The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1911-01-24
THE suLLowAy PENSION BILL

Objection TO the Suiloway pension
bill is heard in some quarters. rms
bill recently passed the house at
Washington, and if il becomes law
1t vii give pensions TO all surviving
soldiers of the Civil war, with IN
creases 10 many who are now on the
pension rolls The estimated add
tional outlay for pensions entailed by
the measure is s45,0Oo,00o year
In reply to critics who object to the
expenditure of this large sum Judge
Carson OF Council Bluffs, in letter
in the Nonpareil, suggests that it
these -carping editorial critics, as
he calls them, could have ten minutes
Of the experience of the boys who
faced the enemy they would cease
their criticisms. Judge Carson re.
fers particularly 10 the battle of
snodgrasg Hill, concerning which he
writes:
IF the carping editorial writer's up
on the Sulioway bill could have ten
minutes OF the experience of the boy
in the battle at Snodgrass hill, Geor-
gia, September 90, 1869, their guns
would be sileneed. His division nad
been held IN reserve. General Inoni-
as he'd formed a new line on this niils
/ but did not have troops 70 cover the
ridge on the right, and The enemy
I occupied this part Of the hill When
!. General Stedman reported TO Gener-
al Thomas, be was ordered 10 charge
the enemy on the ridge This division,
with the enemy in sight, moved al
double quick, and formed at the base
of the ridge, and charged with fixed
bayonets unde- deadly FIRE from the
summit Every man in that charging
line felt and thought as this boz did,
Well, my time has come Every boy
face was bIanched as be rushed W
that historic hill, or fell dead. or nor
ribly wounded.
The gentlemen in their easy chairs
can safely fire the dollar marks, with
out banching, as this boy did in fac
ing death, 10 save his country FROM
being destroyed by its enemies. Wher
will their lime come, and what finar
) cial consideration would these gentle
: men demand TO bare their breasts
: TO a death storm such as this BOY anC
! his comrades faced that day.
: Judge Carson affirms that the boy
: experience referred 10 above repre-
. SCENTS that of the soldiers OF every or
). of our armies at the front The aur
i yiyors were made prematurely old b.
that awful strain upon heart an
nerve. Nearly half million perishe
on the field or In hospitals from dii
eases and wounds, while thousand
were discharged 10 crawl home an
y die. "And now. says Judge Carson
AS taps are sounding all over th
2 union. with only few TO answer, an
/ they reaching four score years, lhes
l. surviving old battle-scarred and battl.
: worn veterans, who preserved fc
a these gentlemen the best goyernmer
on earth today, are scoffed at Il
what they did. and there is ravin
that few additional millions is abol
II to be granted as a partial reward f
u what they did. These gentlemen wi
y criticise owe all they enjoy today
e these men living and dead. For,
a. they had failed in that mighty stril
II civ. this country would have be-
j broken up into little warning prin
palities. They should read Lincoln
u address delivered on the battle fie
n OF Gettysburg. when his great SO
lbreaihed the gratitude of the pati'