The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1878-08-22
RADICAL LIES REFUTED.
SOLDIERS AND SAILORS ORPH-
ANS' HOME.
Letter From a Democratic Senator, who was q
Gallant Union Soldier iu the Late War, on
the Reorganization Of the XeDia Soldiers
and Sailors Orphans Home.

and Sailors Orphans Home.
HEADQUARTERS SOLDIERS AND SAILORS MEMOIR
AL ASSOCIATION, CIFCINNATI, July 10, 1873
ITO The Soldiers and Sailors Of 0htO"
Under the above caption circular is being dis
tributed throughout the State, calling fora meet
ing to be held at Dayton, August 18th.
In this circular it Is said to be eminently proper
that the surviving soldiers aud sailors of Ohio
should meet and consider, calmly and seriously
the law recognizing the Soldiers and Sailors Or
phans' Home at Xenia. If the above be the real
object Of the meeting 1t is pre- eminently proper
and having the honor-and 1t is indeed an honor
to be one OF the surviving soldiers of the war
for the Union and being also one of the men,
bers of the sixty.third General Assembly who
voted for that law, trust you will not take 1t un
kindly If try to aid you in your work of Calmly
and seriously" considering that subject. You
will find the original law creating that Home on
page 55, of Volume 67, Ohio Laws 1t provides
that children, not orphans, OF the soldiers shall be
received into the Home, but 1t also provides that
other INDECENT orphan children resident of this
State, and under the age OF fifteen years, may, al
the discretion of The Board Of Managers be received
in said Home, etc. That has been the law of the
Republican party as to that Home, from its Gre
alton until the year 1876 when 1t was reorganized
to put out Democratic superintendent and put
In Republican. The Republican party named
that Home the Soldiers and Sailors Orphans
Home" but nowhere in any Republican law,
save in the title, can you find the name soldiers
orphan, You say when referring to the law Of last
winter These are some OF the outrages which
la IN
the children of our dead heroes" Now, in say
ing this you are ignorant of the provisions of the
Republican laws on the subject, or else you are
indulgng in fraud and Misrepresentation, for the
fact s that the law Of last winter is the first and
only law that has secured that Home to the "chil
dren of our dead heroes"
Now, let us look at the facts and see: Take the
last report Of the Home, by Mr.. Shaw, the Repub.
lican superintendent, and we find for last year
there were at said Home GOA children, which is
stated to fill the Home to its utmost capacity"
Three hundred and thlrty.fve of these children
were from fifteen counties. Of this number,
Greene county had at least ffty.six children, the
previous year sixty.eight, and had on file appli.
cations to admit thirty-twO Bore; while her just
proportion is stated to be butsix children. Among
the other seventy-three counties are the populous
counties OF Hamilton, Cuyahoga, Lucas aud
franklin. Twenty.one counties had not single
child at the Home. Six counties have 1876 chill.
dren at the Home, and the same six counties are
asking admission for l7S more. Thus has the Re-
publican party filed the Home, while forty coun
ties In the State have but thirty. four children
there.
Let us look at It's financial management Take
the same report and you will find last years cur
rent expenses $4,000, and how used? Twenty
eight thousand dollars paid to officers, teachers,
and employees, besides boarding them. On the
pay.rolls are the names of one hundred and nine
iee1 able bodied friends of the Republican party
| One hundred and nineteen officers teachers and
| employees boarded at the public expense, and
| paid S2S900 to take care of 604 children. The
Home under Republican rule has been famous
for giving fine parties TO members of the Legisla.
ture and during the months of February, March
and April 1877, while the Republican Legislature
was in session, and parties there were plenty, we
find these items Of expenditures IN that report:
For music for 90
For omnibus hire.."....""......n. 55 90
For lemon and vanilla a...".".....,,.,.....,. 27 90
Now, If the music omnibus hire, lemon and
vanilla cost that much, how many hundred dol
lars of the money gathered from the people as
taxes we're expended In these "feasts and frOliCs'
of Republican legislators7
When that Home will accommodate but about
there were in the State more than six hundred
of the needy orphans of soldieTswho had lost their
lives by reason of their service in the army; when
we found one hundred and nlnety-fve children
there from six small countless ffty.six cuildren
from the small county OF Greene; when the poor
orphans of the men who had lost their lives by
reason of service in the war for the Union from
twenty-one counties OF the State could not be ad-
mitted--not a single child-we thought some
change in the law was needed; we thought IL
kind and right to so frame the law that the or
phans of these dead heroes should be first cared
for.
