Show n 41 y S 2 K 4 f R mi i inN ff 4 W by ELMO SCOTT WATSON SAW SAM who I 1 a the head and also a all the officers and of I 1 ono one of the in the world naturally has some big bills to pay ono one of the biggest Is the hill bill which old sinn man slurs mars alio deals in war brina around ever every year and after ho hs left laft unde uncle U ariam finds that lie he has haa li andett over to this dealer in III wars nearly one ollo fourth of all the money which he had fat laid as aside jae to pay at nil I 1 of df tho the expenses of running this business ope operates raten under the namo name of tile the united states of america for instance tance this year uncle sam will nill have to pay to old man mars mar thi the staggering sum of eliat Is almost more than the total cost of running the entire federal government back in 1010 it Is more than one half the cost of running the entire notion nation of france franca foi or one year it la Is almost equivalent eilo valent to the anual cost ot of maintaining the navies of the united states france bad and japan buck back in 1017 when it 4 was waa announced that it would require to run our govern government menti there were those who shook their heads and wondered what ye nye are coming coining to now 33 13 years after that first billion dollar year we are facing tho the necessity of spending nearly that amount paying for wars which ended long before most of us were born if anyone wants a lesson against var let it him talk to gen F rank frnnk nines lead head of the veterans bureau 0 or to col earl D church united states commissioner of pensions and from them learn something of the cost in careers livis lives and ahil money of the mere aftermath of war being more or less leaa intangible tt it la Is difficult for us to visually visualize those first brat two careers and lives autor but for the third let these theae figurin from the government budget for 1030 tell their own story WOULD WAR VETE VETERANS BUREAU Ral arlet and 4 and binding Ulli tarr nod and campen actton u is 14 and ana hospit hop tal 0 erv ices adjusted service bei alc certificate fund mili military tars and na naval knur ur i it no dospital spital facilities and korv iced icod 4 V U a a government 0 yern ment ufa fg in urance luranc 0 fund i total PENMON or army arm y and navy pen tlona IlL ries pension otrice off loti bention concus veto veita ot of examining surgeons total k sot pirna NRal HOMES katlyna Ka Vat tlona ional homes of disabled soldiers grand total bof noy will tho the paying of old alan wars bill this year be the end of the matter next year tt it wilt will be the tha same came only larger and the next and the next and the next until the estimated peak ts Is reached in 1003 for even though by that time uncle sam probably wu will be through paying pen cons for or tho the war of 1812 and the mexican war he be probably ably ws still be paying some coma for tile tho civil war and certainly tome some for or the spanish amer iran war arid and then thero there are the world war pensions yet to be paid we come to those yet but it seems certain that we will come to them theia asi A the taft number of our world war veterans et eans grow less leas the needs of tho the aging survivors and their families anil and dependents wll increase and no DO one cna dares dare predict how far ar tn in the future atura uncle sam will be paying out world war var pensions the war haa fiu been over years but during the fiscal year which ended june 80 1020 1029 the government paid 50 a month each to it II gray amy hatred women whose husbands rought ought under tile the american AmerI cRO flag when it had only fifteen stars stara in its field of blue the mexican war ended 83 yeas years ago age int but until september of 0 last arUn uncle cla sam bard was waa paying a monthly pension to owin thomas edgar who served in tha navy during that war and when ha be i died at the fil gadiot af pf ninety eight 1 1 above one of the best known build ingo in washington D C Is the pen sion alon which stands stand in judiciary square about halfway between the capitol and the th white douse houa it Is I 1 built of red brick and has a remark able abla frieze depleting depicting the various divisions of the army in action which runs aletho way around the building pour four hundred by five hundred feet Is there still were widows of mexican war veterans on the rolls of the pension bureau the civil war has hag been over 83 55 years but last year pensions were being paid to 15 sol soli i diers who served in that war to 89 nurses and to widows of veterans other pensioners last year were sti l sold soldiers lem nurses aud and widows placed on the rolls by the spanish american war soldiers und and widows by the indian warsel 45 Bold lerp and 10 by th tw I 1 world war and soldier an aim widows by the regular army those these with the pensioners previously mentioned muda made a total of persons who received a tot total alof of from uncas sam there were 10 fewer persons persona drawing pensions in 1020 than in 1028 but bu the total paid the lost last year was greater because the level of expenditure was raised by now new legislation pensions to civil war widows more thane than seventy five years old the history of pensions for veterans of Amerl american dan wars goes back to the earliest days of the republic on june julie 20 1770 even before the tha declaration of independence had been adopted the continental congress appointed a com cern to consider what provision to be made biado tor for such is as are wounded or disabled in the tha land or sen ovit service this committee made a prompt report aria and on augast 46 26 1770 the first notional national pension act in america was in passed ass ml by the continental congress that part of tho the lav aw fixing the tha