The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1872-08-30

The aggregate amount of the appropria-
tions made by that bill in thirty-four items
was S554,579, ,527 20. Here are five sue
cessive money bills, every one of which by
the record is shown to have been passed
with my consent and approval, because
they We're passed unanimously with the
one exception of the army appropriation
bill of 1864, and for that have read the
vote. They amount altogether to 81 ,427,-
S22, ,SS1 80.
SOLDIERS PAY
| come to another subject. | come to
the question of the pay of the soldiers. On
the 22d of December, 1868, the record
shows that l was present when the bill
passed unanimously, appropriating S20,-
1000 to pay bounties to soldiers, and it
also shows that an amendment offered at
that time, to reduce bounties from $500 to
800, or to compel the President to pay no
more than 800 bounty to a soldier, was
opposed and voted against by me. Then,
gentlemen, you will find that on the 22d
of April, 1864, Mr.. Hendricks, of Indiana,
offered an amendment, providing that the
pay of soldiers in the army should be in
creased fifty per cent, provided, however,
that no nOn-commiSSioned officer should
receive more than $22 per month. That
amendment was put to vote, and voted
for it. ! thought it was just to the soldiers
plause. That increase would have made
their pay $19 80, which l thought was
reasonable. Again, you will find, ON the
18th of May, 1864, that an amendment was
offered i'll the Senate to pay the soldiers III
gold. Their wages then being low, and
gold rising, and they having families to
support at home, the proposition was made
to pay them in gold, or its equivalent
For that, also, l voted. Then bill was
n rr,f fl,n i
the 10th of May, 1864, for an increase in
the pay of soldiers from $13 to SIC a
month, with sundry other rates running
up, in some cases, as high as $34 per
month, for non-commissioned officers of
the army, and it is shown that | was pres
ent at the time the amendment was agreed
to, unanimously, and also afterwards ON two
occasions until final action upon the bill.
You have, therefore, in reference to that
subject, the facts of the vote for the ap-
preparation for soldiers bounties of $2U,-
200, 900 the vote against reducing bountieS
from $500 to 500 ; the vote to increase the
pay of soldiers 80 per cent. the vote to
pay them in gold, and afterwards sup
port cheerfully given to the increase from
S13 to $40 per month for private soldiers
and larger sums for non-commissionedo Off
GERS.
THE PAY OF CoLoRED TROOPS,
l dismiss that, and come to another
point, the pay of colored troops, and for
this a very few words will answer. By
an act passed 18th of July, 1862, before [
was member of the Senate, the pay of
colored soldiers of persons employed in
the army was fixed at so per month the
pay of white soldiers then being Sl3. That
law remained in force until 1864. although
Mr. Lincoln in his message at the begin
ming of 1864 informed us that about l0O,-
600 colored men were in the public ser
vice, about half Of them actually IN the
ranks of the army and the others engaged
in those pursuits and employmentS con-
nected with the army for which colored
men were suited. Mr.. Wilson; ON the
22d OF April. 1864, offered an amendment
to the army bill against which | voted, and
that vote has been miscOnstTued. The OBJ
iectionS to his amendment were several and
| mention those that | remember. One
was that it was retrospective. 1t went
back as to time. When we came to I'M
crease the pay of white soldiers in May we
only increased it from the time of the pass
age of the bill, but Mr.. Wilson, when he
proposed his amendment, proposed thatwe
should 90 back to the beginning of the
year and increase colored soldiers from
that time. His amendment also provided
for an allowance to persons who secured
the enlistment of cOlored soldiers which
many of us understood was TO be given to
New England agents who went to the
Southern States to procure colored soldiers
to fill up the quotas of the Eastern States
and there was another feature which was
objected to. 1t looked to the payment of
certain South Carolina and Massachusetts
regiments, two from each State and giving
them increased pay equal to that of white
soldiers while al the remainder of the
colored troops were not increased. This |
thought unjust and unequal. 1t was al
legged in behalf of these regiments that
some promises We're made to them when
they were recruited that they should have
higher rates of wages, but the then exist
ing laws applied to them as well as others,
and it seemed unjust to change the law as
to them, and give them increased pay not
for the future but going back to the time
of their enlistment. They had been in
service perhaps two years. You perceive
then that there were apparently good OBJ
iections to his amendment. But though [
voted against it, 1T was put into the bill
and l atterward voted for the bill with that
in it, and you will observe that in the com
mittee of conference, of which have spok-
en-, we made a general adjustment of this
payment to coloTed troops both as regard
ed bounty and monthly pay, and we did
the best we could. We agreed that colured
troops should be paid the same as white
troops from the first of January, 1864, and
that all tue cOtOfed men who lad eliISted
under the President proclamation of Octo-
ber, 1868, should be paid the same amount,
and we agreed further that the attorney
general might determine whether there
was any obligation upon the government
to pay in such cases as those of the Mass
achusetts and South Carolina troops
This was the general adjustment of which
have spoken, and with regard to that all
l have now to say is that it was liberal
[Applause.l
I have spoken of those points; and l
dismiss them from further notice. l come
to another point of my discussion.
THE HOLCOMBE LETTER.
l have shown you my record in the Sen
ate upon the subject of voting appropria-
tions to the war upon the subject of the
pay of white soldiers upon the subject OF
increased pay to colored troops and you
will see how utterly unfounded are the I'M
mutations | have answered. | come now