The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-08-24
AMERICAN PENSIONS
THE TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
INFORMATION BUREAU
By Frederic j. Haslxin. Director.
Washington. ID. C.

of persons who have fought or surfer
ed in behalf of their country Oh
lust and efficient basis. The com
pensation to be paid soldiers and their
families is called an insurance instead
of a pension, and is provided definitely
in advance, instead of merely giving
promise of some compensation TO Do
provided later The most progressive
provision of all is that which encour-
ages forethought on the part OF tne
men themselves by providlng an OPP
portunity to insure their lives al ~"
premiums.
AS Secretary McAdoo has frankly
stated, one of the foremost objects or
the administration in proviflng thls
measure of compensation is 10 st'Inu
late response to the draft. 1t is hoped
that it's ge will result in de-
crease in the number of claims for ex-
emption, and it will certainly jusfify
more rigour in passing upon these.
The United States government
should be able to display some Wlsaeii,
in providing for its war heroes: II
has had a sufficiently long and veX-
atious experience of various penslol
plans.
The United States has long claimed
the distinction of having dealt more
generously with its old soldiers thah
any other nation. The word "gener-
Gus" is of course rather misapplied in
this connection. The man who loses
both his legs or his eyesight is NOT
generously recompensed by pension
of seventy-five or a hundred dollars
month; nor does az payment or per-
haps forty dollars month to the wife
and five dollars for each child gener-
ously recompense a family for the loss
of the father. who would have served
it in so many capacities besides that
of provider. Patriotism, like other
virtues, must be largely its own re-
ward so far as the man that actually
goes to war is concerned, altho TOR
those who serve their government by
providing 1t with munitions, funds or
political talent, it is not infrequently
profitab BILE.
Pensions and Insurance.
The really distinctive thing about
the pension laws of this country is the
enormous amount of money which
has been disbursed under them. Such
a variety of laws have been passed,
beginning soon after the Revolution
airy war, and these laws have been so
poorly CO. ordinated, that almost any
one who has ever been connected with
the fighting forces of the United States
in any capacity whatever has had a
valid claim for a pension. One of
the chief and most laboriouS duties of
congressman has been the prosecu-
ton of these pension claims for their
constituents. Getting pensions has al
ways been one of the best ways of
getting votes. Almost every day in
congress brings forth one or more
bills which are headed: Granting
an increase of pension to so-and-so."
Nearly all of us know a few heroes
who are drawing incomes from Uncle
Sam on the strength of some slight
but undoubted injury sustained in his
service; such as the bandmaster in a
small western town who gets twelve
dollars a month for having contract
ed the piles while playing the bass
drum in Cuba
The generous" policy on the part
of 'our government has made our
bureau of pensions one of the juiciest
pieces of pork in the barrel: has fur
nished magazine muck rakers with a
subject which they have attacked with
JUNCTION at regular intervals ever since
magazines began; and has provided
so many persons with some kind CT
pension that very few of the really
deserving draw enough to live uron.
much less an adequate compensate ton
for a suffering or loss Nearly four
billion dollars have been disbursed by
the United States government in the
form of pensions since 1890, and ever
seventeen millions have been paid to
surgeons for examining applicants for
pensions. All of these facts make the
following lines some of the most i'm
portant in the new pension bill:
Existing pension laws and laws
providing for gratuities or payment in
the event of death in the service shall
not be applicable after the enactrcent
of this amendment to persons now in
or hereafter entering the military or
naval service, except insofar as rights
under any such laws shall have here
tofore accrued"
General Pension Laws InapDlicabIe.
This means that the general pension
laws, of which there are several on
the books, will not apply to anyone
who goes to this war. Figure out what
you can collect under the measure
now before congress, and rest assured
that in all proba bility that is all you
will get.
Most of the pensions which our
government is now paying are pro-
vided under laws having reference to
| those who served in certain wars and
| their dependents and surviving rela-
| tives; and nearly all of them have
been variously amended from time to
time, generally in the direction of lib
eralizing them. Nearly a million per-
| sons, or one per cent of the population,
have shared in this government
! bounty.
! In spite of these large and wide
| spread disbursements, many of our
pensions have come too late to do
muCn SOOQ- service pensions were
! not granted to the widows of men who
| fought in the Revolution antil 1896,
and then only for a period of five
years, and provided the soldiers mar
riage was prior to his last service
and that he had served for at least six
months In 1853, seventy years after
| the, close of the war. the limitation as
| to the time of marriage was removed
In this way many women who had
married veterans of the war were pro-
vided with an income, which women
who actually lost their husbands in
the struggle never enjoyed. 1t is such
legislation as this, extending the bene-
fits of heroism long afte- the last OF
| the heroes are dead, that has wasted
i Uncle Sans pension money. The last
| survivor of the war of independence
| was Daniel F. Brakeman, who died in