The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-12-09
will have responsible leadership
politics and business"
THE EIrNn.

NlIbIsING THE FUND.-,
The issues of the Congressional Re-
cord for Monday and Tuesday were
received yesterday by thousands OF
people In every part of the nation.
There are no interesting speeches in
these pages. but y random nerusal of
the list of bills introduced will reveal
the fact that about 1900 new pension
bills were presented in the first two
days session. Most IF these are for in
creases in pensions, while some are
for new pensions n others are to
correct the record" as to certain sol
dlers or ~near-soldiers or never-wers-
soldiers.
At this rate, there will be many
thousand pension bills before Con-
gress at even this short session. The
enormous quantity of these bills will
afford little opportunity for proper in
spection of the merits and demerits of
these claims and will allow but little
effort in the way of detection of fraud.
The pension mill goes grinding On,
wasting the public money at every
step, pouring wealth into he grasp
ing hands of those who have no Just
claim in law and fact to reward.
Take, for instance, the bills to cor
rect the record" That is a short cut
10 graft. The pretended soldier or
the ex-home guar gets In by this
route to plumber and pillage the trea-
sury. The official records do not men
ton them, but they gather evidence of
q doubtful or spurious nature, use it as
a lever by which to prize open a place
for them in the official records. and are
enrolled as regular soldiers.
The genuine veterans are passing
rapidly. President Taft in the message
which he sent to Congress on Monday
declared that old soldiers are dying at
The rate of 5000 the month, and point
ed out that the rate of deaths Is in
creasing inevitably as time passes.
Nevertheless. after forty-nve years of
silence and inactivity, new names are
being added to the pension rolls. re-
minding as very much of that wise
saying of DR.. johnson, Patriotism is
the last refuge of a scoundrel."
one of the best things that Presi-
dent Taft said in his message was:
Care should be exercised not to go
to absurd lengths Tin the matter of
pensions), or distribute the bounty CT
tho Government to classes of persons
who may. at this late day, from It mer-
cenary motive, seek to obtain some le-
gal relation with an old veteran now
tottering on the brink of the grave"
This utterance did not go to the
root of the matter. nor did it touch
upon the most Ubiquitous features of
the pension system. hut it recalled to
the American public that many schem-
ing young women and women of mid
die 6 are marrying these veterans
with an eye single TO securing a
widows pension for the probably long
remainder of their lives when their
husbands have died. Such a relation
is hardly matrimonial, in fact, in many
cases the relation is not one formally
recognized by the law or by religion.
This gigantic fraud takes many
forms and ramihcations. It ought to
be investigated, and 1T is 10 be hoped
that Congress will look into the mat
ter thoroughly and order it investi-
gated from top to bottom. The Gov
ernment in this matter is carrying pa
ternalism too far. More and more
pension" is becoming a synonym for
graft and for theft in the guise of
patriotism.