Soldiers of the Spanish War at the time of their discharge were obliged to sign papers declaring any disability which existed. Then each soldier was examined by the surgeon and his company officers, and these again certified either to his perfect health or to his disability. It was found that the health of many had been greatly improved by exercise in the open air, free life, and plain diet.
Eleven years after the Civil War only six per cent. of the Union soldiers and sailors had applied for a pension; now only a little over three years has passed since the close of the one hundred days’ war with Spain, yet more than twenty per cent. of the soldiers and sailors of that war have applied for pensions.
The great majority of those mustered out had declared over their own signatures, and that of the surgeon and commanding officer of the company to which they belonged, that they had no disability whatever. Yet thousands of these very men have applied for pensions, and in their applications have set forth in minute detail the large number of disabilities acquired in the service. One man within forty-eight hours after his discharge as a sound man discovered ten physical ills, any one of which should suffice to secure the bounty of a generous government.
I submit the following extract from Commissioner Evans’ last report:
A good object-lesson in this regard is furnished by the history of a volunteer regiment which was recognized as one of the “crack” regiments in service during the war with Spain. Its membership was notably a fine body of men, and its officers were men of experience and ability and skilled in military matters. Few regiments had as good a record for service as this one. It was at Camp Alger for a time, then at Camp Thomas, then at Tampa, Fla.; thence sailed for Santiago de Cuba, where it was placed in the trenches and did good service until it returned to Montauk. From there it was returned to the place of its enrolment, and at the expiration of a sixty days’ furlough was mustered out of service.
This regiment had a membership of 53 commissioned officers and 937 enlisted men. There were no battle-field casualties, but 1 officer and 22 men died of disease while in the service. The published report of the medical officer on the muster out of this regiment shows that 1 per cent. of the men of the regiment were improved by military service; 5 per cent. were in as good physical condition as at time of enlistment; 24 per cent. were but slightly affected, and, as a rule, the troubles were not traceable to military service. Of the remainder (70 per cent.), or 528 men, the general condition was as follows:
| Irritable heart, due to fever | 365 |
| Mitral regurgitation | 4 |
| Chronic bronchitis | 214 |
| Acute bronchitis | 47 |
| Phthisis | 3 |
| Gastritis | 158 |
| Enlarged or congested liver | 116 |
| Enlarged spleen | 316 |
| Inflammatory condition of intestines | 53 |
| Irritability of bladder and incontinence of urine | 76 |
| Nephritis | 5 |
| Hemorrhoids | 11 |
| Varicocele | 61 |
| Inguinal hernia | 3 |
| Rheumatism | 26 |
| Myopia | 19 |
| Slight eye strains | 29 |
| Slight deafness, due to quinine | 17 |
| Chronic nasal catarrh | 9 |
| Sprain of back | 3 |
| Old dislocation, right shoulder | 1 |
| Gunshot wounds, left forearm | 2 |
| Badly set Colle’s fracture | 1 |
| Secondary syphilis | 2 |
| Suffering from pains in the muscles, especially the calves of the legs and lumbar region, loss of weight from 10 to 30 pounds, accompanied by more or less debility | 471 |
| Relapses of fever continuing to recur up to January 4, 1899 | 87 |
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 life-long 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.