Omaha daily bee., 1911-01-20
Pensions

Pensions.
OMAHA, Jan. IS. isl.-To the Editor Of
The Bee. Permit me and my comrades
little space in your columns. 1 have noted
in three or four newspapers in the east
quite vigorous kick against the late &C
ton Of congress in passing the Sulloway
bill. which raises the pension Of veterans
Of the civil and Mexican wars These ed
itors seem TO be frightened over the fact
that It will cause a draft on the treasury
Of some $4,000 coo in excess Of the present
appropriation. one Of these papers speaks
in high praise of one gentleman who OPP
posed the bill. To old soldiers this looks
to he very unwarranted. Have these men
forgotten that II il forty-siX years since the
war closed? That It has been half cen
fury since these veterans, then boys, en-
listed I'm the army and successfully fought
to its close the bloodiest war ever known?
Have they forgotten that it was over a
quarter Of a century after the close Of the
war before any except those injured in the
line OF duty received a cent of pension?
DO these congressman recall the fact that
only a few years ago they voted them
selves $500 per year excess salary? Have
they any idea OF how an old, unfortunate
veteran of 20 years lives on SIS per month?
How he pays for house rent, fuel and the
few necessaries Of life?
one of the editors referred to goes so
far as to call the bill the climax OF scan
dial in pension legislation" 1 will not say
such men are not patriots, that they do
not love their country, but l will venture
the assertion that any one Of them would
have been unwilling to stand at Gettys-
If.stV,
thirty minutes in front Of Picketts charge,
or the battle of Cold Harbor, where 10000
men fell inside of sixty minutes, or to
have endured the hell of the Hornets Nest
at Shiloh on April 6, 1862, or to endure the
awful misery of prisoners of war through
which the soldiers of 81 and IS passed.
Mr.. Editor, If those boys in blue, fair of
face and form, that were slain on the bat
tlefields of the southland, or those who en-
dured the tortures of prison pens, buried,
thousands Of them, in unknown graves,
could lift the turf from above their mould
ering bones and come forth sheeted in
whiteness, what mighty army it would
be to testify against the action of those
men who would deny to the members OF
the Grand Army this additional recogni-
| ton of the valuable service rendered by
| them to this government, the greatest OF
/ all republics rich in all the resources i'm
| aginable that go to make a people great.
Let me call the attention of these OBJ
| jecters to the funeral procession that is
| passing: One hundred Of these veterans
! pass away every twenty-four hours, 800
every, thirty days, $500 every year. Al
! this rate the pay roll will be 81, 900 less
next year than this. The year following
| SIS, 600 900 less, and so on until a few years
! have passed and the Grand Army of tho
Republic will all be sleeping in those
! green tents whose curtain never outward
swings" 1t is for the men who now live
and who represent a nation these mer
saved and have helped to make great tC
say what shall be done to make the sun
set of their lives a little brighter, to add
just little cheer to the humble home il
which they are ending their days
We blush for the men who claim place
in the party OF Lincoln. Grant, Garfield
and Mckinley and who sit in congress b!
the grace OF that party and who vote mo
| on She Sulloway pension bill.
We trust that The Bee and the press o
Nebraska will stand with the St. Louii
Globe Democrat and most of the press o.
the nation In support OF congress, which
on the final vote gave $50 majority to thu
bill Let the United States senate TAX,
notice that before another session of con
gress $1,000 veterans will be beyond tn
| reach Of any benefaction. They will hav
crossed the long pontoon over which Their
! is no counter march. j. II. PRESSON.
1893 Underwood avenue.