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MAZER & DOZIER, Wholesale and Retail
C 7 2 , 7 Columbus, t«a
For the Hamilton Journal.
SOME PENSION FACTS.
Editors Journal:— Through the
courtesy of Hon. T. W. Grimes, our
distinguished representative in con¬
gress, I am in receipt of the An¬
nual report of the commissioner
pensions foi the fiscal year commen¬
cing July ist, 1886, and ending June
20th 1887.
Our present able democratic com¬
missioner of pensions, Hon. J. C.
Black, of Illinois, has made very
great improvement in the methods
the bereau, and it is safe to say
the department of the general
ernment has been better managed
for the last three years than at any
time since the war^
The passage of the Mexican
pension bill, which was approved
January 19, 1887, has given an
petus to the pensions business,
cially in the southern states.
this reason and because of
inquiry, and because I believe
tax payers have a right to know
much money is being paid
for pension, I iiave concluded to
isii your valuable paper w'ith a
.acts and figures as gleaned from
Commissioner Black's report.
were at the close ot the year 406,007
pensioners, classified as
294,445 army invalids; 85,010
widows, minor children and
ent relatives; 3,281 navy
1,973 navy widows, minor
&c.; 1,069 survivors of the war
1812, and 11,831 widows of
who served in that war; 7,503 survi¬
vors of the war with Mexico, and S95
widows of Mexican war soldiers.
(The number of Mexican war
sioners has been largely
since commissioner’s report
made.)
There were added to the pension
rol.’s during the year ending June 30,
*87, 55,194 new pensioners, and
the names of 2,707 whose
had been, previously dropped were
restored to the rolls, making an
gregate of 57,901 pensions added
during the year. During the
period 17,677 pensions were dropped
from the roils for various causes,
leaving a net increase to the rolls of
40,224 names.”
We find 151 different rates of pen
sions paid, ranging from one dollar
to one hundred dollars per month.
The average annual value of each
pension at the dose of the year is
$130.10.
The aggregate annual value of all
pensions is $52,824,641.22 an m
crease for the year of $8,116 633.78.
The total amount paid for pensions
during the year was $73,4^7 j 5^ i *^7j
the difference between the amount
paid and the annual values being due
to first payments, including “accrued”
and “arrears.”
On the 14th day of February,1871,
a bill was approved granting pensions
to soldiers of the war of 1812, or to
the widow of such soldiers, provided
said widows were married prior to
the treaty of peace which terminated
said war (Feb. 17, 1815,) and who
have not since remarried. On March
9, 1878, that law was amended so
as to include the widow regardless of
the date of her marriage to the sol¬
dier.
Undei these acis 25,689 survivors
and 34,728 widows have been pen
sioned--the survivors receiving $ 13,-
794,880.91 and the widows $20,845,
010.69,making a total of $34,639,
991.60.
There are now probably but few of
the survivors of the 1812-war living
whose names are not on the pension
^but is {believed that a large
number of the widows of soldiers
sa *^ war are y et ^ v * n S an ^ entitled to
pensions who are not now drawing.
Your correspondent has recently
collected, as first payment, $1036
for a widow of the war of 1812. [I
refer to Mrs. M. Billingslra, Opelika,
Ala.]
As above stated, Mexican war sol
diers, or their widows, are now enti¬
tled to pensions at the rate of eight
dollars per month, from January 29,
1887.
All widows except the Mexican
war widows draw $12.00 per month
and upwards.
The commissioner’s report shows
the number of pensions in each coun
*y eac ^ state and territory of the
United States and in each foreign
coun try an d the amount paid as cur
rent pension in each of said counties
an< ^ countries tor the quarter ending
-J un ^ 3 » 1 SS7:
Alabama has 975 pensioners and
receives $29,888.00; Florida has 722
pensioners and receives $24,671.50;
Georgia SSo pensioners and receives
$27,981.50; South Carolina 400 pen
sioners and receives $12,433.00.
In r » eoigia find that Harris
county has 5 pensioners; Muscogee
io . Troup 8; Meriwether 2; Talbot
Marion Stewart _ Taylor ,
3; 3; 3; 2>
Chatham 2S; Chattahoochee 1; Gil
me r 29; Whitfield 31; and Fulton
leads with 72.
