Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1870-05-13
A TR1nND OF THE room ORPHAN,

Having been instrumental in bring
ing about compromise by which the
poor orphans (of deceased soldiersl
might be provided for, Col J. H. Fer
ry has undertaken to spread before the
public history Of the Soldiers Orphans
Home measure and of his connection
Herewith. To some of the matters
therein contained we referred last week
to others time and space then forbade
reference.
Col. Ferry refers to the bill of Senator
Potts, the first Home bill introduced, as
though It proposed to put the manage
ment of the institution in the hands of
the Grand Army of the Republic. The
fact is it proposed to do jltsf the ts1ersc
of this. Its purpose was to take the
Xenia Home out of the hands of the G.
"A. R. and put it into the exclusive con
troll of the State.
Col. Ferry says, several Republican
Senators, among them Messrs. Root,
Cooper, Yeatman and Dunbar, were
opposed to the bill under such manage
ment las that of the G. A r. and posi-
lively refused to vote for it in the shape
it was first put in" The bill did not
propose to put the Home under such
management Therefore no Senator,
Republican or Democratic, opposed it
for any such reason Nor was the bill
as It was first put il" ever voted upon
at all. The committee to which it was
referred reported a substitute which was
acceptable to all who really desired the
Home, and which Col Ferry does not
pretend there was any rational objection
to. Messrs. Cooper and Dunbar were
highly in favor of it as wene all other
friends of the Home IN the Senate. Ii
1t did not propose to locate the Home at
White Sulphur, and we are not informed
that Col. Ferry lobbied for its passage.
His tender interest in the orphans took
a different turn and exeyted itself in cf-
forts. to 'compromise" matters.
The bill was defeated by tacking to it
an absurd ana ridiculous amendment
which compelled the friends of the Home
to vote against it. That amendment
provided for the appointment of a COM
mission Of 35 citizens and the expendi-
ture of $4,000, to ascertain how many
soldiers orphans there are in Ohio. /
Though it was intended to kill the bill
and so understood, ell tie Bem0cyallc |
Senator'S zotea fo,- H. Nor do we hear
that Col. Ferry, the disinterestcd Or
phans' Friend, lobbied against it. We
are panied to suspect that he Iabored to |
secure the adoption of the amendment I
and thereby to defeat that provision for
the poor orphans" for which he pre-
tends to have been so anxious
BY the aid Of Senators Root and Yeat-
man, one Republican and the other a
Cincinnati "Reformer," the Democrats
carried the amendment and so slaugbt-
cred the bill, Col. Ferry, though an in
huential lobbyist whose selfappointed
mission it was to take care of the or
phans' interests, looking on meanwhile
with the utmost AouclaleHcr. Now this
was not the part of such disinterested
orphans friend as Col. Ferry desires us
to take him for.
ne assumes to give us history of the
Soldiers Orphans Home measure and
yet entirely omits the important circun-
stances Of the defeat Of the first bill IN
the Senate, which we have just related.
ne sklps nimbly over the shameful and
SHY amendment which Senators of his
own party voted for and carried, and
men attributes the opposition to the bill
wiii0h the Republican Senators were
eohPelled to make, on account of thatf.
M to purely imaginary causes.
ms IS not the way candid and inn
partial person would write history.
Col, Ferry tells us there is ac,,,,,. !