The National tribune., 1910-01-13
"PENSIONS 10 YEARS AFTER"

Under this heading the Minneapolis
Journapihas qhis well-considered and
Just editorial: n,
When the pension bills of the civil
war are all paid. it is estimated they
will haY REACHED the imposing total
Iof ten billion dollars. by a coincidence,
this happens To be the estimate OF the
total wealth of the United states at
the beginning pf the struggle Hence
it might be said that the Nation gave
its whole substance to save the Union.
The profit lon the transaction, how
ever, must not be overlooked. The
United States has grown enormously
since the war. Its great growth is to
be attributed more than to anything
else to the Union, one and insepardblc.
What the war cost Is the mcrest frrlc-
ton of what it saved. Had the country
been divided, the growth of the two
republics must have been slower, and as
they must have come together eventu-
ially after a period of trial as two
separate nations, and as the time OF
separation must inevitably have been
one of slow growth because of the friC-
ton in the relations between the dis
severed States. it is evident that the
key to the tremendous prosperity of the
post-bellum period was in the one small
word. Union.
| The civil war veterans upon the pen
sion rolls in 1902 numbered 999,446,
practically a million men. This was The
| high water mark of numbers, but not of
| expenditures. IN 1908 the number of
pensioners had fallen to $4,000, hut
the expenditures had risen to SlG1, 900
600. AS we recede from the war. the
tendency of legislation is to increase
the individual payments. There is in
this recognition of the increased cost
Iof living. While paying them more
money, the Government is actually
helping the veterans to no more of the
necesSarieS of life than when it gave
them a much lower rate, with which
they could buy as much as they now
realize from the higher rates.
The other item which has contributed
to keep up the cost of the roll is the
service pensions. But the cost of that
mas been much exaggerated. Nearly
every man who gets service pension
could have proved disabilities emitting
him to "A pension under the older acts,
if he wished
The only exception that we can take
to this otherwise excellent article is
the astounding statement that by the
time all the pensions have been paid
that it will aggregate the overwhelm-
ing sum of $4,000, 900, 900. This is out
of all reason and is the product of the
distorted imagination of some feverish
enemy of the pension system. Nor was
the total value of the property in the
country only 10000, 900, 900 at the be-
ginning of the war. The official esti-
mate Of the National wealth of the
country, according to the census of
. e q n
sc, 900. .G00,0 900 more than the statement.
According to the report of the Com
missioner of Pensions. the total pay
ment of pensions growing out of the
civil war aggregated up to date S3,6S6,-
461, ,S40.35. This must necessarily COM
prise very nearly the bulk of the pen
sion payments by the United States,
and it is simply incredible that when
the last survivor of the war of-> the
rebellion is dead shall reach anywhere
near one-half of $4,000, 900, 900 THE
pension payments have been recently
swelled enormously by the -laudable !
work of the Pension Commissioner in
clearing up the years OF accumulation
If pending cases and making the first |
payments. AS has been previously |
stated, the amount of these first pay !
ments for 1907 reached the gross sum
Of s13,000.0O0, but were reduced in
1909 nearly $7.O0O,O00 The reduction |
will go on henccforth with amazing !
rapidity, owing to the ravages of death !
among the pensioners. Last year was |
high tide in pension payments. and |
never again will the aggregate dsburse- |
ment reach the figure of $161 900. 900 |
# last year. 1t is simply impossible |
that it should. With the pensioners |
dying at the rate of $4,000 year there
must be a swift shrinkasc of the gross |
amount, which will attract the atten-
ton of everybody, and satisfaction over
the great annual saving be mingled |
with mourning at the rapid disappear
ance of the men to whom the country
owes everything.