The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1911-02-16
AN OPEN LETTER
To Congress and the President.
Mai. -Gcn. Daniel f. Siclxles, L. S. Army,
Retired, Urges Prompt Enactment of
Pending Civil War Volunteer Officers
Retirement BILL

hctirCd, Urges Prompt Enactment oil
Pending Civil War Volunteer Officers
Retirement Bill.
| Permit me. with due. respect to adj
dress you at this critical time, and
from a wholly disinterested standpoint
an earnest word in behalf of the sur
viving civil war volunteer officers.
No body of men ever served Their
country more CALAMITY and unselfish-
". in a crisis of greater extremity, OF
with more splendid and enduring results
The present generation is the prosperou:
! beneficiary of that service. There Is
danger that history may also have to
record that no body of deserving mer
were ever SO completely ignored by the
country they served. From AppomattoH
to the present date those volunteer Off
GERS for whom l here appeal have re-
ceived no recognition at the hands OF
the preserved Republic. On the con-
trary, by adverse discrimination, they
seem to have been singled out for ne
glect and discredit. The opportunity
now offers to remedy a great wrong
At this time our general pension legis-
lation is apparently being revised, en-
larged, and possibly given its final form
The moment is therefore opportune for
correcting the glaring defect to which
now more specifically invite your at
tention.
Uniform and Graded Pensions.
AS you are aware. our present age
pension laws disregard the former rank
and length of service of the beneficiaries
and make a 90-day enlistment and an
honorable discharge the only require
ments for full and equal participation
in pension benefits. Under that system
surviving volunteer officers who served
at the front thruout the civil war, COM
handing companies, batteries, regi-
ments, brigades and divisions, are re-
duced to the ranks and accorded the
same recognition and benefits as those
who were enrolled as privates for three
months and were never required to
leave their native States.
Unfair Discrimination Against Officers.
It is submitted that this anomaly
ought to be eliminated from cur legis-
lation, and eliminated now during the
present session of Congress, while some
former. officers yet survive to benefit
by the correction. The request for
this action is broadly based on the OBJ
vious merits of the case, the nature, re-
suits and value of the service rendered,
but additional specific reasons support
ing it are unanswerable. The central
proposition is this: % That in provid-
ing fit recognition of the service rem
dered by these civil war volunteer Off
GERS that recognition ought to have
regard to their former rank, respon-
sibility and service. CD That to reject
this principle in the present case is an
unfair discrimination, which ignores the
evident equities of the subject. violates
all important precedentS in our Nations
history disregards the otherwise uni
versal rule of graded retired pay, both
military and civil, repudiateS the Gov
ernments honorable obligation to en-
of fra afyfna oYd in
to Regular and volunteer officers rec
ognition for identical civil war service,
and thus places upon the civil war vol
unteer officers an intolerable stigma of
demerit.
Revolutionary and Mexican War Prece-
dents.
When the Continental Congress in
1880 promised to the officers of the
Continental line (the limited number
of Regular" troops in the Revolution
airy Army retired half pay during life.
that benefit, at Washington's request,
was graded and adjusted according to
previous rank, and thus according to
previous rank. responsibilities and
duties
When. in 1892, more than 40 years
after the war, Congress, as a free-will
offering of patriotic appreciation and
not in fulfillment of any previous
to all the surviving veterans of the
Army of the Revolution not previously
provided for, all of whom were citizen
soldiers, again that retired pay, with
one maximum limitation, was graded
according to previous rank, responsible
ity and service, both among officers and
enlisted men. Thus was the American
precedent and practice of adjusting to
previous rank the recognition and bene-
fits for notable and sanguinary military
service established and doubly confirm
ed by the founders of the Republic.
The pensions granted to disabled vet
Grams of the Mexican war were likewise
graded according to the rank of both
officers and enlisted men.
When, following the civil war, Con-
gress established the present retired-list
system for the Regular Army and Navy
the retired pay was, as it still is, graded
according to previous rank, responsible
ity and service, The Colonel receives
more than the Captain, the Sergeant
more than the Corporal and private,
and each according to length of serv-
ice. Any proposal to substitute in the
Army and Navy scheme of level or
uniform benefits would scarcely be
treated seriously.
Graded Civil and Industrial Pensions
Without known exception, in all sys-
TENS of age pensions or retired pay for
civil and industrial officials and en-
pIoyes, established by National, State
and municipal governments, and by
railway, commercial and manufacturing
the same rule of gradual
ing benefits according TO previous rank.
and service, prevails.
From 1850 to 1911, no one, unless it be
an occasional socialist, has ever sug-
gested that such graduation of recogni
ton as is outlined above constitutes an
discrimination in favor of those
who receive somewhat more and against
those who receive somewhat less. The
system is universal and time-honored,
because it is just and because it fur
nishes in all pursuits an invaluable in
centive TO honorable ambition and good
work. 1t is a public asset, and not a
liability.
In the face of this approved uniform
rule and custom, thus applied in all our
public and private, military and civil
affairs, it is unthinkable that these vet
eran volunteer officers should be set
apart and ostraciZed as being unworthy
of sharing the benefits of an otherwise
system.
Volunteers and Regulars.
But this long line of humiliating dis
does not end here. Note
- IT, ..<r