Some counties in Alabama, 7 Flori
da, S. C\, Mississippi and Texas are
we n represented on the pension rolls,
Bexar Co., Tex., has even ioo, and
Grayson 131. But when we look at
the northern states we find single
counties drawing more pension jnon
ey many times over than whole states
in the south. For instance, Phila
delphia Co., Penn., has 7,677 pen¬
sioners and receives from the public
treasury $172,998.69.
There are eighteen pension agen¬
cies in the United States, and the
one at Knoxville, Tenn., makes pay
merits to all pensioners in the south
cm states.
The Knoxville agency has a larger
number of pensions for the 1812-war
and the war with Mexico than any
Other agency.
In concluding this statement I will
add that, since July 1st, 1861 to June
30, 1887, inclusive, there have been
filed 1,091,200 pension claims, 676,
948 of which were allowed. The to¬
tal amount of money paid out for
the same period was $883,440,298.-
36.
. Yet the north is not satisfied. At
every session of Congress new laws
are passed, or the old laws amended,
in favor of the union soldier and his
heirs.
But little is done, however, for the
southern people. The Mexican pen¬
sion bill, which benefits the south
principally, is not what it ought to be.
It is not much better than mockery.
The vast territory and treasure ac¬
quired as a result of the war with
Mexico cannot be well estimated. In
view of the results it was the grand¬
est war upon record.
But there is another class of sol¬
diers in the south who have received
scarcely any recognition from the
government which they so bravely
defended in times of great peril and
distress.
The men who endured the hard
ships and exposures of frontier life,
and braved the terrors of savage war
fare should not have gone so long un
rewarded. Many of them are enti
tied to pensions on account of wounds
received or disease contracted in their
Indian war service, but on account
of the iion-Ciad icguiations (chief!,)
, it be
comes a matter of impossibility to
establish their claims, My old friend
J ie . u un 0 ^ roup as o., is • a
?
notable example of what I have said,
^e is now 80 years of age, poor,deaf,
with muscles drawn and contracted
from the effects of rheumatism con
traded during his Indian war service.
Over a half century and a most
bloody civil war have passed overthe
heads of the few survivors of those
barbaious Indian wars, and we think
that the passage of the bill in their
behalf and which is now pending be¬
fore Congress would be but an act of
simple justice long delayed.
Mr. Editor, should any of your
readers desiie further information in
regard to pensions let them address
me at Hardeman, Ga.
Yours truly,
Flynn Hargett, Jr.
“DECORATION DAY.”
The years that have elapsed since the
close of the cival war have served to
obliterate all sectional feeling, and a
united and prosperous nation joins
in keeping green the graves of all its
beloved dead. It is in this spirit
that the publisher of the New York
Family Siory Paper has had written
a thrilling and pathetic romance, pe¬
culiarly appropriate to this national
holiday, entitled “Faithful Leonore;
or ‘His Grave Kept Green.” In the
samepaper will also be found a weekly
instalment of the “Life and
tures as a Showman of P. T. Barnum,’’
written by himself, and equally intei
esting to the young folks as well as
heads of families. These are rare
literary treats, and those of our read¬
ers who are not already enjoying
them will do well to obtain No. 766
of the New York Family Story Pa¬
per of their newsdealer or send direct
to the publisher, Munro’s Publishing
House, Nos. 24 and 26 Vandewater
Street, New York, and receive the
paper four months for one dollar,
postage free.
Tariff revision is of gieat impor¬
tance, *but a reduction of the revenues
of the government is a pressing
necessity. Failing therefore in pass
ing the Mills bill, democrats should
not re fuse t° sauctiun the passage of
a measure lhat wiU redl,ce the reve -
nues provided it does not call for free
whiskey, although such a measure
ma y be proposed by the republican
party. The tariff question is before
die people and they will pass upon it
when opportunity occurs and their
vo ce will have no uncertain sound.
g a | n us no vantage ground to
force a speedy settlement by means
of an over-running surp us. If the
republicans offer to put sugar on the
free list and remove tax on tobacco,
an( j there is not strength enough to
ma ^ e thc ftliUs bill a law, accept
compromise and go before the coun
try on tariff reform as an issue.