Los Angeles herald., 1909-07-04
YOUNGER MEN IN
HOME COMPLAIN
SPANISH WAR VETERANS SIDE
WITH AGED SOLDIERS
ALL OBJECT TO BEING CALLED
ANARCHISTS
Members at Sawtele Resent Taun.
Said to Have Been Flung at
Them by Officer of
Institution

Not alone are the veterans of the
Civil war who are at the Soldier
Home near Sawtelle, complaining OF
the mismanagement of Gov. r. r.
Cochrane and the officials under him
but the veterans of the Spanish-Ameri-
can war and the soldiers who con-
tracted fevers and disease during the
arduous campaign in the Philippines
have come forward with statements
supporting the claims of their older
comrades
1t has often been stated by those
who have attempted to defend the
present management of the home that
the complaints came merely from the
aged members, who were apt to be
cross and fussy in their old age, but
this same cannot hold true in the case
of the Spanish-American war veterans,
who through incapacity received in
service were obliged to enter the home.
"A few old disgruntled persons who
are always taking every opportunity
to knock the national government"
was the manner in which Governor
Cochrane characterized those who have
dared to stand up for the rights which
they are being deprived of.
1t is also known that one of the Off
GERS of the home, in referring to the
present trouble, which started when
the nleIllDeIS NSIG UtlIS dGplINCu VI
the food and essentials of life, for
which congress made an ample annual
appropriation, stated that in the home
there was a bunch of socialists and
anarchists" who must be treated with
brutality in order to keep them in their
proper place.
That the men who offered up their
lives to preserve their country should
be termed anarchists" is another in
t., 1fr,o Ia, hn a Al
deeply stirred breasts of the veterans.
Feeling More intense
I'VE can stand having our stomachs
distressed with lack of food, but 1T
cuts a great deal deeper when the Of
ficers slur our patriotism said an aged
veteran yesterday, his breast heaVng
with emotion "There will soon come
day. and it is not far away, when the
officers will have to take back their
slurs and Sings and l do not doubt for
a moment that every veteran in the
home will join in one grand cheer when
they see Governor Cochrane and Treas
urer Moore leaving the home as private
citizens"
The feeling of resentment against the
management is growing more intense
each day, as new cases of abuse and i'll
treatment are brought to light. The
question of food has been temporarily
lost sight Of and the whole topic OF
conversation among the veterans and
the residents of Sawtelle is relative to
how long the present monarchy" will
remain in force.
Eve were always drilled to obey"
said a veteran yesterday, "and during
war time, no matter what the order was
or what suffering it meant, we tried to
be brave and endure it, We don't think
we have to do so any longer, and, fur
thermore, we don't intend to. We have
a just cause. and when in the right we
know there can be but one result-vic-
tory"
AS a result of the complaints made by
Spanish-American war veterans who
are at the Soldiers home, a meeting
of Roosevelt camp, Spanish War Vet
Grams, was held last night. and a COM
mittee was appointed to investigate
conditions at the home and to make
detailed report to the national board
of managers of the Spanish War Vet
Grams when that board convenes In Los
Angeles In September.