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The Duty and Reward

OF

LOYALTY

By LIKUT. ALLEN R. KOOTE.

Read at Takoma Park, District of Columbia, y^dy 4, i8gi.

Published by order of the NATIONAL BOARD OF FOUNDERS

OF THE

SOCIETY OF LOYAL VOLUNTEERS, Washington, D. C.

DEDICATED TO THE

LOYAL VOLUNTEERS OF 1861 July 4TH, 1891.

THE DOTY AID REWARD OF LOYALTY.

By Lieut. ALLEN R. FOOTE,

I was mustered into the United States service as a private soldier in Co. B, 3d Michigan Infantry, June 10, 1861. I received a gun- shot wound in my right lung at the battle of Fair Oaks, May 22, 1862, and was discharged for disability, December 23, 1862. I re- enlisted as a private soldier in the 21st Michigan Infantry, January 2, 1864 ; was promoted to Second Lieutenant, January 26, 1864, and was honorably mustered out of service at the close of the war, June 8, 1865.

On account of my wound I am now receiving a disability pen- sion of ten dollars per month. My method of earning a living is by intellectual employment. My wound does not cause the slightest disability for such occupation. My army experience has been the means of increasing, not diminishing, my earning capacity. I am now receiving full pay from my employment.

In view of facts such as these, I believe the pension laws should be so changed that I, and all others similarly circumstanced, shall receive no pension payments and that the money so saved may be used to increase the pensions of our less fortunate Comrades.

I furnish this record to show that I am of the royal order of American Nobility, the loyal volunteer soldiers of 1861, and as such, have the right to speak for myself and to voice the sentiments of my Comrades.

1. " To thine own self be true " is a command into which are condensed all laws of the universe. This is the law of the duty of loyalty.

2. Man is infinitely and wonderfully related. Co-existent with his relationship is his duty of loyalty. Beginning with self, his relationship runs through family, companionships of childhood, associations in society, business, politics and religion ; citizenship in town, county. State, and nation ; from the nation to the brother- hood of man ; from humanity to God; from God, the over-soul, to God incarnate in the soul of man. Viewed full-circled, man's re- lationship and his duty of loyalty run through the entire circle froiji self to self. No link can be omitted without breaking the circuit.

3. Man is sovereign to all things. Only that commands his alle- giance which yields allegiance to him. Reciprocity of fealty ren- ders the demand for fidelity just. Reciprocity limits duty. "^ When a government not rightly planned or administered fails or ceases to be a benefaction to the governed, it has no right to require ad- herence from those it wrongs. The wronged can not be loyal to their oppressor and at the same time be true to themselves.

4. The obligation of duty can not be satisfied except by a volun- tary act. An act done under coercion is the act of a culprit com- pelled to obey authority. An act done for pay only is the act of a mercenary. Such acts are not the acts of a free man willingly doing his duty because he believes it to be right. In the truest sense the loyal soldier is never a conscript nor a mercenary. He is always a volunteer.

5. Arbitrary governments are defended by conscripts ; popular governments by volunteers. The armies of an empire are mobil- ized by a draft ; of a republic, by a call.

6. When all men intelligently recognize their duty of loyalty through the entire circle of their relationship, there will be no crime, no war.

7. The people of the South were loyal according to their under- standing of their duty. They broke the circle of relationship by omitting from it, without just cause, the nation and humanity. The God of justice to whom they appealed required them to repair the breach. In exact relation to their progress in doing this, peace and prosperity have come to them ; a peace and prosperity un- clouded by any impending crisis, because founded on loyalty to the nation, loyalty to humanity, and loyalty to themselves.

8. When growth is unobstructed, progress is made by evolution. Then the duties of loyalty are to life as light and heat to the sun- beam. When growth is obstructed, progress is made by revolu- tion. Then the duties of loyalty are to life as the fire and power of lightning.

