The Bossier banner., 1909-03-18
THE CALL OF PATRIOTISM.

siOns to COntederateS. lake II io,
me.'' this gentleman said the other day,
"every Republican and every ex-Federal
soldier in Texas would vote for an amend
ment that would result in paying the ex-
Confederates a pension that would oe
worthy of them. A paltry six or seven
dollars month with pauper,s oath re-
ouired to get that is shame for great
State like Texas, and it ought to be reme-
died at once" Tennessee, as the Record
and Chronicle has heretofore reminded its
readers. is not a rich State-nothing like
so rich as Texas. Yet the Volunteer State
gives it's ex-Confederates $500 year as
compared with less than 500 from Texas.
Denton Record and Chronicle.
The sentiments and principles that
prompted the Confederate soldiers to leave
their happy homes and face the terrors OF
one of the greatest wars the world has
ever know in defence of the land they
loved deserves far greater consideration
than is received from their States. The
pittance doled out by a majority of the
Southern States to their worthy and needy
veterans is discredit to the lawmakers
who control the appropriations-the small
minnows-the cheap demagogical politi-
cians-who never hesitate to squander the
public funds by making extravagant, and
often unnecessary appropriations, create
useless soft berths for "serviceable" poll
ticians-and then raise howl about tax
alton, the very pressing" need for econ
omy and outstanding the States revenues
for other purposes.
The subject OF liberal pensions for needy
Confederate veterans and appropriations
for Confederate battlefield monuments is
one for the consideration of broad patriotic
minds and big, honest hearts.
Taxes is the great bugbear that the
cheap politicians cry when lodging the
straight issue.
We need no apologies to offer grateful
and patriotic people when we ask them for
good sound money for good sound obli-
cation.
We have taxed these veterans to stand
up against a powerful invading enemy of
cur common country for four long years
half fed ragged, and at times could be
trailed through the snow by the blood from
their bare feet-and they paid it.
We have taxed them to stand guard on
picket when they could hear the freezing
trees burst and crack like the sound of a
rifle pr law cuoltor;no in tho tronohoc for
days under the broiling mid sun.
and they paid it.
We have taxed some of them to pay out
finger, toe, foot, hand and arm, or
leg, or from one to more bullet holes through
their bodies, and they have paid it.
We have taxed some of them with
broken constitution or disease, and they
have been paying these taxes of suffering
every year for forty four long years.
We have taxed the poor wife the life of
her husband, or the daughter the life of
her father, or the mother the life of her
beloved son, and they paid it.
deeds,
1t behooves every well-to-do old soldier
Cor his sony who has been blessed with
means above want, or the patriotic and
grateful citizens, to contribute money and
give thier influence toward erecting mon
uments to commemorate the deeds of valor
of the soldiers of the Southern Confedercy,
and To look after their indipant horooc-
for country without heroism will surely
die the death it deserves and lose its pres
tige and honor as we'll as its treasure of
dollars ii left exposed to thieves without
lockers.
AS we need great iron safes to lock in
and protect our dollars, so do we need
heroism-the iron minds of brave and
noble men to throw around and protect our
people from the robbery of other people,
countries and nations, who may at any
time break in and squander our fortunes
and fame, for until the days of the millen-
ium the british nature that is still left in
man may assert itself and rise up out of
its alternating retreats under a favorable
season like the sleeping seven-headed
monster, and destroy the progress of our
now prosperous, patriotic and chivalrous
people.
Truly, "there is no peril greater than
that which menaces society when its
youth and strength forget their debt to the
courage and character of the generation