The National tribune., 1910-10-06
"TrIE PENSION CARNIVAL"


undertaking sensations in which half
truths are mingled with actual lies. has
a most sensational article in the Octo-
Der number. entitled THE Pension Car
nival" There is absolutely nothing
new in this article, not even the deduc-
tions and conclusions 1t is merely a
rehash of the stuff which has been
printed by Copperhead, rebel and yell
low papers against the Union soldiers
for the past 45 years. and it has in 1t
| all IF the venom. all Of the misplaced
| facts and figures and all of the down
right caIumnies of As years of bitter
Icontroversy. A fact ont of place is al
| twavs much worse and more dangerous
than an absolute lie. In system so
| vast as that of pensions and extending
over so long a period of year there
must ALWAYS, in spite of the utmost
care. and ability in administration. Oc-
cur instances which, if grouped togeth-
er. would make a damaging showing.
For example, this country is full OF
ministers of the highest recttude OF
! life. who are wholly filled with sense
of duty to God and their fellow-crea-
lures and whose work and conversation
are strictly in accord with the finest
and purest ideas Yet If any muck
raker should start on a determined
quest for wrongdoers he could find
among the hundreds of thousands of
ministers in the course of a half CEN
g, rt-hn h1y
wrong as would Startle the people and,
taken alone. produce the impression
that the most outrageous lawbreakers
and practicers of immortality were those
who followed the profession of preach
ing the gospel of Christ. He would
obscure to the public view the 300
OOO-more than million in so years
ministers, preachers and priests who
are living lives of the greatest purity,
self-Sacrifice and devotion to God. This
is precisely what the Worlds Work has
done with regard to the pension roll,
and particularly as to the alleged de-
serters upon it. This matter of lesert-
ers has been thrashed over to absolute
WEAKNESS years ago, and the.-trut
shown so conclusively that the matter
has been dropped for years by the pen
sion haters. 1t has been so far forgot
ten that the Worlds Work has been
able to take it up as new matter, which
it has dug out with infinite pains. The
facts are that the Provost -Marshal-Gen-
eral of the United States Army reported
that there were 129, 900 actual desert
ers. The Copperhead papers for years
made great hullaballoo about its be-
ing a larger army than ever was pres
ent for duty in the Army of the Poto-
mac and four times as large as the
armies which fought at Shiloh or Stone
River. This sounded plausible, hut it
was another instance of the danger of
a fact out of place 1t was pointed out
very conclusively that this number of
alleged fieSerters should be placed in
comparison with the 2,859,132 men fur
nished by the States to the Government
during the war. Anyone with moderate
skill in figuring will at once see that
this great army of $4,000 deserters
was at most but between four and five
per cent; that is, where there were 100
men who enlisted for the war there
were between four and five who de-
serted. while the other 95 served brave
ly. performed their duty faithfully and
are entitled to the gratitude Of the Ma
ton. The Copperhead muck-rakers
would blacken the fair fame of these
95 men for the sake of denouncing the
five men who proved recreant As a
matter of fact, the Union army showed
the most astonishing fidelity and forti-
tude ever known in the history of the
world. No other army ever mustered,
10 matter what the circumstances, had
such a small portion of deserters, but
the muck-rakers would make it appear
that it was the most -ecrcant and das-
tardly organization known. This is the
spirit of the whole article in the Worlds
Work. 1t gathers up every one of the
alleged instances which ii distorts to
make it appear that these are charac-
teristic, whereas if true, which most of
them are not, it would only mean that
a few wrongs crept in in a multitude of
rights
The best answer to the Worlds Work
article WAS furnished by the Admins
tration of President Cleveland himself.
The Worlds Work quotes President
Cleveland with high approval, but Goes
not and dares not tell what were the
results of his much-trumpeted on
slaught upon the pension system.
President Cleveland began his second
Administration with a proclamation
that the pension roll was honeycombed
with fraud and every neigh borhood had
its wellknown frauds. The whole power
of the Administration was turned to-
ward making this declaration of its
chief good The Pension Bureau was
given 100000 a year for special dctec-
tives to visit cvery> ncighborhood and
listen TO every scrap of slanderous gos-
sip that they could gather up
A special commission was formed 70
scrutinize the pension roll, and a panic
was caused among the veterans by the
demand that they reprove their claims.
Many thousands of pensions were sus-
pended until this was done, and an in
conceivable amount of misery was put
upon the aged men and their widows.
The Department of Justice, the Post
Office Department and every other Blu
reau of the Government that could be
brought into the work was set Mt IT, The