News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1909-11-03
Our Honored Pensioners

month, to those grizzled veterans who
have devoted their bodies and energies to
the preservation of the integrity of the
Union as we now know it. We may con-
slider these mostly as the pensioners OF
the Civil war, for while there very few
Mexican war pensions and some Spanish
war pensions, most of those to whom the
Republic extends grateful largess are men
who dared their all to keep the United
States united, who left home and friends
and freside and business to endure all
manner of hardship and danger in order
that the United States of America might
continue as one nation-not Northern
half, like other nations, or a Southern
half, unlike other nations, because toler-
ant of human bondage.
There is no use of re-counting the hor-
rors of that four years of fratricidal con-
fict, no use of, in the least degree, tearing
open the scars that time has mercifully
set as seals over the wounds then inflicted,
each side believing itself right. The right
did ultimately triumph, sit always does
and shall, in whatsoever combat is
waged; bit it triumphed over tremen-
dous cost and in a warfare unparalleled
| before or since.
We pay these surviving veterans, old,
decrepid and diseased, pensions; but no
mere coin or bank-notes can ever re-im-
burse them for what they did. When we
recall the mere boys that went out, the
young men just stepping into virility, the
mature men and even the old, who gave
up all for the nations salvation it seems
mighty picayune spirit that would be-
grudge them a farthing of what the
opulent Republic now pays them in re-
membrance of their service When we re-
call such fields as Gettysburg, such cam
paigns as the Wilderness, such sieges as
Vicksburg, such sufferings as at Ander-
sonville and Belle Isle, such loss of life as
at Antietam, not to mention the hundreds
of battles of smaller note, comes the ques-
ton to our minds: How much can our
money now repay the debt incurred in a
strife that was above money, for prin-
ciple that transcribed anything material
or mercenary?
The cause was noble. 1t was also the
greatest cause that has ever confronted
nation. The fact that it was one for lib
erty and Righteousness, is cause sufficient
for unending and tangible evidence of
gratitude so long as the veterans survive
We gladly yield them money in the form
of pensions as visible evidence of our
gratitude; in our hearts we yield them
the pension of a deep and heartfelt thank
fulness that neither word nor money can
express.
On the LIST of July, 1908, there were on
the pension rolls, 951 ,6S7; the decreases
by death during the year ending on June |
80, amounted to 1892 about five per
cent of the total number. More than |
the decrease in pensions, by death, were
3,269 from other causes, making the |
total decrease in pensions for the year
51,5S1. This is a great number and |
being thinned.
There have been new names added to
the rolls during the year; there have
been RESERVATIONS and all that, so that
the net loss for the year comes to 5,493:
but this is immaterial. These figures do |
not, in the least tend to lessen the sense
of obligation we feel for the veteran
soldier.
On the LIST of July there were 500, 961 |
pensioners of the Civil War. The recent
report of Commissioned Warner shows
1924 of these at 81 years of age, with
a drop to 34,35O at 60 years, and con-
tinuing decrease to S,3S5 at 60 years,
followed by jump to 1880 at 70
years. At II years the number drops
abruptly to 1855 and with some fluc-
tuation the decline continues until it |
reaches patriarch at 103 years and an
other at 1O7, with a third at 1OS. There
is one pensioner of the war of the Revo-
luton, Mrs. Phoebe M. Painter, aged
u, of Brookheld, n. Y, pensioned under
8special act as the daughter of Jonathan
Wooley of New Hampshire. There are
no survivors of the war of 1912, but
pensions are paid to widows, of whom
there were All on July 1, 1908, and 395
on July /, 1909, decrease of 76 for the
year. There are still /, IA survivors of
Indian wars, and 2,SS1 widows of those
who fought in those wars. There are
2 ,459 pensioned survivors of the Mexican
war, and 1888 widows of soldiers of the
conflict
We conclude, therefore, that Uncle Sam,
liberal as he is towards those who have
fought his battles and conquered his enc
mics, cannot be too liberal. The measure
of country's gratitude towards those
who have stood by it is the measure of
an enlightened and practical patriotism
that stands for all that is best. We are
proud of our old soldiers and applaud
that spirit which makes the pensioning
Of them a service of joy.
The deer season is over. Commissioner