9. Most minds are deficient in capacity for sentiment. They ap- plaud the hero who proves himself loyal in supreme trial for a sin- gle hour. They fail to recognize the grandeur of him who is faith- ful through all the years of his life. Heroes of war are by them more ho'^ored than heroes of peace. When men are wise enough they will cease to honor those who destroy. They will honor those who create. Faithfulness to the duties of civil life will then be recognized as the highest duty of loyalty to the nation. When men acquire sufficient capacity for sentiment, histories of peace will stir their minds to lofty thoughts and high endeavor. They will then be liberated from narrow lives in which small disturbances excite undue sensation. They will live in that larger realm where sensation is born of noble admiration ; where suns and worlds swing free in space, and together with the stars, chant the rhythm of the universe. Between such people there can be no wars. To unwrit- ten laws they will yield loyal obedience, as the sun-kissed mist blushes the beauty of the rainbow.

10. The true rewards of loyalty can not consist in recompense, gifts, compensations, or remunerations. They are not a requital or desert. The use of these terms as synonyms for the word reward

misleads thought, raises false issues, and predicates action on a false basis.

The duty of loyalty is a moral obligation. The true reward of loyalty must be a moral' satisfaction — HONOR. No nation can dis- honor its volunteer defenders without undermining its noblest fort- ress of sure defense. If the defended disregards his duty of grat- itude, what right has he, man or nation, to enjoy the protection or the results of the defense ? Ingratitude partakes of the nature and parallels the crime of treason. The duty of gratitude is a moral obligation. The true expression of gratitude must be a moral satis- faction—HONOR.

The Loyal Volunteers.

11. When the call came for volunteers to defend the nation, those of its citizens who most loved its institutions, who saw in them the best promise of freedom and prosperity for humanity, in whom there resided the most manly courage and the most responsive sen- timents of patriotism, were the first to respond. They asked no questions about pay. They had no thought about bounties, pen- sions, or soldiers' homes. To protect their own institutions and homes, they saw that they must act without stipulation or hesita- tion.

12. Sometimes the sentiment is expressed that " the old soldiers are entitled to everything the nation can give them because they saved the nation." To urge this claim it is triumphantly asked, " What would have become of the nation if the old soldiers had not saved it?" A more pernicious or unworthy sentiment has never been born in the minds of men. The question is much more per- tinent. What would have become of the old soldiers if they had not done their duty manfully and had not been successful ? Because a man rushes to the rescue of his family and property when his house is on fire, and incidentally saves the lives and property of others, shall he claim a rew^ard, and insist that he is entitled to all those

others can give him ? He had to save that house, or to see his own family destroyed and lose his own property. If he had felt no so- licitude for them and his own interests, would the sight of the flames have moved him to hazardous action? Those who claim that the loyal volunteers saved the nation for others, disinherit them. They went to the rescue of their own country, and saved it for them- selves. For so doing, honor, not compensation, is their true reward.

13. The loyal volunteer was faithful in the performance of a self- imposed obligation. He endured privations and hardships, risked life and limb. He sacrificed the opportunities of civil life, and dis- severed himself from the comforts and influences of home and so- ciety, and from opportunities for study, culture, and refinement. He did this to defend the life and honor of the nation. For this, all honor is due to him, and a sufficient recompense to make good to him his material losses.

14. A grateful people have been glad to make good the material losses sustained by volunteers. Their ready willingness to do this has led to ill-considered methods of doing it, until the duty of hon- oring, as well as making restitution for material losses, has been so lost sight of, that old soldiers have been placed in the position, eco- nomically considered, of paupers. In my opinion, ex-President Hayes sounded the keynote of appreciation when, at the banquet of the Loyal Legion, Cincinnati, May, 1888, speaking to the toast " Comradeship," he said :

" No soldier can be justly considered the nation's pauper ; he is rather the nation's ward. Young men were taken from the restraints of home, of moral surroundings, and were placed by the nation in its struggle to defend its life at the mercy of temptations condi- tioned to rouse all unholy passions. Some yielded up their lives, others their manhood, in defending the cause of national existence and national unity. Shall we lay flowers on the tomb of one and refuse a helping hand to his less fortunate comrade ? The soldier who is a drunken sot is an eloquent witness of the cost of war. We

8

can not count all of that cost in dollars. Who will estimate its cost in the wrecked characters of those who did not possess the moral fibre to enable them successfully to resist the temptations of army life ? In the formation of character, let it be remembered that who sows act, reaps habit ; who sows habit, reaps character ; who sows character, reaps destiny."

