The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1911-08-08
LEGISLATION PROPOSED WILL IN.
CREASE APPROPRIATION BY
e2O, 900.
UNION VETERAN AT HEAD
GEN ERAL SHERWOOD, DEMOCRAT,
CHAIRMAN OF COMMITTEE,
WHICH WILL PUT BILL
THROUGH.
BY VICTOR EI4IIOTT.

With large proportion of their mem
bership made up OF representatives
! from the South. scores OF whom are
sons of former Confederate soldiers.
the Democrats of the House have
adopted more liberal pension poll
cy toward the old Union soldiers
than has ever been recorded In the
history of the government.
There Is no better evidence OF the
! cessation of sectional feeling than
/ is shown in the fact that these South
/ ern Democrats have joined with their
! brethren from the North in commits
/ ting the Democratic party In the
| House TO measure which will add
/ between twenty and twenty-five mil
/ lions of dollars fer the next few
years to the pension rolls of the coun-
try. which now aggregate more than
$3.50, 600 600 annually.
| Never before has there been q
movement undertaken TO treat so
! literally the old soldier as that which
now constitutes part Of the pro-
gram Of the Democratic House. in
authorizing the House committee Oh
! invalid pensions to report the Sher-
wood dollar day service pension
/ bill. the Democrats have COMMITTEES
/ themselves to that legislation. n
means relief and comfort to the c1
veterans who are rapidly answering
! the last roll call
Union Veteran Heads Committee.
When the Democrats assumed con-
( troll Of the House and organized It's
committees. they did gracious thing.
! They selected as the chairman OF the
committee on invalid pensions the
| body which has to do with the claims
Of the veterans. the only Democratic
2 Tw.fE
Congress, General Isaac r.. Sherwood
The fact Is that there are only
four Union soldiers in the present
House. which in itself shows that
those who formerly bore arms IN de-
Tense Of their country have almost
disappeared from the theatre of po-
iiticaI activity. Besides General Eher-
wood, who represents the ninth Ohsa
district, there are only three others
who wore the blue in the sixties. They
are Representative Thistlewood, OF
Illinois; Representative Bradley. Of
New York. and Representative Bing Il
ham, of Pennsylvania. the father
OF the House" all Repu nlicans. There
are only seven members Of the House
who were former Confederates. all Of
them Democrats
Thrty-ti five years ago General Sher-
wood served one term in the House
He was then Republican. Four
years ago ne was returned as \
Democrat. and since that time he
has been fighting for his "dollar-a-
day" service pension bill. but under
the Republican regime he was un-
able To get consideration for ii. In
stead the Republicans of the House
passed the Sultoway age pension ny.
carrying. according to various ess-
mates. from fortg-flve to seventy-fNe
millions of additional appropriation
The Senate failed 10 act upon II, and
II was represented that II IL had
been passed the President would have
vetoed IL.
When General Sherwood was made
the chairman Of the committee II Gas
conceded that his appointment mean
the enactment of the dollar day
pension measure which recognizes
merit and service rather than age
as the basis upon which the gratuities
of the government should he hesto"-
ed upon veterans When this meas
ure came up for consideration in
Yeeesft democratic caucus, II WAS n
representative from the South. Mr..
Underwood who moved that II was
the sense OF the caucus that ~
measure should be reported tn the
house and constitute part 81 the
Democratic program. There WAS bUt
one vote In dissent
ts<.~-. Benefits the Needy.
The measure has an exena ptien
clause which excludes from It's bere-
fits any soldier who has yearly in
come OF $1,000 for the reason tina,
1t is figured that men who have i'm
comes OF this amount are not in need
Of additional aid from the govern
ment. Between twenty and twenty
five per cent. OF the old soldiers who
would otherwise obtain advances In
their pensions are thus excluded.
while the benefits OF the Legislation
| will go To the poor and needy There
is further provision in the bin much
approved by the Veterans. which stipu-
lates that any soldier who under4
the measure draws a pension of $50
n mtn1th shall not be eligible to he
cared for In a national soldiers homo. /
This will not only save the govern
ment large sum In the mainte-
nance Of these homes. but will en-
able the veterans to live outside of |
the homes on their own resources. as
many of them desire Is do.
Because Of the contemplated ai-
journment of congress during August.
ii will not be possible To pass the
dollar-a-day bill at this session. butt
inasmuch as IL is a part of the legis-
iative program II win be taken uni
and passed at the regular session
Its enactment at this session would !
be of no advantage to the soldiers for II
the reason that the appropriation for l.
pensions for the current year hasX
already been made. In fact. II wash
made by the last congress and anvil
increase. such as are contemplated I
under the Sherman bill, would moth
be available until the beginning oil
! the next fiscal year on July /, 1872.
Should the Sherwood bill mass
as Is now planned. the pension an
preparation act of the coming regu-II
lar session will he. based upon theII
proposed increase. Vt is said that tn e||
president is not opposed to the ser-II
vice pension bill as he is to the ageI|
pension bill and the injustice Of tn a.
latter measure Is pointed out in thauI
,, It would grant an increase to a COL
day soldier VINO happened to hafdI
reached a certain age, even thought
he never saw an enemy or fired al
gun. while 1t would give no recog-lI
milton to another soldier who ntAh
have served for three or four year,
and had mot reached "a certain stipu-I
! lated age. Merit and service rather
than age are made the basis OF theI
measure to which the majority of thel
house have committed themselves. anal
the old soldiers are reasonably as-l
sured of Its enactment
AT WORK SATURDAY