The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1866-04-20
Tlle a8eafortl Gazette,
TRUTH FROM THE RECORD
OF 1864.
SHODDY AGAINST THE PRIVATE SOL
BIER.
CLYMER FOR THE SOLDIER!

CLYMER FOR THE SOLDIER!
The disunion press is full Of lies in re-
gard to the action of Democratic Sena-
tors in 1864, before the Senate was or
ganized. After its organization, viz;
on the 30th of March, 1864, Senator
Hopkins offered the following resolu-
ton: See Record, page 536.)
Resolred, That the Committee on Fed
eral Relations be instructed to bring in
a joint resolution instructing our SEN
ators and requesting our Representa-
tives in Congress to vote for law re-
quiring the payment of non-commis-
stoned officers and privates in the SER
vice of the United States in coin or its
equivalent.
Upon thisresolutionS Senator CLYMER
now the Democratic candidate for Gov
ernor, spoke as follows: (See Record,
page 538.l
| did not know, sir, that the Senator
from Washington Mr.. Hopkins was
about tOoffer a resolution Of this kind !;
had | been aware Of the fact, might
have been able to form a more correct
Judgment as to his intentions in so do
ing.
JUSTICE TO THE SOLDIER.
I Ipresume he designed to perform an
act Of simple justice to those who, on
the tented field, are struggling for the
maintenance of this Government. He
himself avows his intention to place
this meritorious class of our feIlOw-cit-
liens, so far as relates to their pay, up
on a footing with those sleek, well
paid. we'll fed, truly loyal, and most dis
Greet gentlemen who, in this time of
trial, are idling sunny hours in the
courts Of Europe as our foreign minis
ters, while the soldier is enduring the
pains. the trials and the dangers of
campaign. Contemplate the picture;
the one class clothed in purple and paid
i'm gold, the other clad in homespun and
paid in greenbacks! The one sUrroun-
ded by all the luxury which gold can
buy. the other in their individual per-
sons and in their families, enduring all
the want and misery which paper mon
ey ever entails! An unprejudiced OBJ
server, sir, would not, it seems to me,
be likely 10 attribute any sinister or mn
prOper motive to one who attempts to
equalizein some degree the condition of
these two classes. Surely, sir, the dis
parity between one hundred sixty dol
lars a year-the wages of q soldier
pain greenbacks-and the salaries of
our foreign ministers, ranging from
seven to twenty thousand year, paid
in gold, is Of such magnitude that it
should not be "disloyal" to attempt to
equalize it.
DEEDS, NOT WORDS.
To me, sir, it is strange, passing
strange, that those who profess so much
love for the soldier, who are eternally
parading themselves as the soldiers
friends" who would make the soldier
believe that every one outside the pale
of their political communion is his en-
envy, whose whole stock in trade is to
veil that they are '1Oyal," and to boast
that they love the soldier better than
wife or child, should here to-day resist
a proposition so fair and just. BY your
deeds you shall be tried. Honeyed
wordsOf fiattery cost nothing. To sus-
tain this resolution and the enactment
of its purpose into a law, might impose
some slight additional taxation upon
your loyal" gentleman, andthatwould
cost something. You cannot afford
that. Oh no! Fulsome praise, lauda-
ton without stint-that you can give;
it is in your line; but when the soldier
asks for the means WhereWith to sup
ply his wife and little ones with the
bare necessaries of life-which, owing
to the vicious system Of finance inaug-
urated by Republican rulers, have been
raised to fabulous prices-you turn your
backs upon him and brand as ''disloy
al" every man who dares to advocate
his claims. That Is a species of dislOy-
atty of which /, for one, am neither a
shamed nor afraid. If it be ''dislOyal"
to stand by, guard, protect and defend
the poor and humble against the rich
and powerful; to be in favor of the
soldier rather than of the shOddy con-
tractor, then / am disloyal. 1t is a
kind of disl0yalty of which you, gen
tlemen' on the Republican side, will
never be accused by those who .know
you. Where the spoils are, there will
YOUR hearts be also.
UsURPATION OF THE SENATE.
Possibly, sir, the Senator from Wash
ington offered the resolutions with an
additional motive-thatw was, to relieve
himself, and those who act with him
politically, from the base and unfound-
ed charge that we were opposed to an
increase of thepayof the soldier. When
this Senate was unorganized, as we
then believed, and as yousubsequently
admitted by proceeding to elect a Spea-