15. These are noble words, nobly spoken, but they do not present the entire picture. All men were not degraded by army life. The majority were made better by it. The inspiration of the cause, the patient endurance and stern courage required, roused into life all the latent goodness of their characters and made them better, no- bler, gentler men than they otherwise would have been. They did not sacrifice character, they sacrificed the opportunities of civil life. Opportunity is life.

To appreciate this, mark the course in life of two boys, comrades in school, about nineteen years of age, apparently equals in every way. Suddenly the war-cloud bursts. The nation's cry of anguish is heard : " Help ! help ! ! " From the whole breadth of the land the answer comes : " We are coming. Father Abraham, 300,000 strong." One boy rushes to the recruiting office and waits impa- tiently for the doors to open so he can enlist. Pay ! Did he go there for pay ? No ! Consider the innocent enthusiasm of his youth, obeying with quick instinct the promptings of his loyal heart. He neither knows nor cares anything about pay. Of but one thing does he take account, his opportunity to show his loyalty and prove himself a man. The terms of service change from three months to three years, from three years to " during the war." These changes make no difference to him. He enlisted to save the nation. He is a true Daniel, one-half back-bone and all the rest pure grit. If the rebellion had not succumbed he would be hammering at it now.

The other boy finishes his schooling, enjoys the advantages of home and social life, profits by the unparalleled opportunities of the

times, gains business experience and position, and, at the close of the war, is in the full enjoyment of all these advantages pertaining to civil life.

What of the volunteer? Four years of his young life are gone, the four years most valuable to him for acquiring an education, social culture, moral bent ; the best years of his life in which to learn a trade or begin a business career. Handicapped by this loss, he must commence the real work of life following far behind the lead of his school companion with whom he was once evenly matched. This shows the true loss sustained by the volunteer. What payment can compensate him for the loss of these years ?

1 6. The loyal volunteer sacrificed the hopes and opportunities of civil life in the flower of his youth. He gave to the civilian oppor- tunities, and defended him in his enjoyment of them.

The loyal volunteer tempered justice with mercy, as was never before done. He set an example for all the world ; yes, to heaven itself, of generosity in the hour of triumph. He made no attempt, nor has he ever attempted, in any way, to degrade, disgrace, or im- poverish the vanquished. Without restraint or molestation, the defeated were allowed to return to their homes and recommence all vocations of peace. All they ever had was still theirs except that which was destroyed in the ordinary course of a war of their own creating. As a result, hate has been overcome with kindness. The right hand of fellowship has been extended and accepted. We are one people.

Let the world admire the volunteer's loyalty and courage as much as it justly may ; incomparably more admirable is the noble gener- osity with which he presented to the people of the North and the South the fruits of his victories, content to keep for himself but his battle-flags and scars.

17. The loyal volunteer has performed his duty of loyalty and earned his rank of nobility. It remains for the people of the na- tion to rightly perform their duty of gratitude and earn their rank

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of nobility. The obligation of the people of the North and of th& South, though springing from different causes, unites in the same- issue, a debt of gratitude due from them to the nation's defenders. Let those who pay this debt make honorable acknowledgment of the fact that such payment, in the truest sense, is an act of justice due to their own honor, not a compensation for the loyalty of others.

1 8. To place this subject in a true light, all phrases about recom- penses for privations, compensations for hardships, remunerations- for dangers encountered, rewards for loyalty, must be discarded.. With these sophisms cleared away, the true principles involved appear.

The loyal volunteer did his duty when loyalty required courage- and sacrifice. He was generous when generosity required a high sense of honor and self-denial. Ihey show small appreciation of the true factors in the problem who talk about placing valuation on these qualities of character as though they could be made market- able commodities. Do they not know that virtue is forever de- stroyed when a price is set upon it ? Do they not know that loyalty paid for, transforms the hero into a mercenary?

One gain that must be made is the teaching of the lesson thai the duty of loyalty and the duty of gratitude are moral obligations,, virtues of moral excellence, and for that reason they can not be- coined into money nor paid for in dollars.

How THE Debt Should Be Paid.

19. The debt to be paid is for impairment of earning capacity, not for duty done.

No one, more especially an honorable soldier, will claim that a. few years of military service absolved any one from the duty of sub- sequently earning his own living by honest work. If any are suf- ficiently dishonorable to make such a demand, that moral deficiency of character should not be allowed to disgrace their more honorable comrades nor to find a cash value.

