A. B., Charlton, Iowa: The State
| Soldiers Home at Marshalltown admits
| women nurses and women walters. The
| presence of women cannot help but
women as inmates, and also employs
have refining influence among the vet
| Grams, as good women always improve
men wherever found, singly or collec-
| lively.
r. S., Wabash, Ind: Under the act of
Feb. 6, 1907, old age pensions are as
follows: Persons who have reached the
| age of 81 are. entitled to $12 month;
| 10 years, SIS. month; 75 years and
over, $40 a month. The Pension Bu-
reau, Washington, d. c., will supply
applicants with blank forms. which can
be used for original pensions or in
crease of pensions. No attorney fees
are allowed in cases of age pensions,
for which there Is no necessity.
W. C. H., Amigo. Wis: The muster
out papers of men discharged from the
Army always gives the rank of the in
dividual, and that determines the stand
Ing. There are no exceptions in case
of civil engineers Unless your friend
was commissioned as Captain and
discharged as such he is not entitled to
that rank.
NJ. r. p, Webb City, NO.: The valid
ity of common-law marriages in Mis-
souri, Is recognized by the Pension Bu-
reau, and widow has a pensionable
status, provided the relations antedated
the passage of the act of Congress of
June 27, 1890.
]. S. G., Chicago, ILL.,: There are no
land warrants or deeds for old soldiers.
Veterans of the civil war can apply
their time in the army as a part of the
time necessary to live on homestead
before getting title or patent This is
explained in a book published by The
National Tribune devoted to vacant
public lands and the laws under which
they can be secured. 1t is sent to any
address for 25 cents in stamps.
F. c. B., Blufston, Ind: The mother
of Theodore Roosevelt was a native of
Georgia, and several of her relatives
were in the Confederate service. One
VI tHcDlp -. bullock, was a grad
uate of the U. S. Academy and a Lieu
tenant in the Navy when the war broke
out. He rendered his services to the
Montgomery Government, and was ap-
pointed Naval Agent to Europe, where
he was active in setting afioat the pri-
vateers so destructive to Union COM
merce. He negotiated for the purchase
at a cost of $237,500 of No. 29O. after
wards known as the Alabama. on which
his son. Irvine S. Bullock, served as
Midshipman.
r. B. p, Paw Paw, Okla: Pensions
have been allowed to certain of home
guards in service in Missouri during the
war, concerning which, owing to com
plications and varieties of these nomad-
ic organizations, only an attorney IA.
miliar with the situation can solve the
claims of the particular Individual. Spe-
cial pension laws are carried thru by
Congressman, and perhaps that NAV be
the only way whereby you can get your
dues. ~
F. r., Buffalo, N. Y: The soldiers of
the Spanish-American War were paid
OF when they were mustered out, ex-
cept, perhaps, In few instances of alb
sence thru illness or death, and adjust
ment in such cases can be made nv the
War Department. Washington. d. q
on application, with full particulars and
proof. tob q
J. L. H.. Mount Carroll. Ill: There is
nothing in the interstate commerce law