To any intelligent man, the facts have taken
from the report, and. stated to you, ought to be
convincing, that under Republican law and Urao
tice the orphans Of the dead soldiers throughout
the State have been crowded out, and the Sol.
diers and Sailors Orphans Home" has been
turned into an elegant orphan asylum for Greene
and few other counties and | say to you that
the orphans OF the soldier, and every surviving
soldier who cares half so much for the orphans of
his dead comrade as he does for the Republican
party WILL when he has learned the facts, rejoice
at this law, and will calmly and seriously" de-
eide that this law, that saves the Home for the
orphans of the men who lost their lives by reason
Of their service is right, is but just to the dead
soldier and ought TO remain as 1t ts at least until
we have cared for all these orphans which will
not be for some years to come, and when that
time does come II the tax payers Of the State de-
sire to have the Home turned back to an orphan
asylum for the use Of Greene county, then 1t will
be time TO ask for change.
state to you that as the Republicans had the
law and were managing the Home they were en-
dangering its existence. In the SiXty-secOhd
General Assembly, Republican Senator, himself
q surviving soldier, and one of the ablest men in
the Senate offered resolution to wind up and
terminate the Home in the near future, giving as
reason therefor that 1t had fulfilled its mission,
and no longer answered the purpose for which 1t
was created. | opposed that resolution as ear
nesty as u knew how, after which it was with
Grort m
not to ask TO again take 1t away from the orphans
of the soldiers and use 1t as the Republican party
have used It, lest some future Republican resolu-
ton may destroy 1t altogether.
One more matter Of which you complain is that
under the law the pension paid by the nation for
the child is required to he sent to the Home for
the exclusive use Of the child, and why2 The
children, II they understood 1t, would rejoice at
that provision, ior every man who knows any
thing on that subject knows that ninety out Of
every hundred dollars paid as pensions for these
children are used up, wasted and squandered by
steptathers, guardians, and others who are not
entitled thereto or deserving thereof and never
reaches the children at all. This fact is too we'll
known to need further comment; that stc ction is
likely to displease the gentle stepfathers of the
soldiers orphans, but think no other men In
the State likely to complain Of It.
have stated these things quite fully, that you
might examine the old law and see the working
OF the Home under It, and also give you the rea-
sons that led us to restrict the use OF the Home 10
ne orphans Of Itn Wh0 hdUe t0t their tUes 6b The tDur.
f6 ell as deep an interest in the Home as any of
you, but do feel that 1t ought to be used fort
purposes the people have supposed, by its name,
that II was used That Home has no better friends
than the Democrats Of the Sixtythird General
Assembly. We Appropriated seventy. three thou.
sand dollars for the Home We only reduced the
amount six thousand dollars, because we thought |
the Republican party had been Improperly squan- |
1ering and paying to themselves six thousand |
which by economy might be saved to the tax |
payer.
Not child has been or will be turned from the |
Home We are all willing although there are |
many children there who are keeping out the |
oldiers' orphan-that those children now there
nay remain till the proper age but after that
We ask, and say by the law, that the soldiers Or
'hans shall have that Home; yet after all, If you,
IS surviving soldiers, and not as Republican par.
izans, like Dalzell, think after calm and seri-
us" reflection that we have bean little too Sc.
ele in our law, we, as Democrats Of the Sixty
bird General Assembly, will listen to you kindly
nd hssnIa Hnn that Nnnr Mishns II hanknh In