Up to June 30, 1901, 477 claims for pension have been filed in this bureau on account of service in said regiment for disabilities alleged to have been contracted during the brief term of its existence.
I am fully convinced that a small pension of $6 or $8 per month for alleged obscure disability, such as diarrhea, piles, rheumatism, impaired hearing, bronchitis, etc., is conferring a misfortune upon a young man—in fact, a lifelong misfortune—for the reason that it puts him to a decided disadvantage in the race for a livelihood always thereafter in the way of securing employment.
The fact that he is drawing a "disability" pension puts him on the list as disabled and unable to perform the amount of labor that is expected of a sound man, and it seems like misplaced generosity on the part of our government to thus place a handicap upon the young ex-soldier in his search for employment, as it is well known that a large percentage of the young men that served in the war with Spain depend upon manual labor for a livelihood.
Mr. Eugene F. Ware, the late Commissioner, issued the following table to show the difference between the regulars and volunteers of the Spanish-American War:
──────────────────────────┬────────┬─────────┬─────────┬────────── REGIMENTS │_Killed_│_Wounded_│_Missing_│ _Claims │ │ │ │filed for │ │ │ │pensions_ ──────────────────────────┼────────┼─────────┼─────────┼────────── Volunteers— │ │ │ │ 1st—District of Columbia│ 0│ 0│ 0│ 472 9th—Massachusetts │ 0│ 0│ 0│ 685 33d—Michigan │ 0│ 0│ 0│ 573 34th Michigan │ 0│ 0│ 0│ 615 8th Ohio │ 0│ 0│ 0│ 652 ──────────────────────────┼────────┼─────────┼─────────┼────────── Total │ 0│ 0│ 0│ 2,997 │ │ │ │ Regulars— │ │ │ │ 6th U. S. Infantry │ 17│ 106│ 17│ 162 7th U. S. Infantry │ 23│ 93│ 0│ 249 13th U. S. Infantry │ 18│ 90│ 0│ 87 16th U. S. Infantry │ 13│ 107│ 17│ 143 24th U. S. Infantry │ 12│ 75│ 6│ 123 ──────────────────────────┼────────┼─────────┼─────────┼────────── Total │ 83│ 471│ 40│ 764 ──────────────────────────┴────────┴─────────┴─────────┴──────────
It is believed that this spectacle, which indicates lack of patriotism, is due to the solicitation of the pension agent, who received $20 for every pension secured. Now this condition of things is an outrage. The name of every man who receives a pension should be published. If he really deserves it, no other citizen will object; if not, he should be scorched by the community.