The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1864-01-23


law, but it invaded right l protested
against it. The result of my action was a
modification of the order. The order as
modified, reads:
WASHINGTON, June 26th, 1868.
MAJOR General J. q. BtUHff
GENERAL: The authority given, Of date June
9Th, TO raise regiment Of cavalry, IS hereby
amended as follows
The company officers viii be commissioned by
the Governor, on the nomination Of the members
Of the respective companies. The field officers
will be so commissioned, on the nomination Of
the majority OF the company officers.
/ This modification IS made at the request of HIS
Exeelleney, the Governor, bEt IS not intended to
affect any appointment which may have been
/ duly made prior to the receipt of this by you.
THOMAS N. VINCENT, A. a. c.
I made no such request as that stated in
I the modified order. / insisted upon the
rights of the State, without Limitation or
qualification, as l shall ever do. I obeyed
the order, because did not wish to delay
/ the War Department in its military move
ments, and because desired to have placed
in our front, as quickly as practicable, the
soldiers needed to defend it, Nor do I wish
it understood that detail these matters IN
anger, or out of ill-will to the War Depart
ment. Every Department, the Government
itself, shall command me, whenever my ser
vices are needed, or wherever the arms of
Kansas can serve or defend it. I mention
/ these facts, only, because 1 would have the
people of the State watch with jealousy ey-
/ cry encroachment upon the rights of the
State. 1t is this vigilance which will stop
the advance Of the oppressor, and wall out
oppression.
To protect Kansas soldiers and their fam
lies I authorized, on the 18th of August,
1863, Judge Sanders w. Johnston, who is
now a resident of Washington, to act as
their agent without charge to them. 1t is
not right that they should pay cent 10 any
one for securing to them the money they
have so dearly earned, and which the Gov
! eminent so Justly owes them. I know that
you will concur In this without dissent
ing voice. Still, the agent, Judge Johnston,
should be compensated fairly for the work
he may do, and Kansas can well afford to
/ compensate him, because she has done moth
ing by way Of legislation. TO stimulate her
brave men to enter the service, or to pro-
vide for their families, while in the service,
as other States have done. What this re-
Enumeration for the agent shall be, and what
provision you will make for the families Of
the soldiers, it is for you to determine.
We tolerate in Government what we would
not tolerate in society. Were the pay of
Ilaborers put upon the ground which the
Federal authorities adopt towards soldiers,
it would cause, not merely dissatisfaction,
but revolution. 1t may be said that this is
a subject which you should not discuss, or
l suggest. l dissent This is a common
interest, and ever State has a common con-
} = - 7 = a. -, IL
the armv and navy; they are our soldiers
who fight the battles, and win victories or
meet reverses; it Is our cause they defend,
and our country they protect. 1t is your
privilege, then, to declare, and mine to sug-
gest, what measures may be necessary TO
their we'll being, and the well being of their
families.
I call your attention, therefore, to the
payment of soldiers, aud | invoke you,
most earnestly, to act upon the subject.
That pay should be prompt. We are aware
that, when sudden marches are made, or
when our forces pursue the foe into their
territory, this sometimes cannot be done;
but, as a general rule, in my judgment,
their pay might be promptly made, and that,
too, without the employment of an agent,
or without misapplying the funds of Gov
eminent. l give two examples to illustrate
my view: On the march of our regiments
to Fort Smith, quite number Of our SOL
Giers were taken sick and sent to the hos
pital. 1 conversed with one Of them who
had suffered from the worst form of typhoid
fever, and who had not received cent of
pay for six months. Again: consider the
case of the brave man who falls in battle
and leaves behind him destitute family; it
will take months fer his wife to get the small
pittance due him, and even this pittance
she may have to divide with an attorney,
whom she is compelled to employ to obtain
It. It seems TO me that a simpliication Of
the machinery of the Pay Department of
the army would remedy these difficulties,
i Il might more properly call them wrongs
and enable the soldiers family to receive
promptly, and without expense, what is
their due IF in the first case which have
stated, the certificate of the Captain of the
company. showing that the soldier had been
left in the hospital, and if the Surgeon II
charge of such hospital should endorse up
on that certificate that such soldier had been
detained there by disease. would enable that
soldier to obtain his pay, all delays would
be avoided. So, In the other case stated,
where ''the warrior By warrior hands Is
slain. - the endorsement of that fact by the
commanding officer Of his company, and
by the officer IN command of the regiment,
should be sufficient TO entitle his wife (she
being identifed) 10 his pay at once. Re
forms of this character are imperiously de-
manded, and Congress should lose no time
in making them. If the Legislatures Of
the different States were to examine this
subject and act upon it vigorously. we ven
ture the assertion that our National Leg:sla-
tors would remedy these evils. and put an