The National tribune., 1910-05-12
THE NATIONAL TRIBUNE PENSION
BILL

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of rigid economy in the present condi-
ton of the Treasury. and as possessor:
of common sense think that the public
expenditures should be kept within rea-
sonable relation to the amount Of
money on hand, yet we are opposed
of this economy being put upon the vet
Grams and their widows.
The veterans stand in an entirely diff.
| ferent relation to any other creditors OF
the GoYernment. Differing from the
| bondholder and contractor. the officer
or man in the Army or Navy and every
other class of claimants, their debt is
personal to them, and ceases to be q
debt with their lives. THERE'S nothing
truer with regard to pensioners than
the old adage, Death pays all debts. -
Therefore, the Government should
make all haste and strain every nerve
to pay these debts of honor while the
creditors are yet alive.
For many years after the war the
people subjected themselves to the most
unusual sacrifice to pay the debts due
those who had lent money to the Ma
ton during the waT and to those who
had sold it guns. ammunition. hardtack
pork and clothing. For many years a
people not one-tcrth as rich as to-day
paid yearly Approximately as much as
is now being paid cut for pensions. in
order to satisfy the bondholdcrs and
~.
claims. From 1865 TO 1879 the Govern
ment paid annually from $1O0. 10000
to S143.0OO.C00 in gold as interest on
the public debt. 1t was not until 1880
that the interest charge fell below
Si00, 600. 600 a year. 1t must be rcmem
bered that this payment was in gold at
the time when the greenback fell at
times to 30 cents. and Therefore the
interest charge alone should be in
creased as much as 90 per cent There
was in addition to this enormous in
terest charge payments of premiums
and other allowances to the bondholdeT
which swclled the total expenditure
above anything paid out for pensions
in recent years. 1t must be also kept
in mind that this burden was not spread
over the whole country, as at present,
but it was borne almost wholly by the
two-thirds of the country which re-
mained loyal The States lately in re-
bellion paid very little of the taxes dur
ing those years Therefore, as said be-
fore, this great burden was borne by
less than one-tenth of the present
wealth of the United States. Anyone
can see this who reflects for n moment
upon the condition of the country in
the IA years Immediately succeeding
the war.
An undue proportion of the burden
vas borne by the young men who had
fought the war thru to victory, and
hen came home to throw their great
energies into the work of building up
he country and repairing the ravages
If war. They toiled as faithfully and
oravely at this as long as their strength
the colossal struggle. and the marvel
Gus development of the country beyond
the Mississippi is an eternal monument
10 their energy and effectiveness. They
insisted firmly that the Government
should pay every cent of its obligations
o its creditors, they voted overwhelm- |
ngly in favor, of this every time that |
he question was brought up, and their
5otes carried the day in favor of alb
iolute honesty toward the Nations |
,reditors. These facts have faded from |
he minds of the present generation, |
but they should be brought up with
he utmost force and emphasis when
ever there is a complaint made as to
he burden" of the pension expendi-
ures.
The National Tribune pension bill
simply proposes that the Government
shall treat its veteran creditors as fair
y and equally as it did the bondholders
md contractors, and the passage of that
bill will not represent, all things con-
5idered, anything like the effort re-
Iuired to carry the enormous payments
for interest, premium and other allow
ances to the bondholders under which
the country labored for the Is years
succeeding the war. The
Tribune pension bill is the
farthest separation from any extrava-
gance or even liberal generosity. 1t is
not even repayment to the veterans for
their monetary sacrifices in abandoning
to serve the Government 1t
is only a partial payment in money for
those sacrifices, and its passage Will be
only decent recognition of an over
wheIming debt which can never be
paid.