Democratic Sentinel, Volume 8, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 June 1884 — Pensicning Soldiers in Certain Cases. [ARTICLE]

Pensicning Soldiers in Certain Cases.

Hon. Thomas J. Wood, our member of Congress, made the following speech in the House of Representatives, Monday, April 21st, on the bill (H. R. 6535) to regulate the granting of pensions in certain cases.— Mr. Wood said: Mr. Speaker: The bill before the House closes the gap in long-delayed justice to the brave men who d-d so well for the country over twenty years ago. There never was any reason in the pension law compelling the soldier, on application for pension to prove his soundness when he enlisted in the Army of the Union. None, for lie was duly examined by competent surgeons detailed for this duty, pronounced sound and fit for military service and was mustered into the ranks. There are very many cases where a truly good soldier who performed faithful and meritorious services is unable to make satisfactory proof that he was physically sound at the time ct enlistment, and is therefore deprived of a pension justly due him. Witnesses are dead or removed to distant homes, and human memory after lapse of time becomes fatally deficient on the precise point in issue, i his is natural, for nothing revives it in twenty years to carry it back to the facts and impressions of younger days, hen, who can swear to the physical soundness of friends and acquaintances over twenty years ago? If unsoundness is unknown at the time what neighbor, friend, what relative can come forward and testify to the fact? Such testimony when obtained is frail indeed when dissected by the analytical principles of legal evidtenoe: If the soldier served his country honorably and carries his honorable discharge from the Government, whether liis service was long or short, then the Government is in no position to require proof of his physical soundness when he entered its military service. Sound ness ought to be presumed to exist from the date of enlistment.

I said this bill is an act of delayed justice. I have labored for it ever since I have been in this Congress, and I trust it will pass the House without opposition. lam too much of a friend of the gallant soldier not to speak for this bill. I appreciate his service for my country, and I see the grand results of his sacrifice in all parts of the Union to-day. '! he brave men h 3 met on Southern battle fields, where nerves of steel were shaken, are proud to-day the old Union of the States was not dissolved; they are proud the old Government was maintained and are its earnest friends in peace, and are ready to become its valiant friends in war. lam proud also to witness this devotion to a common country and this fraternal feeling I oward the soldiers of the Union, for I accept it as a reconciliation of the unhappy elements of discord that threatened the old structure in the days of my boyhood. All patriotic people rejoice that the wounds of that desolating strife are healed, and the man who would now break them open is a bloodless traitor to the flag and an arch enemy to the public peace, a wrecker of national prosperity in all the sections of the Union. The policy of the pension laws has been to raise nearly a conclusive presumption that the soldier discharged without wounds is a sound and ablebodied man. There may be a few, but how man y? I turn to the history of the war and see four years of the most terrible campaigns of all the ugly work of men. I read of the rapid, forced marches in heat and cold, over mountains and thro’ the swamps. I read of the

bloody days, of merciless bat ties fought that chilled the souls of men far away from the ensanguined field. Tell that the very life centers >t the brave men who acted so well were not shocked at the awful forces sweeping life and limb away with less mercy than the demons of woeful ruin. I see the faithful guardians of the country in the alert day and night thro’ the inclement seasons, wading mud and fording rivers, obeymg then* command, the map of the war shows me the thousands of miles tramped from State to State, from town to city, all over the South. For tour years the soldier had hardly an hour ot the peace and joy of home. That was found wherever he slept under a peaceful sky. though the earth, his bed, was crimson with the blood of relatives, triends, and comrades. On Southern homes lie joined the clash of arms, met the-raining lead, walked among bursting shells, and faced the scattering fragments of death like the true hero that he was. He passes through this ter nble ordeal, fights all the battles tlirough and peace is restored; he is mustered out of the service and receives the plaudits of grateful countrymen. He finds him? elf not the same man he was when lie gave himself to his country, mi asks for a pension. 1 lie special examiner sees no bullet-holes and his worthy claim is rejected. He pleads his Infirm iti e s that begun somewhere back in those four years of unequaled service to the country, and he is coolly told he must prove that he was able-bodied after the Government duly accepted him.lhe fairness and justice of all perdition is more admirable than this. I believe of necessity that there can not be many sound, able-bodied soldiers, and every rule of evidence should make easy the proof of infirmities rather than reject them altogether,!for the reason a most worthy case may be rejected. Then it is an exceptional hardship upon the widows and orphans. Removal, death, want of personal knowledge, and treacherous memory make the application for a pension by the widow or minor children difficult to sustain.

In speaking of James G. Blame s candidacy for Presi* dent, Henry Ward Beecher utt the nomination:— He (Blame is doomed to illustrate how near you can get to a thing without being able toputyourhanduponit. He has wonderful nerve, and hope and endurance, but he can never place his loins in the Presidential chair; There is no very striking resemblance ou general principles between Moses and Blaine, but they are alike in one respect as twin brothers —both are permitted to go up on the hill top and take a good, square look at the promised land, but that’s where they stop. Men with no qualities of leadershtp manage to reach the journey’s end, and live on the milk and honey denied to his ravenous hunger.” Chicago, June 9.— I The"local Committee on Arrangements to prepare for the National Democratic Convention have directed an architect to prepare plans for the rearrangement of Convention Hall, by which the seating capacity will be enlarged so as to admit 20,000 people. The accommodations tor the press will also be enlarged. Tlie local managers confidently expect a larger outside attendance than was the case with the Republican Convention, as Democratic political clubs from all parts of the country have announced their intention to be present. T wenty-six sheep were ki lied by a lightning bolt in a storm near Harmony, O.