Tonopah daily bonanza. [volume] (Tonopah, Nev.) 1906-1929, 1914-10-27
WAGES
FORF|GHT|NGM MEN
Of GREAT BRITAIN
MISERABLE STIPEND ON WHICH
DEPENDENT WOMEN Ex.
PEcTED TO LIVE.

LONDON, Oct. 27.--Five shillings
week to the soldiers wife who has
lost her husband in fighting his coun-
try's battles!
With this exclamation one OF the
leading London papers attacks edi-
torially the governments pension
system which 1t says il due to the
old tradition summed up in Yelling
toms assertion that his troops in the
Spanish campaign were only "the
scum of the earth" The war office,
according to the writer, fails to real
ize that times are different now and
the vast majority of volunteers are
men who in civil life earned good
wages in factory. field, office and
shop.
Indignation has also been express
ed in parliament. so that it is not
unlikely some reform In pensions
may follow.
In the British army the pay of of
ficers and men is dependent on the
regiment There is no standard
scale of pay as in America Commits
stoned officers, as rule, receive a
sum impossible to live on-about $35
a month. They must have independ
ent means, and in the crack regi-
ments, such as the Scots Greys or
the Grenadier Guards they must be
wealthy, with polo ponies, Wallets and
expensive uniforms But in certain
of the colonial troops doing police
duty in lands bordered by savages,
they get as good pay as American
officers and do not have to keep up
expensive establishments.
The ordinary infantrymen in the
new volunteer army of a million
men, pledged to foreign service, are
started off at $1.65 week, clear OF
expenses. Married men are allowed
in addition separation pay for their
! families at the rate of $3.50 week
| for the wife and two pence a day
or 20 cents a week-for each child.
In the county of London they are
4 given a further sum of 80 cents a
week. owing to the higher cost of
living.
All married soldiers serving abroad
are obliged to allot at least IS cents
a week to their families out of their
own pay. Worked out on this scale,
the lowest sum a soldiers wife with
out children can receive is 23 shill-
ings week in the case of warrant
officer, 90 for a regimental quarter
master sergeant, 16 shillings six
pence for corporal or private. II
the wife has four children to sup
port, she will receive, on the same
scale, sum ranging from "a to %
shillings.
Widows of those who die on act
i've service receive from five to ten
shillings week, according to the
rank and pay of the husband But
the mass OF them will not get over
five shillings. An extra allowance
varying from forty to fifty cents o
week for each child is given. how
ever.
While there are no government
homes for old soldiers in Great Brit
ain, as in the United States, there
are certain homes maintained by pri
vate charity. OF these. the larges
and most famous is in Chelsea, Lon
don. The garden party given at thu
Chelsea home for its benefit Is one
of the big social events of Londons
spring season.
Much suffering was caused by TIKI
government deferring the payment o
separation allowance to soldiers
wives during the first two months
of the war Not until October wa
this money put into the hands o
the destitute women. War office re-
tape also held up pay allotments.
A store that advertises must be