. And, finally, reflect that this whole system of homes is
really but one portion of one branch of Sanitary work.

The collection of back pay, bounties, and pensions,--how many have a
definite idea of this work? Not many, I suspect. Yet it takes all the
time of many persons to accomplish it, and it was the branch of Sanitary
work which awakened in my own mind the deepest regard; for it has its
foundation in a higher virtue than any mere sentimental charity,--yea,
in the highest virtue known in heaven or on earth,--justice. However
impossible it may be to prevent such occurrences, certainly it is a
cruel and undeserved hardship to a soldier who has served faithfully and
fought for his country, and has perhaps been wounded and almost died at
the post of honor and duty, that he should be unable to obtain his
hard-earned pittance, when, too, he needs it for his own comfort, or
when it may be that his family need it to keep them from absolute
suffering.

Look at a single class of these collections,--the back pay of sick men.
Government, we all allow, must have some system in its disbursements. It
should not pay money without a voucher, and the proper voucher of a
soldier is the pay-roll of the regiment or company of which he is a
member. Now a sick or wounded man drops out of the ranks. He gets into a
field hospital to which he does not belong. He is transferred from one
hospital to another, from hospital to convalescent camp, and finally, it
may be, is put on the list of men to be discharged for physical
disability. Meanwhile his commanding officer does not know where he is,
cannot trace him thinks it very likely that he is a deserter. On pay-day
the man's name is not on the roll, and, having no voucher, he gets no
money. You say that there ought to be a remedy. There is none. It would
be difficult to devise one. What shall the soldier do? He cannot go from
point to point to collect evidence, for he is sick. Besides, he is
utterly ignorant of the necessary forms. If he applies to a lawyer, it
costs him often from one half to three quarters of all he gets. Very
likely the lawyer cannot afford to take care of one or two petty cases
for a less price. In this emergency the Commission steps in, and, with
its knowledge of routine and its credit in all quarters, obtains for the
poor fellow for nothing what he has in vain sought for in other ways.
Take one single case, and what they would call at the Relief Office an
easy case. St