Pay of Our Soldiers

The pitiful pay of our soldiers, when they get it, is a crying shame upon our government. Congress must do something quickly to relieve them. Speculation and extortion and the pinch of the war have brought them and their families to the door of starvation. Only think of it--$11 per month, one $50 commutation for clothing for a year, for our brave soldiers, when shoes sell for $10 to $12, pants at $15 to $20, shirts at $4 to $5, coats at $25 to $30, etc., bacon at 40 cts., meal $1.50, sugar at 60 cts., etc. Can it be possible that the government will put them off with that pitiful sum, unless it breaks up the extortion and speculation of the country? It will not be so. Our soldiers must be better paid, or we cannot expect to prosper. Let the salaries of the higher officers be reduced—brigades, regiments and companies made smaller, in order that the rank and file may be better paid. Moreover, some of them are not paid regularly. We understand that some of our soldiers have not received a dollar of their wages since the 1^st of January last. Whose fault is it?--Standard

[Transcribed by Sharon Strout]