amount was veas as follows i that every commissioned of officer fleer commissioned noncommissioned non unit private who shall lose a limb in any enza engagement rement or bo be so disabled in the service of the untied united states of america us as to render him incapable afterwards of getting a livelihood shall receive during hla his life orthe or the continuance of such auch disability the one halt balf of 0 hla his monthly pay front from jand and after the time that lite his pay us as an officer or soldier ceases after the constitution had been adof adopted ted and the now government had been organized tt it continued tor for a time the pensions which had find been previously granted and assumed their payment soon however a strong de mand arose for a new pension law and on march 23 1792 the first pension law passed by the new government went ilnyo effect later there gre grew a demand for a pension law not based upon disability incurred in the service and in n fits annual message to congress on decem bar 2 1817 president monroe monroa recommended such a law A bill was passed by the house on december 24 ea as a sort of a christmas present to the veterans of the revolution passed by the senate immediately afterwards and approved by president monroe on march IS 18 1818 the loose wording ot of this law however made frauds easy and the grant of pensions became a public scandal A law pushed in n 1820 required all pensioners already on the rolls and future applicants to file a statement of property as proof 0 o their alleged dependence upon government bounty for a livelihood As a result tho the names of ma many ny pei pensioners fasteners ast eners wore were stricken frein the rolls in 1832 a law was passed which glinted ranted full pay for life to all wh had nerved at least two years in the revolution and proportional payments to thosa vrho less leas tuan than two the size of the building and the office are built around a huge hollow square filina cabinets cabinet in this building hold the document t which pertain to the record of every man who ever enlisted in the army from these the pensions penion of the vat veteran erans a are e computed inset col earl D church united stat stated commissioner of pensions at his hl desk k years yeara trot but more than six months la in 1830 there began the enactment of a long series of pension acts in favor of the widows of soldiers of the revolution restricted at first to those who had married before the close of the revolution these grew MOTO more liberal later until peni pensions lons were granted to all widows regardless of the date of marriage out oat of these pensions and ad similar ones tor for widows of veterans 0 of later wars grew many abuses ot of the pension system for it became a practice for young komla woman to marry agea abec veterans vet erana in order to benefit by a government pension after the death of their husbands the pension rolls of the revolution devolution had scarcely grown to their peak wh when in the united states became engaged in I 1 in another war the war of 1812 to add to its elixt of veterans and dependents depe fiden drawing pensions and the same as thing was repeated later at intervals Inter vala ele of two decades with the mexican war and the civil war the first law pensioning sold soldiers lers of the civil war was 11 disability pension act of suly july 14 ina which provided tor for the disabled survivors tor for the widows orphan children and dependent members of those who died because of wounds received or contracted while in the service of tm the united states and in line of duty rates hates for total disability ranged from 8 to 30 a month according to rank and these same rates were applied to the widows of the soldiers successive laws begin aing july 4 1801 al and id culminating in the recent act which inci increased eased the pensions pens loua of civil w war ar widows more than seventy five years yeara old have increased the rates rateb setting fixed rates for various kinds of disability the passage of the arrears act in 1870 added greatly to the burden of debt which uncle sam bears because of the wars wai in which ho he linit has engaged this act provided that till nil pens pensions loris which had been granted or might hereafter be granted should date from the time of disability provided application were veto made before january 1 ISSO 1880 the effect of that law Is shown by the fact that the total sum paid tor for pensions jumped from in 1879 to in isso tile tha greatest increase in tiny any one year in the history of our pension system A bill to establish service pensions tor for persons to in dependent circumstances was vetoed by president cleveland la in 1880 1881 A similar bill was passed june 27 17 providing that all persons who had served 00 days in the war and who were suffering from any mental or physical disability of a permanent character which incapacitated them from performing manual labor might receive pensions ranging from 1 I 1 to 12 a month according to the degree of disability widows of soldiers who served W ea days who are ara dependent upon their dally daily labor for support could receive 3 8 a month in addition to the pensions granted under the generals tans laws many claims for pensions some gome of them rejected by the pension bureau havo have been passed by net act of congress in tact fact the consideration of pension bills forms a large part of the activity of congress as will be seen been by an Ins aloa of almost any issue of the congressional record As this article Is being writ ten many such bills are am being introduced in tha present sessi session ort of congress nil all of which will add to th tb staggering total which old mark man mars ila has collected from acle ucle sam for or wars tons long since pt past 1 1 |