The National tribune., 1909-11-25
CONSIDERED MERELY AS
xr0NIvVs

your article IN The National Tribune
OF Nov. Is, 1909, Considered Merely
as Money cannot refrain from writ
Ing my approval Of 1t. The absolute
truth OF all you say Is so fully borne
out by history that it is surprising any
person should now attempt to dispute
them. 1t was the courage and endur'
lance of the young men that brought al
Kinds of IGovernment obligations from
less than 28 cents, measured by gold
10 100 cents on the dollar The moneyeG
interests, the banks and exchanges al
prohted by this. The soldier receiving
his pay In Government promises and
compelled to use them for his and fam
| ily'S support at the eXtravagant prices
he was compelled to pay for all neces.
saries, could not profit by the advance
lof Government securities. Can any
good reason be now given why justice
IShould not be done the men who
brought all the success and prosperity
to the money interests of the Nation
There is another view to take of the
pensions as a pure money question.
At the breaking out Of the war the
wealth Of the Nation was estimated at
Sl6,OOO,OOO,000, as 1 remember it in
round numbers; the per capita S533.
Now the estimated wealth of the Nation
is SIG, goo, 100000, and the per capita is
Sl,5OO. Every man, woman and child
is worth at least 1867 more today than
when the war broke out. The success
full defeat Of the Confederates by the
soldiers, and the restoration of the
Union made it possible for this phe-
nOmenal stride in wealth-producing.
Would it be injustice to pay to the
old and dependent defenders of the
Union a small pittance of the harvest
of wealth they made it possible for
the people of the Nation to gather? 1t
appears to me no.
l have also read your bill, and find
it an excellent one-one that should
commend the support of every Senator
and Representative in Congress--it
should become law at once.
There is one other class which should
receive the attention of Senators and
Representatives in Congress Millions
upon millions of dollars have been and
are now being expended by this great
Nation in improving commercial com
munications and transportation in every
section of its territory; and it is alb
soiutely right these vast sums should
be spent to aid the people in their pros
ecutions of commercial enterprises.
But while it is doing that for the COM
mercial interests of the great people, it
should not forget the officers who led
its vast armies to the peace all now
commend
Several bills have been introduced
for the purpose of creating Volunteer
Retired List; and one will be presented
at the coming session which should re-
ceive the generous support of every
Senator and Representative in this Con-
gress. The representatives of this great
Nation should remember that but few
of the officers now living are under 10
years of age. and many are dependent
because Of infirmites contracted and
received while rendering the services
they now ask Congress to recognize. If
anything is done it must be done quick
ly. or they will not be here to receive
the bounty of the generous people they
Swigart, Logansport,
Ind. i-5s 81;
There is one point that Comrade
Swigart raises which is very well taken,
and to which there has never been given
the proper consideration. That is the
direful consequences to this country if
the young men who were fighting its
battles should have become weary of
the awful slaughter and the gloomy
outlook and simply refused to go any
further. A very large proportion of
the people of the country were con-
stantly expecting this, and it was upon
the basis of this expectation that the
knights of che Golden Circle and other
Copperhead organizations rose to sucn
portentous strength. They reasoned
that after the tremendous, and what
they claimed unavailing. loss of life
in the Campaign of the Wilderness, the
first assaults on Petersburg and the as
szult on Kenesaw that the soldiers
would becoiee dismayed at the loss of
'.Se, discouraged at the gloomy pros
poets, and cease to fight. At this op-
perfume time the great organization of
the knights Of the Golden Circle in
Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, and
Iowa would rise in their might, demand
that the carnage should cease, the
Southern Confederacy be recognized and
the Northwestern Confederacy estab-
lished with its eastern boundary or the
and the narrow strip of
land intervening between, the Ohio
River at Pittsburg and Lake Erie
Had not the men at the 'front.' been
the most resolute and devoted that ever
lived. this catastrophe could have hap
pened. It is amazing today that after
the terrible slaughter in the wilderness,
which frequently cut down regiments
one-half, that, the Army of the Poto-
mac should have gone on to another
great slaughter at Cold Harbor, and un-
dismayed by that, endure the san
culinary repulse before Petersburg.
Nor did the Western Army for a mo-
ment allow their martial spirit to be
dampened by the bloody failure ct
Kenesaw and respulses elsewhere. III
these checks only heightened
their determination to fight on to an
eventual victory. Had there been from
the front the slightest announcement
to the Copperheads. the catastrophe for
which they were planning would have
ensued, and we know from the narrow
escape from an outbreak at Chicago and
Indianapolis how determined the Cop
perhead leaders were to precipitate an
other war in the rear which would
have secured the success of the South
ern Confedercy. Suppose this had hap
pened. There would be absolutely none
of the wealth, prosperity and peace
which our country enjoys today. There
would have had to be great standing
armies along the boundaries that were
then marked out and from the first
there would have been a conflict over
where these boundaries would have had
TO be. For example, the loyal people