The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1912-05-02
A MESSAGE
To VETERANS
Gallant Officers Of Civil War
Join In a Letter.
ADDRESS MEN OF TWO WARS

From General Theodore Jones, Gen.
eraI J. X. Hamilton, General r. 3.
Brown. General J. W. r. Cline, Ma.
jor D. Cunningham, Captain Nelson
W. Evans - Colonel |. r. Mack's
Last Official Act.
Dear Comrade: AS you are per
haps aware, demagogues are going
about over our land, persistently and
maliciously circulating reports, with
out any foundation whatever, that
President Taft is not in sympathy
with the ex-soldiers of the Civil war,
nor the soldiers of the Spanish-Amer,
lean war, and that he is opposed to
liberal legislation in our behalf.
No better reply can be made to
these accusations than his message
to congress, December 6, 1910, as fol
lows:
"The uniform policy of the govern.
ment in the matter of granting pen.
sions to those gallant and devoted
men who fought to save the life of
the nation in the perilous days Of the
great Civil war has always been of
the most liberal character. Those
men are now rapidly passing away.
The best obtainable official statistics
show that they are dying at the rate
nf cnnnnfhinn mn month
and, in view of their advancing years,
this rate must inevitably, in proper
tion rapidly increase. To the men
who risked everything on the field
Of battle to save the nation in the
hour of its direst need, we owe debt
which has not been and should not
be computed in begrudging or parsi-
monious spirit. But while we should
be actuated by this spirit to the SOL
der himself, care should be eXer-
cised not to go to absurd lengths, or
distribute the bounty of the govern
ment to classes of persons who may,
at this late day, from a mere merce-
nary motive, seek to obtain some
legal relation with an old veteran
now tottering on the brink of the
grave. The true spirit of the pension
laws is to be found in the noble sem
timents expressed by Mr.. Lincoln in
his last inaugural address, wherein,
in speaking of the nations duty to
its soldiers when the struggle should
be over, he said we should care for
him who shall have borne the battle,
and for his widow and orphans ~
Congressional Record, 3rd Session,
61st Cong, p. 28.)
President Taft is warm friend Of
the soldier and his experience as sec.
retary of war fitted him to Judge of
their reeds. Quoting the language of
the immortal Lincoln, as he does in
his message, Care for him who shall
have borne the battle, and for his
widow and orphans" could his inter
est in the ex-soldier be expressed in
stronger language?
He has never vetoed pension bill,
although hundreds of such bills have
been passed during his administra-
tion.
At the close of the Civil war our
work was not done, Comrades of the
Union army, when our swords were
sheathed, our muskets stacked, our
battle flags folded away with a bene-
diction, and we doffed our faded uni
forms and returned to the vocations
of peace. We have been on guard,
watching with solicitude the solution
of the many intricate problems which
have faced us as people and have
taken an active part in all presiden-
tial campaigns with a desire that
true, honest and patriotic men should
fill the high office of chief of this
nation, and under such leader as
William H. Taft the future of our
country is assured.
He has, by solving the many great
problems under his administration,
exhibited the highest type Of execu-
tive craftsmanship.
1t was his keen insight that solved
the labor and sanitary problems Of
Panama and sped that project on its
way to final success.
He is a man of high ideals, un-
hinching integrity and patriotic zeal
in his devotion to duty.
He stands for the representative
form of government, created by our
fathers and preserved by your valor
on the battlefieIds of the Civil war,
which has stood the test for more
than hundred years.
Then let us rally to the call of duty
and resist with President Taft those
who seek to overthrow the govern
ment established by the trainers Of
the constitution and perpetuated by
Lincoln, Grant. Garfield, Hayes, Har-
rison and Mckinley, who touched ell
BOWS with us on the battlefields of
the Republic.
(Signed) I. F. MACK,