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Report To The U.S. Sanitary Commission. On A System For The Economical Relief Of Disabled Soldiers, And On Certain Proposed Amendments To Our Present Pension Laws

Creator: John Ordronauz (author)
Date: 1864
Publisher: Sanford, Harroun & Co., New York
Source: Available at selected libraries

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But, the factory, being common property, should be considered the public domain of the community. Every one should have the right of working in it, subject only to the rules adopted by the majority for its management. A board of competent officers should regulate the hours, and kinds of labor. This board should keep an account of the amount of daily work performed by each person -- dispose of the commodities manufactured -- purchase whatever raw materials are necessary, and at the end of every quarter render a public account, duly audited, of the financial condition of the village. At the end of every year, a pro rata distribution of the nett earnings of the workmen should be made, according to the work performed by each. If deemed more expedient, this division of profits might be made at the end of every quarter, or six months. But, whenever made, a government agent should be present to assist in auditing the accounts, and to ascertain, so as to be able to report knowingly, the exact condition of affairs of the village.

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Placed in such circumstances as these, and surrounded by his family, almost every invalid would be able to earn more than the amount of the pension relinquished by him. Certainly, he would find himself in a far more independent position, than could be the case in any other community, where he would have nothing but his pension to support him, with expenditures for house-rent, and provisions, to consume this amount twice over. Living rent free -- his little farm giving him his daily bread, and, in case of physical incapacity, his children working in the factory, to assist in the general acquisitions of the family, it can not be doubted that to Americans this field would present those inducements to labor, and those promises of self-support and honest independence, which are the most stirring incentives to human industry. With an intelligent and adventurous population like our own to operate with, the experiment is certainly worth trying.

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PROPOSITION SEVENTH.

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Is the Prussian Versorgungschein -- or privilege to fill vacancies occurring in subordinate government offices, on surrendering the pension already held -- practicable with us? It being understood that the incumbency shall be for life, or during good behavior.

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There are hundreds of subordinate government offices which might be filled by invalids, with credit to themselves and acceptance to the country. These offices are scattered throughout the various States, and might be filled by those living at their own homes. The advantage flowing from this feature of the question can not be over estimated, since, as we have before shown, home is always the best place for invalids, and every measure taken in their behalf should, as far as possible, look towards keeping them there. In conjunction, therefore, with communities, the government might bestow offices upon the oldest and most meritorious invalids, which should be for life, or during good behavior. There seems no good reason why offices, which are now given as rewards to partizans, should not hereafter be given to those who, instead of a claim upon a political party only, have one upon the whole country. The superior right is certainly vested in this latter class, and nothing could be more honorable than to provide for invalids in this way. It is a system which has been found to work well elsewhere, not only as a means of relieving the invalid, but also of diminishing the expenses of the Pension Bureau; for, since the government must have employees in its various departments, it is far cheaper that it should accept those who, in receiving an appointment, relinquish their pensions, than to pay both employees and pensioners an annual stipend. In the one case it employs a man to whom it owes nothing, and rewards him equitably; in the other case it employs a man to whom it owes a yearly pension, but who nevertheless is willing to exchange this claim for that of a hired laborer. The whole pension is therefore clearly gained by the government under such an arrangement; and when the hundreds or thousands of offices which can thus be filled are considered, the aggregate sum that would be saved to the country, annually, becomes immense. It is not saying too much to assert, that there are 10,000 such offices within the gift of the federal authorities, and rating them at the lowest grade of pensions ($96 per annum), the aggregate sum saved reaches the amount of $960,000, or nearly a million annually.

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This view of the matter certainly lends to the proposition a practical complexion, which should recommend it to the general acceptance of the country, and the few inconsequential objections which we have heard alleged against it, as, for example, that it would create an army of political proletaries, interested in the perpetuity of an administration, fall to the ground before the fact that these are life-offices, from which the invalid cannot be ousted so long as he continues competent and behaves himself well. Again, invalids, in accepting these places, are, of course, selected on account of their disability, and not because belonging to this or that political party, and it will only be an accident that they enter into such offices during the incumbency of any party with which they may, in times past, have been politically associated. But, as all these offices cannot be at once, or simultaneously filled, invalids will have to wait for vacancies, and these may not occur for years, so that political parties may entirely change ere a man's turn comes around.

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