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HfThe discharged soldier should be made good to himself, and those- immediately dependent upon his labor, for any impairment of his earning capacity that he may have received by reason of his serv- ice. The fullest possible compensation will, be given him when he- is provided with a situation, the pay for which is equal to his nor- mal earning capacity. For this reason, all persons who have an equitable claim to compensation for impairment of earning capacity should be given the preference, all other considerations being equal, for employment in any public or private situation, the duties of which they are capable to perform. While so employed and in, the receipt of full pay they should not be allowed to draw pension payments^ Such a preference is an honorable distinction. To any honorable man an opportunity to perform helpful service and earn full pa}- is infinitely more acceptable than to receive a small gratuity with- out employment.

The soldier who is capable of and is earning a resp3ctable living, has no right to a pension, because he has suffered no impairment of earning capacity.

20. The soldier who has suffered such an impairment and is therefore incapable of earning, in any situation that may be found for him, a respectable living, should be paid enough to support him in comfort, not pauperized by a stipend too small to satisfy his ne- cessities.

If impairment of earning capacity is the only thing paid for, and; if payment is made only when the beneficiary can not be provided for with public or private employment that will enable him to earn an honest and respectable living, the amount required for such pen- sions will not burden the resources of the country. The payment, of such pensions will be made with infinite satisfaction by the peo- ple, and the amount received will maintain in comfort and inde- pendent self-respect every unfortunate soldier.

21. The initial error w^as made when the principle of payment was based on duty performed instead of loss sustained. Basing the?

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claim on duty performed opened the way for claiming compensation from date of discharge and for the payment of pensions to those who have suffered no impairment of earning capacity. , Payments on such a basis have gradually dulled the sense of honor of thou- sands to whom it would otherwise never have occurred that their loyalty was a quality of character to be valued and paid for in cash. Such a basis for payment has stimulated the cupidity and greed of the dishonorable; and the payments have been received as a gratuity by the unthinking who look upon what they receive from the Gov- -ernment as a free gift, that costs no one anything, like a refreshino- shower in a season of drought.

The influence of payments made on the basis of duty performed, or as a reward for loyalty, has sapped the foundations of honor in the minds of thousands until they think it right that the industries and the wage-workers of the country should be taxed for their sup- port. It has made them dishonest enough to be willing to receive that which they have not earned, to take by process of law a portion of the earnings of others and convert it to their own use. More than this, it has compelled them to rob their disabled comrades, through imperfect provision for their needs, leaving them crippled and help- less, to wage the struggle of life as best they can and perish when they must.

As a result of such payments, old soldiers who need a full support only receive a small pittance, totally inadequate to support them, while un- told millions are paid to those who are perfectly able to support themselves.

To meet payments that satisfy no claim of justice or honor, but represent bribes sought and bribes paid for votes, the industries of the country have been burdened with war taxes during a quarter of a century of peace. This burden is an economic crime.

Beyond all this, the manner in which pensions are procured, and the implied degradation of the spirit of loyalty involved in the en- actment of pension laws, have rendered a pension a mark of disgrace instead of a badge of honor for the Loyal Volunteer.

13 The Remedy.

22. Thirty years ago, responding to the duty of loyalty, volunteers rescued the nation from destruction by force. To-day, responding^ to the duty of loyalty, volunteers must rescue the nation from de- struction by dishonesty. All old soldiers who respect themselves- and honor their comrades, whose sympathetic demand for the unfor- tunate is that they shall be shielded from all want, whose love for the old flag makes the prosperity of the nation dear to their hearts, must muster and demand that the pension laws be revised on the- basis of payment for impairment of earning capacity, and that such payment be made only when the beneficiary is incapable of earning a respectable living or can find no opportunity of so doing.

Further, that a diploma, or medal, showing the service of every loyal soldier or sailor, be prepared and furnished to those entitled to the same, and that it be made the rule of employment, public and private, that preference shall invariably be given to those so honored.

Let those who are in need be fully cared for. Let those not in need mjoy an honorable distinction and preference in the opportunities of life.

The True Reward of Loyalty.

