The National tribune., 1910-06-16
ECONOMY THEN AND NOW.

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blood manifested itself i'll the veterans
some years ago. Had the veterans any
consideration OF economy of their blood
and strength in the dark days when
the Nations life hung by thread
there would have been little Of the
because Tho veterans then regarded
themselves. their young lives. limbs and
strength as valuable only for the pres
ervation of the Union that we owe al
the prosperity of to-day How little
thought there was of saving any mans
a possibility that its expenditure would
| help the cause in the least! If the
veterans of the Army of the Potomac
| had been saving of their strength, would
they have made that terrible forced
march from the Rappahannock to head
off Lee at Gettysburg from Washington
Baltimore and Philadelphia? Was
there any thought of economy of life
and strength in the army of 10000
men which crossed the Rapidan May
! 3, 1864, and made that awful march to
Petersburg, every step of which was
marked by ncw-made graves. until
half their number was under the sod
Who economiZed anything but his ra-
tions in the 100 days of incessant fight
ing. marching and toiling in mud and
rain from Chattanooga to Atlanta? And
SO We could go On with a thousand
of the utter lack of econ
omy on the part Of the veterans of the
most precious things in their lives
when the Nation needed them.
Let us take another view of
this question of economy. July IL.
1864, was the most portentous
day in our history The war had gone
on for more than three years; the
flower of the Nations manhood had
been slain by the tens of thousands;
the country's wealth had been eXpend-
ed like water; the National debt had
risen TO the appalling figure of $1,000
900, 900, and the Nations credit had
sunk, so that its greenbacks, its debts
of honor, had deprecated to SO cents
on the dollar. Yet the rebellion was
SO far from being conquered that a
strong army appeared before Washing
ton and was only driven back by what
might be almost termed a happy acci-
dent. The moneyed men of the coun-
try were so frightened that they re-
fused TO lend the Government any
more, no matter what inducements it
offered. They had ideas of economy
then and seemed to prefer to lose what
they had rather than give up any more
of their wealth to save what they had
already intrusted to the Government.
The greenback dollar being legal
tender, this depreciation meas
ured every other form of Sc
curity and investment. 1t meas
ured not only the United States bonds
which were based upon it. but every
State. County, municipal and railroad
bond, every promissory note, every de-
post. every bank, every legacy and
judgment. There was S1,S15,7S
of a Government Indebtedness based
upon the greenback, and probably quite
as much more of State, County,
and private paper on the
same basis. It will not be going far
astray to say that at least $4,000, ,000,-
600 rested upon the value of the green
back. The veterans of the Sixth Corps
had not been at all stingy in the ex-
penditure of their blood and strength
in the past, but now they were called
upon to make another rich contribu-
ton. They rushed out of the breast
works in front of Fort Stevens and
drove Early's insolent Confederates
back. followed them up into the Shen-
andOah Valley, and, with the assistance
Of similar veterans of the Eigth and
Corps, inflicted a crushing
defeat upon them at the Opequan.
About the same time their comrades in
the West, equally regardless of econ
omy Of their health and strength, fin
ished up the Atlanta campaign in tri-
umph. The value of the greenback
which was officially quoted at 2S.7 in
July, 1864, and went much lower than
this while Early was knocking at the
doors of the National Capital jumped
up TO 4S.3 in October, after the victories
at Atlanta and in the Shenandoah VAL
ley. Thus we can see that by a most
fragrant disregard of economy in all
that was precious to them the veterans
in a few weeks advanced the price of
the greenback more than 10 cents and
put into the pockets of the holders of
the various bonds and securities at least
$400, 900, 900.
They did not stop there, but carried
the war to a successful conclusion, rails
ing the value of the ereenback after
to 1871 cents. and finally.
by their support of the financial policy
of the Nation, bringing 1t up to par and
thus more than doubling the value of
these securities TO the holders. Be-
tween July IL. 1864. and the resumption
Of specie payment in 1879 the veterans
who are to-day treated with such
grudging economy, put unnumbered bill
lions of dollars into the pockets of
the money lenders and property own
ers of the Nation. These are plain,
financial figures, which anybody can
and which no one can dis
pute. They will show to any faIr-iuind-
ed man that without considering any
thing but the purely monetary aspect
OF the struggle that the veterans earn
ed, and have justly due them, vastly
more than has ever been or can be
paid to them in pensions.