Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1879-06-26
Rice and Arrears of Pensions.
Special Cor. to Cincinnati Gazette.
WASHTIcToU Juna * 1870

Special Cor to Cincinnati Gazette.
WASHINGTON, June Is, 1879.
The attempt of the Ohio Democrats to
secure the support of the soldiers by
claiming that General Rice originated and
carried through the arrears of pensions
law, is one of the most unblushing
frauds which they could we'll undertake.
The bill which Gen. Rice introduced
never passed either house of Congress,
and is still on the order of business of the
last Congress among the measures pend
ing before the Committee of the Whole.
and unacted upon when that Congress
expired.
The bill which became the present law
was introduced by Mr.. Cummings of
Iowa, Republican, April ?, 1873. 1t
passed the House June 10, 1873, and the
Senate January 16. 1879. The President
signed it January 25, 1879.
When 1t first came up for action in the
House Gen. Rice tried to prevent vote
upon it, and attempted to defeat it by fill
libustering. He tried to have it referred
to his committee, then announced that it
had meyer been considered by any COM
mittee, and failing to stop it then, he then
moved to adjourn. This motion failed.
| He then, though out of order, announced
| that-h his committee had Hmatured a
/ bill of like import. - This-wa very far
from correct, since Riee's bill, 10 which
1 he referred, sought to place disloyal per-
sons on the pension rolls
Upon the direct vote the Democrats
| defeated the bill by a negative vote of 76.
against 146 in the affimative-not two
! thirds, as required under a suspension of
| the rules. Rice, having first led in the
! tattempt to prevent a vote on the bill. was
constrained to vote for it when action was
finally forced by the Republicans. While
the vote was proceeding, Mr.. Rice went
over to Mr.. Cummings, and charged him
with playing the deHagogue for trying to
pass the bill over the heads of the Cone
mittee when they had q bill of the same
character But il was because the COM
mittee bill was of very different charac-
ter, and because it opened the way for
rebels to be placed on the pension rolls,
that the Republicans were trying to kill
it.
The bill was next brought up in the
House by Mr.. Haskell (Republiean), of
Kansas, who had the floor to move sus-
pension of the rules.
Mr. Rice again tried to obstruet action
on the bill by twice announcing, out of
order, that this was not the committees
bill. The Republicans, however, forced
vote, and the bill, which is the present
law, was passed by 164 to 81, the latter all
| Democrats. Gen. Rice, when the vote
(which he tried to prevent was taken,
voted as before for the bill.
RICE's DIsLoYAL. PENSION BILL.
The Democratic claim that Rice was the
author of the present arrears of pension
| law will appear more clearly in it's proper
| light, and proportions from a statement
of the real provisions of Rice's bill. 1t
was an attempt to give arrears of PEN
siOns, it is true; but it coupled with this
| a provision to open the way to the nation
al pension rolls for Confederate soldiers,
project then much talked about among
extreme Southern Democrats and their
allies at the North.
The order of business of the House of
,f0fH
January 27, two days after the present
law had been approved by the President,
EstiIl contained the following official state
ment of the Rice bill:
'fH. B. No. 3,25S, February 13, Mr..
! Americas V Rice Invalid Pensions: A
bill to regulate the granting of pensions
on account of death, or wounds or injuries
| received, or disease contracted in the SER
vice of the United States since the 4th
day of July, 1861, and for the payment of
arrears of pensions; also to authorize the
Secretary of the Interior to return to the
roll of invalid pensioners the names
stricken therefrOm on account OF disloy-
alty, and to repeal sections 47O9 and 47l7
of the revised statutes of the United
States. Special order for Wednesday,
February 18th, 1878, after the morning
hour, and from day to day thereafter, not
to intefere with appropriation bills or re-
ports from the Committee of Ways and
Means.''
This bill was never acted upon, and lies
buried with the mass of unfinished busi-
ness of the Forty-fifth Congress.
The atroeious and disloyal part of the
Rice bill was the proposal to repeal Sec
ton 4716 of the revised statutes. This is
the section which prohibits payment of
pensions to all who were in the Confed-
crate army, or gave the rebellion aid or
comfort. 1t is as follows:
'tSEC. 47l7. No money on account Of
pensions shall be paid to any person, or
to the widow, children, or heirs of any
, deceased person who in any manner vol
UNFAIRLY engaged in, or aided or abetted
the late rebellion against the authority OF
the United States.''
This attempt was the distinguishing
feature of the Rice bill. It will not re-
quire much time for any soldier of the
I Union army to decide how much he owes,
or exactly what he owes, to Gen. Rice for
this. As has been seen, General Rice's
only action in regard to the bill which is
now the law was to exert himself to pre-
vent the House from acting upon it,
When Republicans forced it to vote.
against his most active opposition, he had
no course left but to vote for it.
Such is the record of Gen. Rice upon
the arrears of pensions bill.