Rensselaer Republican, Volume 21, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 November 1888 — "GRAND ARMY MEDICANTS." [ARTICLE]

"GRAND ARMY MEDICANTS."

That lithe Disgraceful Phrase the Chicago Times used In an Editorial-1 The Text of one of the Most Scurrilous Diatribes ever Written. Several Affidavits Fasten This Infamous Attack upon the Democratic Press. A Copperhead Editorial. The following article from the Chicago Times has been printed as a circular by some of the associations of soldiers, and its authenticity has been been disputed. Many attempts have been made to procure copies of the Times of. the date of the article’s appearance, but always without auccess. Capt. James Healy, of Chicago is one of those who have made attempts to secure copies of the paper. Not succeding in this, he had the printed copy] of the article compared with the article in the 'copy of the Times preserved in the public library at Chicago. This was done by Otto Dehling, the past 12 years deputy Clerk in the Circuit Court in Chicago. At the time the article was published the Chicago Times was' posing as . the organ of the Democratic party of the Northwest. Its editor-in-chief was Andre Matteson, now director of the Chicago Globe, the special origan of the Chicago Democracy, and much favored by their brethren in Rensselaer. The following is the article, with Mr. Dehling’s 1 affidavit as to its correctness, annexed: Thank God! the claim-Agents, the . demagogues, the dead-beats and pordi- ! dseros and deserters ancT coffee-coo leks] and bounty-jumpers, composing our . great standing army of volunteer urendi- 1 cants, have been defeated! But the maintenance of the president's righteous' veto of the pauper pensions iniquity is not the end of the war upon the national treasury, which has been ’ prosecuted by that army of insatiable cormorants ever since the war upon the national autonomy closed. The presi- : dent ordered a halt and the order has ■ bet'n sustained, but the army of comorants and claim-agents and bounty- ■ jumpers and professional* mendicants ' only have been checked, not conquered. i In fact, it is their first repulse since the crusade of the noble aouiy of pensionbeggars began. Their leadftrs, the claimagents and the party demagogues, will endeavor to rally their blood-sucking hosts and renew the war of mendicancy against industry. It is necessary, therefore, to follow up the advantage that has been gained, and give the hostile horde of thieves and beggars no rest until they shall have abandoned their villainous undertaking to depend ttira government for support and gone to work to support both themselves and government. I The Times repeats, therefore, now-that the veto of tire pauper pension steal has been sustained, everything that it uttered when there seemed to be great danger that congressional representatives ! of tire bounty-jumpers ; would override it. Ndt merely that ■ most scandalous measure that ever has ] I teen sent to a. president for a signature Ls_the object that ihvites continued and i uncompromising condemnation, but the principle whichjt was sought in that iniquitous measure to apply, the theory and doctrine on whidh it was projected, and the whole vicious fabric of sophistry, cant, hypocrisy atid humbug,that patri- , ptTb rascality "raised for its support. . It is a_pn,tulato_x>£. .claim, agents, that , the grand army of pension-beggars “saved the country,” etc. That postulate .is absolutely false. No couiitry.no nation, political constitution, system; or establishment, has ever been saved by, or been able to depend for its salvation upon, citizens that are not in the habit of depending on themselves or -that would not indignantly spurn the idea ot ; being i or liecoining either dependents or bene- ; liciari sos the government. Nay, the truth is broader than this. Not in all the history of the world caira poli.ical society, be found that, becoming p-erineated with the idea that a government is an establishment for the.supi>ort, of citizens, instead of an agency for the execution of justice, among them, did not speedily perish. No, this republic has not byemsaved by any army of pen-sion-beggars; nor has any pension-beg-gar, nor aiiy advocate or apologist of pension-bdggary, the least basis of claim, to-be enrolled among the saviors. On the contrary, pepsion-beggars, iiensionbeggnry, andjtlre notions of government that they imply, are more dangerous enemies of the nation than undisguised rebels.'

KIRK HAAVES.

