New-York tribune., 1878-02-15
4 SOUTHERN PENSION GRAB.
SEVEN MILLIONS A YEAR PROPOSED TO BE GIVEN
To UNsCARRED SURVIVORS OF ANCIENT WARS.
IBr TELEGRAPH TO THE IkIBUSE.I

SEVEN MILLIONS a YEAR PROPOSED TO BE GIVEN
To UNsCARRED SURVIVORS OF ANCIENT WARS.
IBr TELEGRAPH TO THE TKIBUSE.l
WASHINGTON, Feb. 14.-After passing the Military
Academy Appropriation Bill to-day, the House took
I'D a measure introduced by Mr.. Goldsmith W.
Hewitt, of Alabama. granting pensions to soldiers
and sailors of the Mexican and certain Indian wars.
This bill provides that the Secretary of the In
terror shall be authorized and directed to place
the pension rolls the of all surviving officers
and enlisted men, including militia and volunteers,
VITO served either in the military naval forces of
the United States for term OF sixty days during
the war with Mexico or for thirty days III the Creek
Indian war and the disturbances of 1885 aud 1886,
i'm the Florida war with the Seminoes from 1888 to
1912 or In the Black Hawk war in 1892. The bill
also proposes TO pension ali surviving widows OF
such soldiers and sailors, providing they were mar
RED at the time the service rendered, and haVo
not since remarked The rate of pension is fixed at
$s month. 1t also proposes the repeal OF section
l7l0 of the Revised Statutes, which declares tDat
" no money account of pensions shah be paid to
any person, or the widow. children or heirs OF any
deceased person, who in any manner voluntarily
engaged in OF aided and abetted the late rebellion
against the authority of tho United States"
Mr.. Powers, new member from Maine made
very telling speech against the passage of this
bill. Taking the official reports of the number of
men who served IN tine Mexican war; and In the
wars with the Indians referred TO in the BILL and ap-
nvnp TO these numbers the Carlisle tables 0taverage
longevity he discovered that the number of sol
ders who served in the Mexican war, now surviving
must be somewhere i'll the neighborlood OF 4o,oOo,
while the number of those who served III the In
dian wars named must be not far from 3O,5OO,
making a total Of about $500 men. beside the
widows of soldiers whom II Is proposed To pension
A ,,r,t Lao midi I'm
for IN the BILL Is 800 year; and allowing the
small sum of ~ year to each person to pay the eX
penscs of dlsburslDg the PENSIONS the sum required
should this bill pass would be about 81 800 900.
The men whom it Is thus proposed to pension are
not those who were wounded, or who nave become
disabled from old age The bill simply proposes 10
rive bounty of nearly hundred dollars year to
every man who served in either OF the wars named,
no matter what his circumstances are.
Mr. Powers also called attention to the TACT that
tlis bill originates among Southern members. ana
is likely to receive Its most earnest support from
that section of the country This IS not surprising
At least four-fifths of the men who would be bene-
fitted bv the passage of the bill are residents OF the
Southern States; aud no matter how Persisllentiy
Southern members of Congress may SPEAK AND E Eote
affect the North. or the whole country,
they are almost unanimous IN support OF
any bill which grants money. or any other yaluaDie
consideration to the South or TO any class OF people
i'm their section. Taken in connection win the iact
that the revenues of the Government are ialilng OH
to an alarming extent, making 1t necessary either 10
reduce the expenditures of the GOvernment below
what now seems possible point, or to increase tax
alton such bills as this and the numerous propo-
stlons which emanate from the South for Govern
ment aid in the construction OF railroads. canals
leytes of the Mississippi, and other pubic works.
show how narrow and sectional are the views held
by the representatives from that part OF the country
Mr. Hewitt interrupted Mr.. Powers and asserted
that the Committee on Pensions had received
communication from the Commissioner OF Pensions
estimating the annual expenditures under this
bill at S1756,320 instead of more than $1,000
600 Such a communication as this from the
Commissioner of Pensions, II 1t related TO pension
ers already on the rolls of the Office or to any sub
icct concerning which the office mas statistics
would be valuable but in this case the Pension
Office is no better able to estimate the number OF
surviving soldiers of the Mexican and several In
diane wars than any careful statistican, and Mr.
Powerss estimate more likely to be correct than
the one to which Mr.. Hewitt called attention
This bill is hardly likely TO become IA law. The
United States has never yet established the precedent
of pensioning soldiers who served in Indian wars
and when question raised at the time the
surviving soldiers of the Revolutionary war were
pensoned, n similar proposition was v0ted dowh'
and Senator in debate said the United States
might as well vote to place all the inbabltants OF
the Northwest on the pension rolls. IL this should
perchance secure a majority vote In the House, IL
will certainly be defeated in the Senate.