The Washington herald., 1910-12-26
OPPOSES PENSION INCREASE.
Herald Reader Airs His Views on
Deserving Veterans and Others.

Herald Reader Airs His Views on
/ Deserving Veterans and Others.
Editor The Washington Herald;
! Allow me 10 submit through your val
liable paper some observations on the
proposed increase Of pensions Of the sur
vivors Of the late civil war
! Let me say in beginning. that no man
stands higher in my estimation than the
real soldier-the real veteran" Of that
war-while with the so-called "old sol
/ der it is quite different ! have met him
/ IN widely separated parts OF the country
and under all kinds Of conditions, bat
/ have found him ever the same
Under the present law, any man who
/ served ninety days or more during the
civil war In the Federal army is receiv-
1 ing a pension OF at least SO per month.
provided he is siXtytwo or more years
OF age; SIS. IL seventy or more years
or age, and $50, II seventy-fiye or more
years Of age. IL is proposed to increase
those rates as follows: sixty-two or more
years 10 s15. sixty-fi five or more years 10
SO, seventy years or more TO SIS, and
seventy-five years OF more to sS6 per
month.
Keep in mind that this is not a dis
ability pension Ii is q service pension.
Next April fifty years will have passed
since the beginning OF that struggle and
fOrty-siX since it terminated. As very
few, comparatively, enlisted under six
teen years Of age. and as the average
age at enlistment was, / believe, about
eighteen years, those pushing this bin
may well c0ncede that practically every
living soldier Of the war Of the rebellion
will be eligible hereunder TO a service
pension Of at least SIS per month. and
that the average pension Hereunder will
be 50 per month.
Now, statistics viii bear me out that
the men who bore the brunt Of the war
have either Joined the great army OF the
beyond or are so enfeebled by years that
they are already in receipt OF a greater
rate Of pension than provided in the pro-
posed bill, except, probably, the $36 per
month rate Hence. the majority Of the
most deserving class will derive no bene-
fit from the bill.
Who. then. will reap the benefit? The
younger soldiers who enlisted the last
year or the last few months of the war,
and not a few who enlisted even after
hostilities had ceased-few of whom ever
reached the front or fired a shot, some
Of whom, too, were OF the drafted vol
unteers," also that other and rather nu-
merous class, the ''ninety-day men," who
served mostly in camp or in hospital
Has not this country long since. many
times over, fully recompensed these
'ninety-day men" and these eleventh-hour
patriots and drafted volunteers" for
their ardu0us % service and great %
sacrifces7 Is their demand OF increased
pension never to cease? Let them be re-
minded of the enormous sums-about
H50,00O.e00 annually, for many years past
the government has appropriated for
them, collected by way Of duties and in
ternal revenue taxes from their less priv
LEGGED brethren, many OF whom needed
II much more than those to whom it was
laVlshly given. Sight should not be lost
of the fact also that Uncle Sam has paid
out annually several more millions in the
administration Of the pension laws and in
paying pensions, a large corps of clerks
for nearly fifty years having been en-
ployed for such purpose in the Bur
eau Of Pensions and its paying agencies.
Nor should 1t be forgotten that some of
the States pay pensions 10 soldiers who
made up its quota OF troops.
Why, in view of all these facts, in this
era OF economy, should such a measure,
requiring. it is estimated. $4,000, 600. be
looked upon with favor by Congress?
The payment of a life service pension
to a discharged soldier is the equivalent
OF retiring him with pay more or less
than his service pay. according TO the
amount OF the pension). But isn't
military service of ninety days a mighty
short one on which to predicate retire
ment with pay. CHARLES N. BROWN