Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1876-07-13
No. 81
OUR WARRINGTON LETTER.


WASHINGTON. ID. e., June %, 1876.
The passage by the House of the equalza-
ton bounty bill, furnishes another instance
of the hypocricy and duplicity animating the
Ku-K.ux representatives of Northern and
Southern Democracy in their desperate race
for success next November. 1t is practically
the same measure that passed the House in
1915, against the strenuous opposition of
many of the same members of that party,
who have made themselves prominent this
session by their inconsistent advocacy of it
as ''An Act of justice to our gallant soldiers"
These same ''gallant soldiers were repre-
scntcd by score or more of manned comrades
in and around the House at the beginning of
the present session, and by strictly party
distribution of patronage every one of them
were removed by the insolent defenders of
| the ''lost cause with indecent haste, and
| their places filled in many instances by vul-
gar, arrogant ruf1ians, whose only recon-
mendation was their active participation in
the late war upon the rebel side, or their we'll
known sympathies in that direction. The bill
gives eight and one-third dollars per month to
every private and non-commissioned officer;
to every sailor and marine, and to Indians
enlisted between April 10, 1861, and May 8,
1865, deducting all State and United States
bounties received. Men discharged at their
own request except for disability, for pur-
poses Of re-enlistment, or to receive promo
ton, are excluded from the benefits of the
bill. Itprovides for secondary proof of honor
able discharge where the discharge certificate
has been lost, and specifies that all applica-
tions must be made within five years from
the passage of the act. 1t prohibits claim
agents from receiving greater compensation
for their services than ten per cent of the
amount collected. No two appear able to
agree as to the amount of money it will re-
quire to satisfy the claims legally arising un-
| der the act; and there appears to be quite as
! great a diversity of opinion as to the proba-
BILE fate that awaits it in the Senate, and as to
the Presidents disposition towards it. All
agree that great injustice in the matter of
payment of bounty was done the soldiers who
enlisted during the early months of the war,
and the opinion is quite as uniform that the
Jealous action of ex-Contederates and their
crlnglng party associates, in the premises, is
the work of demagogues, who do not scruple
at any act of self qualification that promises
to divide the soldiers vote. In other words.
they propose to pay the men who subugated
them-a thoroughly wicked work as they al
ways claimed it to be-a gratuity for that
very service.
The Presidents message, calling the atten-
tention of Congress to the near approach of a
new fiscal year, and to the chaos, confusion
and great damages that must result to public
interests by a failure to pass the necessary
appropriations, has livened up our law max
ers at both ends of the Capitol. Night ses-
sions have become frequent. The consular
and diplomatic, the legislative, executive and
Judicial, and the post office appropriation
bills are still before the conference commit
tees, with no very fattering prospect of an
agreement. The majority of the Democrats
in the House appear to be under the impress
sion that the Senate ought to be able to under
standngly act upon bills in the few days
remaining of the present year that it has
taken their committees almost seven months
to prepare and report to the House. This is
the Democratic acumen and craftsmanship
to whose tender mcrcies the people are in
vied to entrust the destinies of the Republic
next November.
President Grant has also sent a message to
Congress relative to the action of the British
government in the Winslow extradition case.
There appears to be a general sentiment of
approval of the action of our Government in
the matter and to accept the mulish action of
Great Britain as an abrogation Of the Ash
burton treaty.
y for In ,f <Io T,l
reau to the War Department has been de-
feated, to the evident satisfaction of those
who believed in the ''peace policy" of Presi-
dent Grant.
Mr.. Morton, in the Senate yesterday, in
troduced measure looking to the protection
of those who make use of the telegraph for
the purpose of the transaction of business or
the sending of private messages. 1t was pro-
voked by the action of the Democratic House,
which sent its sergeant-at-arms (Thompson)
to New York shop in the character of
detective, and who then took possession of
many thousands of telegrams that had been
sold as waste paper, and brought them here
with the hope that they might contain some
thing upon which to found charge against
Republican officials.
Many Democratic members of Congress
are on the wing for st. Louis, where they
will probably emphasize the follies of which
hey stand convicted here this winter as legis-
ators, by the nomination of ''Smon Pure"
Bourbon. Since the nomination of Hayes
and it became evident that it reunited the
great Republican party as it was when it
entered the campaign in 1860 the tendency
towards an orthodox Democrat has been
more Marked and their determination to put
none but hide-bound Bourbon on guard has
)eeu more OutsnOken Hancock has some