23. When the debt for impairment of earning capacity is honor- ably paid, what is the true reward of loyalty ?

Acts of loyalty are acts of moral rightness. In the sacred court of the soul where God's justice is done, the reward of a right act is inseparable from the act. A right act is self-crowned. Its crown is truth — rightness. Such crown no man can give nor withhold. In the highest and best sense, this crown is the true reward of loyalty.

The loyal volunteer, endow him as you may, clothe him as best you can, decorate him with all the honors you can bestow, and you I have but given a fitting tribute to your own sense of gratitude.

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Do not suppose for a moment that you have thereby rewarded his loyalty.

24. The gains of life are various. Some objects we pursue dis- appear as we grasp them. We are children chasing with excited delight -beautiful bubbles floating free in air. We touch them and they vanish. Some objects are as enduring as the eternal truth of God. We pursue them with the stern courage of men upborne by the strength of moral conviction. Though in the hour of trial and triumph a crown of thorns be pressed upon our brow, the memory of a right act, courageously and generously done, will enrich the soul forever. The memory of such actions is the loyal volunteer's richest endowment and most sacred acquisition. How little all that can be given must ever be in comparison with that which he has by right of his own achievement.

Ask him now how he values his memory of that day when, with his regiment, he first left home for the scenes of war. Can the pic- ture ever fade ? Streets thronged with the populace and decorated with the flag he was to defend. Can he ever forget the holy inspira- tion of the silent cheer from his speechless father, mother, sister, or lover as he passed them?

Ask him now how he values his memory of the thousand inci- dents of army life that are never recorded by a single line on the page of history, but which revealed comrade to comrade, knit life to life, and gave opportunity for the expression of nobility by noble men.

Ask him now how he values his memory of the hours of conflict, when, by the magnetic touch of elbow to elbow, comrade to comrade gave courage, and the line grew firm as adamant ; when the spirit of those who fell entered into those who remained, and the dying transformed their unwilling groans into cheers for the living. In the crucible of conflict, men become moulten. Their blood mingles. Their souls blend. Their lives are fused into the life of the nation. Who that has felt the mysti€ power, the grand exaltation, the unut-

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terablejoy of that supreme moment when his heart's blood leaped forth as he fell at his post, would call back one drop of it for all that can be given him in return ?

Ask him now how he values his memory of that day, duty done, his mission accomplished, when, with tattered battle flags, clothes soiled and torn, bronzed face and hardened muscles, it may be with scarred and disabled body, he returned with the survivors of his regiment to his home. Again the streets are thronged with the pop- ulace and decorated with the national flag. The storm cloud passed, all are wild with joy made solemn by the thoughts of them that could not come ; by none more tenderly remembered than those by whose side they fell. The glory of flowers, the mingled voice of music and song, enchant the eye, perfume the air, exalt the soul. Suddenly, out from the mass of eager- faces there darts a father, mother, sister, or lover, as some looked-for one is recognized. The heart can endure the strain no longer. He is snatched from the ranks and embraced, midst the cheers of all observers. Words ! ! There are no words for such moments ! But the entry the recording angel wrote that day will forever read : Thank God ! my boy, my brother, my lover, has done his duty.

25. The days of trial and victory are passed, but memory causes them to live forever in the eternal — NOW.

Such memories are the true reward of loyalty. They can be pos- sessed only by those that earn them. Find such an one, become acquainted with him, and you will find one wiio will exact least from the defended and is most generous to the vanquished.

It is these memories that sfir within old soldiers their best man- hood, and thrill them with noblest pride, as they look into each others' faces. They only are capable of appreciating at his true value their comrade of the campaign, the veteran of the battlefield. They, better than all others, know how to honor him that was loyal when the nation had need of his services.

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To him that has no need, let no mercenary stain come. To him that is in n^ed, let abundance be given. To all that were faithful to their duty of loyalty, let the true reward of loyalty be an untar- nished possession, a crown of true glory.

26. All who seek to perpetuate the history of the war for the preservation of the Union, by pen, or brush, or chisel; all who speak about or ponder over the events of those days, must ever stand uncovered in the presence of him who can say of the first battle of Bull Run ; of the last grand review ; or of any of the bat- tles between : " I performed the duties of loyalty — I was there."

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