The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1879-02-03
CONGRESS.
HOUSE. .
WASHINGTON, February /.
EXCITING SPEECHES IL rnE HOUSE OK sArun.


and tho pending bill TO be the bill lor The
relief OF Maggie Barron.
Mr.. Chalmers said he cared nothing fol
the payment OF loyal Southern claims, be,
cause loyalty to the Union during the wal
meant disloyalty TO everything he held
dear. That many men In the South had
been loyal TO the Union was, nevertheless,
true, and he did not envy the cheap poIit.
cal capital Union soldier could make by
telling such men he had no more conf.
dence In their honesty than q mouse has
IN stuffed cat.skln. The gentleman from
Wisconsin Mr.. Bragg, taking advan.
tAge OF well known opposition every.
where, sought TO blend the war claims with
claims for Southern improvements and
endeavOred to throw the odor OF his dead
cat over them. Readiness TO suspect cor.
ruption In Others sometimes indicates an
innate tendency TO corruption in ones self,
and he should, therefore, not charge cor.
ruptton on any one. He had but one
political taith-to preserve inviolate local
selt.:goyernmenti but one political hope
to build up waste places In the South
destroyed by the war. When the West
had been In Its infancy, II had been foster.
ed by the South. Mississippi Democrats
stood side by side with those from Mich.
igan in tho work OF Western improve.
ments. lie had warned Northern Demo.
Gratis, last session, that refusal TO
recognize the Just demands Of the South
might result In the defeat OF Southern
Democrats. and the return OF Rep.
resentatives who would form al.
liances- with other parties. The
rapid growth Of independent candidates in
the South had already sustained his decla.
ration. He hoped q solid South might
still be solid for the Democratic party, but
for that portion OF It that had the courage
and manltness 10 treat the people OF the
South as equals and not as interiors in the
Union. The gentleman from Wisconsin
had found bloodier shirt than had ever
waved from the battlementS OF the Repub.
liCan party, and he was stretching his legs
in frantic effort to climb up 10
the Republican platform and rob It
OF its last banner. He had reminded
the South Of the war debt and OF
the blood Of the Union soldier for which
the South was responsible. He (Mr.
Chalmers) would remind the gentle.
man that the war debt was not
yet paid, and the cotton and tobacco
States were paying fur more OF that debt
would reply to. the gentleman's (Mr.
Bragg'sl dismissal OF certain supposed
class OF Southern Democrats. II there
were any sore.heads or disappointed Re.
publicans in the North who could not get
into Congress without putting on the
lions skin Of Democracy, they should be
very careful not to open their mouths too
wide when they get there. T.aughter.l
Mr.. Hooker said every claim against the
Government should be so absolutely and
completely divorced from political senti-
ment that no member on either side
would regard II as a political question on
which parties could be divided. Such
questions should be passed upon according
to justice and right, and not according
to partisanship. Mr.. Garfield had
well predicted, not long since, that
any man who attempted to appeal again
to sectional jealousy and sectional ami.
mositics on the floor OF the House would
appeal In vain. He hoped that such an
appeal would be as powerlGss TO effect its
object coming from one side OF ths cham.
ber as coming from the other He (Mr,
Hooker) could not forget that when the
war closed, and there were various meas
ures Of legislation proposed, intended to
lay the iron heel ofopprGssion still heavier
OH the South, there was found to be gal.
liant minority OF members in the House,
led by its present Speaker, who resisted
these efforts and banded together to
restore the Government TO It's con.
stitutional orbit. Members from the
South had thus felt that they had
found manly defenders on the part OF the
Western Democracy, men who were will.
ing to throw tho mantle Of oblivion over
incidents OF the war, and who were not
willing to take up its dead asheS, II any
one supposed these was any other bond
between them than that o. right and JUS
tiCe he had conception Of 1t which had
not been thought OF by Southern Repre-.
scntatives. Southern Democrats had voted
for the bill to pay ninety millions arrear-
ages OF pensions, the regular Pension APP
preparation Bill Of thirty millions, Eve
and one.half millions to pay for Canadian
fisheries, and innumerable claims OF that
sort, and had never asked the question
where the money would 60; but now that
it was proposed to refer some South
ern Gains 10 the proper tribunal, It was
said that would not do, that the tribunal
might decide the claim to he just one,
and that 1t was too large TO be paid. a
large portion OF the claims now standing
on the calendar had been presented yo9rR
ago, long before there was single Demo-
crat in the House from the Southern States.
He denied the right OF any man 10 charge
the Democrats OF the South with present.
ing any false or fraudulent claims against
the Government. lie thought he could
state for the Democracy Of the North, Us
we'll as for that OF the South, that they
we're united for the maintenance Of the
Constitution and OF good government, and
not by any such tic as that alluded to by
the gentleman from Wisconsin,
Mr.. Wolls expressed his belief that not
q dollar of the money paid for war claims
had gone to the man whose heart had
beatGn in sympathy with the Confederate
cause. Wbare had "loyality" been found
in they Southern Hates during the war?
1t had been found among the suffers and
dead d.beats and skplkers, beside tho
Federal armies. There were speculators,
men who had no country. To such men
about one hundred million dollars had
been paid. lie had always voted against
such claims, and he was in favor Of con-
stitutional amendment excluding such
claims for losses by the war. The war
was o legacy left by the founders Of the
Republic, yho did not venture to decide
the question foTtA0Msalyes. Two mil
lions OF our bravest men had settled It on
the battlefield, and oday million OF them
| ,,o,A pIeboinS In unmarked and unknown
graves, Wills the suffers and bummers
were appealing 10 tls GeYernmaut to pay
them Tor cotton they had gathered up.
For HIMSELF he should vote against all
these claims. Applause.
Mr.. Singleton characterized the charge
Of Mr.. Bragg against tho sOgth as q post
unioundcd and unjust SANDER. Southern
Representatives who introduced claim bills
did not indorse the claims. They simply
present them as a duty to thGis eonstitu'