The National tribune., 1910-01-13
., SENSIBLE PENSION BILL" "


Under this heading the Evening &C.
MUS of Uniontown. Pa, the leading
daily paper in Fayette County. says
cditorially:
John McElroy. editor of The Ma
ltional Tribune. the soldiers paper. pub
Ilished at Washington, ID. c.. is out with
Il pension bill that he is urging Congress
| to pass. and which we believe the best
| bill in the line we have seen, and there
should be no hesitanCy on the part of
Congress to pass it with as little delay
as may be. The National Tribune bill
| is not an eXtravagant bill. but il spells
q comfortable living and would remove
the fear of the poorhouse from the fu-
| ture of the veteran who served the
country when the country needed, and
! badly needed, the service. 1t is 4 no.
! toriouS fact that the Union soldiers
ina, not been dealt with after their
deserts. 1t has been too often the case
| that when a pension was applied for so
much red tape was required before the
application received consideration that
Geath has sometimes come to the relief
Of the veteran before his Government
came to his aid. We knew one old sol
dier in Fayette County who went to-
tally blind and to whom a pension in
crease was denied because research,
careful and painstaking, into the his
ftory of his family, at cost to the Gov
ernment of much more than the in
crease to the soldier would have
amounted to brought to light the fact
that one of his ancestors had gone
blind: hence it was reasoned by the
examiners that Isaac Moore's blindness
was hereditary and no increase could
be allowed. Isaac Moore had been get
ting small pension ($S month. we
believe) before he became blind, and
with the labor he was able to do for
he was far from stout, and the work
his wife could secure. such as sewing
and quilting, they managed to pay their
rent and live. After he went blind the
labor of his wife's hands and the char
tiles OF the community Kept soul and
body together until he answered the
last roll call, and the wife that so faith
fully toiled to support him went to
friends in West Virginia after his DEATH
and so far as we know is charge on
them to-day. The appreciation of the
old, battle-scarred veteran by the Gov
ernment has in the past been so over
powering that his ancestry would be
traced back to the Garden of Eden, if
possible. for excuse for refusing a pen
sion or denying needed increase. The
Democratic Party was the first to file
objections to this exhaustive and ex-
pensive manner of procedure when it
in 1896 wrote into its National plat
form: The fact of enlistment and SER
wee should be deemed conclus We evil
dence against disease and disability be-
fore enlistment But we are glad to
know that that day is past and service
pensions are now the order, altho as yet
the allowance is far too meager to pro-
vide properly for the declining years of
the old veterans, whose number each
year grows greatly and lamentably less.
and who ere long will be seen among
us no more"
After reproducing the text of The |
National Tribune bill the editor goes
on to say:
THE old soldiers are worthy of the |
consideration provided ia the above |
bill, and 70 matter how literally they |
ar" treated by the Government the !
debt we owe them can never be paid |
Money cannot pay for the hardships |
they endured to preserve the suprem-
acy of the Union, and besides they were |
paid for their hard service at the front /
with deprecated dollars, worth part of |
the time but little more than the third |
of dollar, and altho we have redeemed |
at par our obligations held by the bond
holder, we have never made good to |
the old soldier. Therefore, we say, let |
The National Tribune bill or better
one be passed by the present Congress
at Che present session.