PUCK MAGAZINE ON CIVIL WAR PENSIONS gaff

PUCK MAGAZINE EDITORIALS- September 18, 1889 Commentary on Civil War Pensions under the CARTOONS AND COMMENTS section of Puck magazine.

One year ago last June, before the advent of the present Administration, there were 326,835 pensioners of the War of the Rebellion on the government rolls, who had served, or who were supposed to have served in that war. Over 28,500 of these men had had their names added to the roll within the year–under an Administration which was accused of hostility to the Veteran of the Union Army. There were also 90,882 pensioners who were widows or other dependents of soldiers killed in battle. In all, there were 417,717 pensioners, each one being or representing a man who had fought in the War for the Union. Pensions are granted, under our laws, only for death or disability. Therefore we must infer from these statistics that in the course of the four years war with less than 700,000 Confederate troops, over 400,000 of our men were killed, wounded or disable by disease, exposure or privation: their disability being such as to call for permanent government aid. And as other statistics show us that there were well-nigh 300,000 deaths in the Union Army–from wounds and disease–during the war, we may fairly assume that the total number of men who were killed or disabled was over 500,000. * * * If, then, the war killed or disabled every fourth man, we must have had two million men in the field. We are willing to leave it to the natural common sense of any man who reads this page to decide for himself whether: I. --The Union Army had two million men in the field between 1861 and 1865. II. -- One man out of every four men of the Union Army was killed or so injured or weakened as to need government assistance. * * * We do not believe that any one who will take the slightest trouble to inquire into the matter will bring himself to believe that there were two million soldiers engaged in the war, on the Union side, or that 25 per cent of our soldiers were so injured by wounds or sickness as to become incapable of supporting themselves. Of course, there were many more than two million enlistments. But these include the re-enlistments and second or third re-enlistments of hundreds of thousands of men who joined the army for short terms and stayed in it to fight the fight out. They also include – not to mention the two classes in the same sentence – some two hundred thousand known deserters, and a vast number of bounty-jumpers, never to be counted, who made a profession of enlisting, drawing their bounties, deserting, and enlisting again in some fresh place. These rascals swelled the rolls, but not the ranks. How, then, has it come about that, in the face of these figures, nearly three hundred and twenty-seven thousand veterans and over ninety-three thousand widows and children of veterans are to-day drawing pensions? It has come about through the pension agents. The business of these men began toward the end of the war. They were useful middlemen between the disabled veterans and the pension office. But the deserving veterans– nine-tenths of them– got their pensions long ago. Then the pension agents had to make business. They made it by seducing old soldiers; by persuading them to swear that their present weaknesses and ailments were the result of injuries incurred during the war. These agents have got their commissions, and have tarnished the honor of thousands of men who were brave and honest before they were tempted beyond their strength. * * * There is nothing nobler in this world than to serve one's country. There are few things that are meaner than to cheat her. In this business of pensions, some thousands of men are today cheating their country. We do not believe that these men are the patriots who fought bravely through the war to save their country. The letters which we have received from veterans of the war for the Union assure us that our protest against an organized debasement of patriotism is well-timed and well-judged. We will let one of these veterans speak for himself: * * * To the Editor of Puck– Sir: I want to thank you most sincerely for your editorial of this week, suggested by the inscription on a stone over the grave of a Union Soldier. And I feel like giving you just a little bit of autobiography. I want to thank you most sincerely for your editorial of this week, suggested by the inscription on a stone over the grave of a Union Soldier. And I feel like giving you just a little bit of autobiography. I was twenty-one years of age on the day that President Lincoln wrote his first call for troops. I had an almost irresistible impulse to enlist then; but on account of certain business engagements that I had just entered upon, which, if I broke, would entail loss upon a valued friend, I put off going to the War until about eight months subsequently. The regiment I was with served in Florida and Louisiana for two years and a half, then re-enlisted, and was sent to Maryland and Virginia, taking part in the final campaign, ending with the surrender of Lee. I served as a non-commissioned officer for two years, and was then promoted to a Lieutenancy. I was fortunate enough never to be wounded; but a year and a half in the lowlands of Louisiana did some injury to a physical constitution not strong or rugged naturally. I found upon my return that some of my friends had the advantage of me in pecuniary affairs, they having made money during the four years of the War. But I accepted the situation, and "buckled to my work with all the energy I possessed," receiving at first ten dollars per week. And now, after having had a quarter of a century to work in, and having worked all that time, I am, to quote your words, "a middle-aged man of business, so placed in life that I need to ask favors of no human being too independent, too honestly and wholesomely proud to take any money that I have not earned." The Government did for me all and more than it agreed to; and if I had been killed it would have provided assistance for my aged parents, who were dependent on me; and if disabled, would have granted me a pension. Today one of the greatest satisfactions I have is that it was my privilege to spend three years and a half in helping to preserve the union of my beloved country. I can bring before my mind now a number of my comrades, whose experience was and is similar to mine. They enlisted; they held positions as noncommissioned officers; they received commissions; they came home with sound minds, whole limbs and fair health; they applied themselves to work, and by industry and prudence attained comfortable circumstances in life. But one of these receives a pension. He needs it less than any of his comrades, and it seems to me that the grounds on which he obtained it were trivial, although they may be according to law. He undoubtedly has some satisfaction in getting a pension-check every three months, but I have far greater gratification because I do not get it. There are thousands of true and loyal men who served in the War to the best of their ability; who are now in the peaceful pursuits of ordinary life; who do not go around wearing a big badge, so every one can see it; who are not always boasting of what they did; who do not claim positions or money on account of having served in the Army, but who are glad that they had some share in putting down Rebellion, and feel that they only did what was their duty when they fought for the Union. ALBANY Aug. 30th, 1889 Edw. G. Sherley Late 91st, N.Y.