The National tribune., 1910-06-30
GEN. SHERwOoD's DoLLAR-A-DAY
RIIIi

GEN. SHERWOOD'S DOLLAR-A-DAY
BILL.
Last week Gen. l. r. Sherwood, Rep
resentative from Ohio. wrote to the
Washington Post:
Editor Post: / notice an article in
the Post saying Speaker Cannon re-
ferred to me in his speech on the floor
of the House on Saturday. when he dis
cussed the dollar-a-d day pension bill. i
was in my office and did not hear the
Speaker, but his speech does not apply
to me, as I have never introduced a
dollar-a-day pension bill to include all
soldiers who served in the army.
My first dollar-a day bill, introduced
| in December, 1907, included only vet
eran soldiers who served IS months and
over, and my second dollar-a-day bill,
introduced in December 1908, only pen
stoned soldiers who served one year.
The bill of 1908 would, If enacted, take
about s20.000,00o the first year, with a
decrease of 10 per cent every year for
six years, when nearly all of the vet
Grams of that class will be dead. l found
by careful investigation in the PENSION
Office that bill to pension all the sur
lviving soldiers of the civil war at 81
day would cost the first year about
S107 100000, hence I knew bill OF
that wide scope could not pass. l learn
however, that some 40 of such bllls
have been introduced during this ses-
sion of Congress. Neither have l written
to my soldier constituents, or anybody
aIse, saying, Il am for a dollar-a-day
pension bill for every soldier VINO
served in the civil war, but the Speak
er will not let me pass it," as stated by
the Speaker.
/ will give 500 to any kind of char
ity for any such letter written by me.
If ! have any criticism to make of the
Speaker l will use the floor in an up
right attitude, provided L can get the
lloor.
l am making an effort to obtain 81 a
day for veterans. and propose to con-
tinue that effort on open, honorable
and strictly patriotic lines.-1Saac X.
Sherwood, Ninth Ohio District.
The bill which Gen. Sherwood intro
duced Dec. IA, 1909, and which was
referred to the Committee on Military
Affairs, reads:
A BILL for the enactment of a veteran
volunteer roll.
Be it enacted by the Senate and
House of Representatives of the Unit
ed States of America in Congress as
sembled, That upon written application
to the Secretary of the Interior and
subject to the conditions and require
ments hereinafter contained, the name
of each surviving volunteer soldier in
the United States Volunteer Army of
the civil war shall be entered upon a
roll to be known as the veteran volun-
teer roll: Provided. however, That each
such soldier shall have served with
credit as an enlisted man not less than
one year with troops in said volunteer
army between April 20, 1861, and July
Is 1866. He shall have been honor
ably discharged from service. Said ap-
plication shall be accompanied with
proof of the identity of the applicant,
and the identity shall be sworn to in
the manner and form provided by law
of other applications for pension. In
the event that such applicant has been
wounded in the line of his duty and
thereby disabled from serving for said
term of one year, or was discharged
for disability contracted in the service,
or was enlisted for one year or more
and was mustered out because of the
close of the war, upon proof of such
facts. il he be otherwise qualified, he
shall be entitled to be entered upon
such roll the same as though he had
served for the full term of one year.
Any soldier captured in battle or in the
line of his duty and serving In a con-
federate p: ;son shall have his time of
such service counted the same as if he
had served In the field. That each of
the classes of soldiers hereinbefore de-
scribed, vhsc entered upon such roll,
shall be paid out of any money in the
Treasury OF the United States not
otherwise appropriated the sum of 81
per day from and after the date of his
application during his natural life.
Sec 2 That each person who shall
receive pay under the provisions of this
act shall thereby relinquish all right
and claim to any other pension from
the United States.
AS to the probable cost of the above
measure. tho report OF the Commits
sioner OF Pensions for the year ended
June 80. 1910. shows there were 593,-
ssI survivors OF the war of the rebel
licn on the roll. The following table
g.yes the number who are receiving
less than 81 day, and what ii would
cCsr nnruGlly to raise them to that
amount: