Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1933-01-12

'ESOTA
League approves of Spanish, Amer
lean War pensions only for those who
can prove service connected disabil-
tiles although more than thirty years
have elapsed since those disabilities
were actually incurred.
| The National Economy League ap-
parently holds little regard for the
fact that field hospitals in the Phil
ippines and Cuba during the Spanish
American war were of the crudest
type and that medical supplies were
almost non-existent. The problem of
sanitation at that time received little
consideration. Among the troops sent
to the Philippines and Cuba in 1898
there were approximately 81 900 cases
of typhoid fever. During 1889 the
ranks of Americas army in Cuba and
the Philippines were stricken by more
than Isl, 900 cases of malaria, many
of these of pernicious type. In 1898.
Gil men out of every 1000 in the Is
lands were stricken with either ty-
phoid, malaria, or some other tropical
disease. In 1899 the percentage was
slightly reduced but there were still
574 men out of every 1000 in need of
disqualification. Hospital facilities
were of the most primitive type. In
many instances troop units served in
4 the field for three weeks at a time,
admidst tropical rains and knee deep
mud. The men were forced to sleep
available included hard tack, beans.
and half spoiled bacon. No method
had been developed at that time for
the preservation of food-stuff.
Men were marched to the point of ex-
haustion, with few hours of sleep. They
pursued fleeing enemy units through
jungles, swamps and across great
mountains. There was no chance for a
change of clothes and no hospitals
within hundreds of miles to care for
the sick and feeble. These men were
sent back to the ranks as soon as they
could walk, because troops were des-
perately needed. They came home
broken in health and weakened, their
bodies wracked by strain and expo
sure. In those days the question of
service connection" was unknown.
Unless a man was badly wounded or
helpless from disease he was sent
back to the ranks and on the firing
line until his regiment returned home.
1t is known that barely more than
| nf
sessed the semblance of healthy bod
les when they were mustered out of
the service back in the States. These
comrades of the war with Spain
waited 90 years before they received
a pension recognizing anything but
wounds received in battle or other
disabilities that left them practically
totally incapacitated.
The campaign in the Philippines
lasted more than three years. Amer
lean forces spent ia days in Cuba.
Other troops spent a year in China.
Each of these campaigns took place
in countries that were far from civ
ilization and where living conditions
alone were sufficient to induce insid-
ious disease and contamination.
There are total of 1876, 401 Spanish
American war veterans receiving PEN
sions at the present time from the
federal government. A total of $500
widows of Spanish American war vet
Grams are also listed on the records.
The great majority of these bene-
ficiaries are definitely in need of the
|
to advanced years and resistance
powers that are rapidly weakening
The National Economy League would
not only deprive these veterans and
widows, of the help they are now re-
ceiving, but they would also force
the government to withhold it's pen
sions from more than $4,000 widows
of Civil War veterans whose diSabil-
tiles were not service connected and
nearly $4,000 Civil War veterans. In
addition they would chop from the
pension list more than 5000 Indian
War veterans who are unable to prove
definite service connection for their
disabilities. Going still further, the
National Economy League would elm
mate nearly 5000 widows of Indian
War veterans whose husbands died
of disabilities that lacked technical
proof of service connection.
Records Poorly Kept
The program laid down by the
National Economy League boldly ig-
nores the welfare of thousands of dis
! abled World War veterans whose
claims for disability compensation
have been denied because of the lack
of technical proof of service connec-
ton. On June 80, 1882. the Veterans
Administration announced that 407,-
5S4 veterans are receiving disability
allowance. Each one of these veter-
ans had to pass strict physical ex-
animation to prove that he was at
least 25 per cent disabled. If he paid
an income tax he was automatically
barred from receiving this allowance.
He has to be virtual pauper before
he can expect this consideration. The
great majority of these men are the