Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1878-03-01
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER.
Correspondence of the Bulletin.

large p%ortico. Every motley crowd
here that can muster a brass band re-
CARDS itself as a procession, and deems
a refusal on the part of the President
to review it as an insult, hence the in
clusion of the White House, always,
as n of the points in the route of the
march whether the participators be a
horde of ragmufins or the best people
of the city. One of our chronic agita-
tors, whose bread is obtained by swind-
ling our colored people under the false
pretence Of being their leader and pro-
t%ector, in 1876 got up a huge labor de-
monstration of negroes and boys, and
with flying banners and brass bands
marched upon the White House, but
General Grant properly declined to ex-
hibit himself to the bowling crowd, and
n can imagine the burst Of indignation
which was poured out upon him by the
disappointed seeker after notoriety who
led the mob. Mr.. Hayes will find him
self compelled to take the same stand
should popular suffrage be again fast
ened upon us, for our Hodnetts and
similar leeches are a~nxiously waiting
the time when they can marshal their
hordes from Murder bay, Hooker's Di-
vi~sion.etc., into imposing columns. The
passage of the silver Bill on Thursday
exhausted the hard working solons of
the House and they adjourned over
to Monday. The senate wrestled with
its incubus. the nominations of the Pres
ident, for a few hours on Thursday, and
also adjourned over to Monday, thus
leaving the Capital to peace and quie-
tude. The democrats hold the balance
OF power now on combinations, and we
have the singular anomaly of the rejec-
ton of n nominee and confirmation
of another though both have precisely
the same record against them, to wit,
an adverse report of the Committee
to which the nominations were re-
ferred by the Senate for report. SEN
ator Edmunds made a vigorous advoca-
cy of o confirmation, but the political
parties are too nearly balanced for him
to prevent the democrats favoring or
opposing his views as best suit their in
terests. Everybody seems relieved over
the summary acceptance by the House
OF the Senate,s amendments to the sill
yer Bill and there is a general express
sion of satisfaction that the question is
to be at rest until next winter. The eX-
IRENE silver men seem to be the only
dissatisfied persons we have met. The
Senate has passed the Bill giving pen
siOns to the surviving soldiers of the
War of 1872 and the widows of that War
without regard to date of marriage.
All those dropped from the rolls for
disloyality are restored hence the Bill
is of sweeping nature in contrast with
the law which it amends. The vote up
on it in the Senate is simply surprising.
90 ayes and 8 hayes is an astonishing
difference, and taken in connection with
the debate indicates that our solons are
reaching a desire to wipe out all section
allsm and to remove such laws as dis
eliminates against classes. Under the
present law, a widow of an 1912 soldier
must have married him prior to 1915;
a provision so clearly wrong in it's ma
ture that we were not surprised to find
Mr.. Blaine and others taking ground
against it. One Senator said, the wife
who took care of an old soldier was as
much entitled to pension as she who
married HIM in his youth. Mr. Edmunds
found himself as he often does, fighting
against a bill without aCorporal's guard
to back him, but it doesn't seem to make
any difference with him, as he deals out
his logic and precedent as if he had the
whole Senate backing him.
The House, of course, will pass the
bill without delay, as the sentiment
there in favor of its provisions is very
strong, and as few will be found to op-
pose it as the Z which voted no with MI.
Edmunds. Perhaps we are Influenced
improperly in regard to this measure.
Our father served in the 1912 wal while
a minor, an age which, of course, pre-
cluded marriage. A year or two after
mustered out he married and died a few
years ago leaving a widow who still sur
wives him. We cannot perceive why she
should be barred recognition since
no widow for any other wal of the coun-
try has had a statute requiring her to
have married the soldier prior to the
conclusion of the war he served in.
Pension in any event is merely a mark
Of recognition of the soldiers services,
and the exclusion of an 1912 widow is
an act of such questionable nature that
to us at least, the action of the Senate
is indeed gratifying. Apropos of pen
sions it will to call public attention to
the present Commissioner of Pensions
who is striving to wipe out the present
mode of obtaining pensions by creating
Boards OF Examination whose duty will
be to travel over the country and at
stated places examine all applicants.
1t is, of course, impossible. to give de-
tails of his plan here, but if a more
pernicious one can b invented we would
like to see it. What guaranty have we
that his boards will not be as corrupt as
he insinuates the present examining
surgeons are, and as for effecting a saw
ing, his assertions are sheerest humbug.
Travelling boards who are paid large sal
aries and all expenses are not at all like
ly to be economical institutions. Muir
ply still fingers with us and works as
hard as in the past, but there are many
back-sliders. Poor human nature is as
weak here as it has ever been elsewhere,
and we fear from what we have seer
that many an earnest repentant of the
past four weeks will be found hereafter
among those who are unable to hold out
to the end. Years ago Senator Dick
Yates would thrill us with his fiery elo-
quence when under his resolutions of
reform, and yet a few days would find
them as bands of straw and with him
again in his cups. His appetite was too
strong and though his contritlon was an
earnest effort for freedom, yet the
chains of his slavery were too strong for
him to permanently break. Our Board
of health is considering the problem
involved in the great death rate which
exists among our infant colored chill
dren, and seems unable to effect a change
for the better. They attribute the
alarming mortality to want of proper
care and food. They deny that any
epidemic exists among this class and
show that did the colored parents give
their babes the same attention which
the whites extend to their children the
mortality would be not greater among
one than the other.
The Atlas of Colorado, soon to be
issued by the U. S. Geological Survey
of the Territories, under Prof, +. V.
ouboJ;oc tho raou1ts oP tho