The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1844-08-09
porh mud the soldier. of the Revelation.

poik mud the Soldiers Of the Revolution.
There is no paper in the state that lays claim
to more f,irness and candor ia its statements than
the Alton Telegraph, and since the editorials of
that paper principally written by MIR. Bail
hache, this claim in not founded entirely in injus-
ticc. But we cannot see how Mr.. b. can recon-
Gle his conscientious regard Tor truth with the fol-
lowing statement that occurs in the Telegraph OF
the 81 inst;
"The veterans Of the dark days Of our rcvolu-
ton fccollcct that Mr. Polk, when 10 congress,
voted against granting them and their surviving
comrades IN arms pension; hence the natural
hostility they feel to his selection the ehici ma
sistraic of TIE Union"
The only attempt we have seen to substantiate
the charge that Mr. POLK voted against granting
pensions to the surviving soldiers Of the rcvolu-
ronary war, is made by the Sangamo Journal.
rha, paper has the following:
March I3, 1923, on the passage of the bill for
the relief of surviving officers Of the revolutionary
war, Mr.. Polk voted in the negative
On turning to The place referred u by the Jour,
nal, i, is found that the bill against which Mr.
Polk voted was for the relief ofi'ccrtaiu' officers
Of the revolutionary war, the Journal having
lraudulcnty left out tho word certain" TO create
the impression that Mr. Polk hid voted against
all the 5afviying Officers of the revolution. The
bill IN question was opposed by many members
besides Mr.. Polk, and was considered cl very
doubtful merit. The officers proposed to be pen
stoned by it were then on hali-pay, and had been
since the revolution, and it might well be qucs-
tioncl whether thcr pension should be increased
Opposition to such bill can with no prctcncc of
justice be characterized as opposition to granting
pensions to the surviving heroes of The revolution
There are two other instances referred To by
the Journal where Mr. Polk voted against bills
making donations to soldiers Of the revolution,
but they were doubtless bills Of as questionable
merit as the above. Every man of common IN
teIligoncc knows that there are hundred appi.
cations made 10 congress at every session for do
nations in some shape or other 10 soldiers, or wi
dows OF soldiers, or their connexions &c. In
many cases, no more is done than to receive and
refer their petitions: in others bills are introduced
making donations, and few Of these bills pass at
every session. BY slight examination OF the
journals of the lower house of congress- the Ohio
Statesman, and the State Register have found
some twenty-five or thirty instances in which Mr.
Polk voted for bills of this sort, and ii appears
wing industry and research have found three in
AZ in ub ha nt,J
number Of the bills for which Mr. Polk voted did
not pass, so that, we doubt not, if the search was
made, i, would be found that there is scarcely a
man whu has her" II rncmhar Of congress as long
as Nh Polk, who has not voted against more bills
to favor old soldiers, or their widows or kinsmen
But as for the unqualified charge, made by the
Telegraph and many other whig journals, that
Gov. Polk while in congress- voted against grant
ing to the surviving soldiers of the revolution &C.
nerally pensions, there never was falsehood
more unblushing. The pension system in this
country was established in 1918, long before Jas
X. Polk ever became a member of congress. Since
then it has been the practice at every session for
the committee on ways and means TO bring in,
with the other appropriation bills one for the pay
ment of the pensioners, and this bill seldom meets
any opposition. From the time Ilr. Polk first
took his seat in the house up to the time he was
elected speaker an examination of the journal
shows, the house did not divide single time on
the revolutionary pension bill-it always passed
unanmously --Polk of course voting for it with
the rest, and twice was the bill prepared and in
troduccd in the house by Gov. Folk himself
So much for Gov, Folks opposition to granting
the surviving soldiers of the revolution pensions.
The inventors Of the vile fllschood will be driven
to new inventions, while the more honest portion
Of the wings viii DO compelled reluctantly to ac-
knowledge that Gov Folks course while in con.
grcss in reference to granting donations and pen
sions to revolutionary soldiers, has been as liberal
as that Of any other man who ever held scat in
in congress.