New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-01-13

the close OF the war the veterans iaee'
life again on an equal footing. Forty-n'e
years have swept three-fourths OF then,
away, and have consigned to oblivion all
distinctions of rank among those VINO SUI
vive. Many an old commander is TO-DAY
grateful for the helpful comradeship VI
the more prosperous private of the la
gone war days. so, the proposal to plaoo
commissioned officers OF the CiVii W."
upon retired list at full pay, or at nan
pay, or TO make any discrimination wnA'
ever for their benefit Is simply to abandon
every logical premise for a pension oaseu
upon the presumptiye disability OF ao-
yanced age.
And the S1-a-day pension proposal -
equally Objectionable. and for two vaiiu
reasons: First, II abolishes all distinction
between partial and total impairment Oh
ability for self-support, and. second, 1t con-
templates too heavy burden for the ma
tional treasury. The action OF the Grahu
Army In disappearing the Sl-a-day scneme
should be noted at once as the protest OF
the real veteran that the time Is come
when sanity in pension legislation should
give heed to the actual needs Of the OLD
soldier; and sanity in pension adminlstra-
ton should make impossible a repetition
Of the frauds OF the past; and sanity IN
both legislation and administration should
institute an investigation that would purge
the pension roll Of the name OF every PEN
sion thief, male or female, and make II
roll Of honor for the real veteran or his
deserving widow. To-day not one-haif OF
the money that passes out OF the door OF
the Pension Office ever touches the palm
that handled a musket or carried SWORD
But worse than that, the veteran pensioner
cannot receive his little stipend without
being regarded with suspicion and submit
ting to personal humiliation.
Here is a case typical OF thousands: A
veteran pensioner Of my intimate acquaint-
ance enlisted when he was fifteen years
old, carried a musket three years, was
wounded at the capture Of Richmond ana
Petersburg, and discharged at eighteen with
an impaired constitution. He learned a
trade and worked his way through college,
being graduated when thirty years old HIS
health broken at thirty-flve. he spent SIX
months In a sanatorium, applied for pen
sion seventeen years after the war closed)
and received an award OF 81 a month FOR
gurshot wound in right thigh and knee"
Later he applied for an increase and was
advanced to IS a month; waited twenty-four
years more and, with another big break in
health, applied again and was advanced
TO so a month. Shortly afterward his age
on the War Department records appeared
as sixty-two years, but the family Bible
said he was only hfty-nine years old, and
though again In a sanatorium for months,
he had to wait three years for an advance
to SIC a month. He is now wholly disabled for
any kind OF manual labor. yet under the
present law must wait seven years more
for an advance 10 SIS a month unless he
makes another application for an increase
or joins the scramble with private PEN
sion bill. which he would have little in
clination to do.
The bill reported by the House commit
tee would give this man SIS month for the
next two years, and then, at sixty-five, he
would receive $50 a month. II that bill were
amended so as to make $50 month instead
OF s36 the maximum pension for veteran
seventy-five years old, no reasonable objec-
ton could be urged against it, If only It be
considered simply on its merits, apart from
that prejudice against all pension legisla-
ton that has arisen from causes with which
the real veteran pensioner has had abso-
lutely nothing to do
appeal, then, for square deal for the
genuine veteran pensioner and bespeak for
him an intelligent discrimination that shall
fearlessly denounce all pension fraud and
at the same time fearlessly defend the in
terest OF the real veteran.
CRANDALI. J. NORTH.
Brooklyn, Jan. 10, 1911.