A southern writer wlus~stbodamong the uupensioned rebels has objected, in a tone of great to this crusade of the pension-beggars on tla* ground of alleged injustice to the citizens that fought on the wrong side. “Therein nothing left of the war,” he says, “excepting the annual tax [that is] wrested from the impoverished south to pay pensions to the soldiers of the rich and prosperous north. * * * Not a southern cripple receives a dollar of these taxes. Not ■a southern home for a soldier gets a penny of them. Yet the south is full of ]>overty." etc. "If the sotfth is a Vassal, let us know it, and cease this mockery of equality.” . This mode of writing is very foolish, an<f serves ortly to reveal the bitterness that still lingers in the liver of the Confederate bregadier on account of the “lost cause.” ’ Politically. there it no south, nor north, nor east, nor west. If there is a south that is mog? titan an undefined geograpliical section „of the country, it is a surviving number of citizens that were soldiers of the rvltellion, but that, fortunately for themselves and their g.>ographical section, have not been encouraged to Ixx'ome mendicant dependants on the bounty of an unwise paternal government. “The ex-rel>el soldiers,” said Mr. Bragg, “aru toiling day by day, and exhibiting industry. energy 'and thrift tliat never was expected of them.'' Why is thia? It is because the ex-rebel soldier has not been

enticed, tempted and encouraged by pension bills, designed by, demagogues to buy his vote, to become a'professional mendicant. On the other hand, the exsoidier of the north, instead of thriving by dependence upon his own energy and industry, is in the alinhoflse, according to Mr. Warner, 4>r, according to other claim-agent statesmen, will soon be there unless papa government grant's him a pauper pension. Why is this? It is because papa, government has indoctrinated him with the pestilent notion that it is becoming to a savior of his country to fulfill the character of a dependent upon its bounty, of a mendicant, of a loafer, of a pauper without J 'bhar : after or self-respect, who has gained the blessed right to "lay down and open his mouth for a teat to suck.” ’ Which of these ex-rebel soldier who is supporting himself and contributing to the support of the government by depending on his own industry or energy, or the ex-savior of his country who is lying down at the door of a poor house (unless the bidders for his vote lie), opening his mouth and yelling for a teat to suck—is the worthier member and the more capable supporter and defender of the commonwealth? The Tinies says without hesitation: The ex-rebel; tire man who is supporting the government as well as himself by his industry, energy and thrift is incomparably a better citizen and a stronger Eillar of the state than the ex-savior of is country who is begging the government to put a premium on pauperism and improvidence by giving him support from the earnings of the more industrious and worthy. Unfortunately, however, all ■ the exrebels are not of this manly class, as, fortunately, all the ex-saviors are not of this class of. pension-beggars—though if the utterances of the so-called Grand Army societies are indicative of the fact, the majority of them plainly are of the medicant order. The Mexican war pension bill was a »>p thrown by northern demagogism to the mendicant sentiment among ex-volunteer heroes in the southern part of the country. It was a measure of the same vicious character as the pauper pension bill, and .ought to have received at the executive mansion the same treatment. Yet it is not recalled that a single- southern statesman, press or writer emitted a word of objection to that vicious measure. The truth is, as Th 3 Times has observed before in this discussion, there is in the nature of the volunteer hero something that inclines him to the profession of mendicancy; something that tends to divest him of the manly charactef ancT self-respect of the independent citizen, and to degrade him to the status of a servile dependent or an incapable pauper. That this is the degrading tendency, also, of the so-called Grand Army mutual self-glorification so ieties there appears ample evidence. The Times is therefore in agreement with its correspondent, who says: "It will be a happy day for- the republic when the last beggar of the Grand Army,, humbug is securely planted.” ' THE AFFIDAVITS. State of Illinois, Cook County, ss.: Otto Dehling. being first duly sworn, says on his oath, that he is now, and for liiteen years last past, Ims been a deputy ch rk in the Circuit Court of Cook county. Illinois, that he has read the above and foregoing article purpor ting to be a copy of an editorial, and have compared tie same word for woid, witn the original thereof; that said original was published as an edit oral in t Ire'TeglTTaT'daily is e ue of the Chicago Times newspaper on the 12th day of February, 1887, on the fourth page of said paper; and that the above and foregoing article is a true and perfect copy of said enitorial as published. [ -.ign<‘d] J..;,. Onto Dehling. Subscribed and sworn to before mo by said Otto Dehling this 26th day of October, A. D. 1888. Joiix J. Healy. Clerk Ap, ella'e Court,- First District, Illinois. • TO WHOM IT MAY CONCEHN. This is to certify that Mr. Defiling, now, and for about, fifteen years last past, a deputy clerk <>f the, Circuit Court of Cook county. .Illinois, sonally vveirkiiown' to each of tjir.- amt has been personally w<*ll known to each of us for several ytfTfs last past, and we cordially indorse him as a man of strict integrity and honor, and oelieve that any statement that he may make as to facts witfi h his knowledge is in every respect creditable ami trustworthy. RfciiAifir SITT-Tnitt. Judge Circuit Court. I think him an hone.-t man.

Ditto. A. N. Watermax.