Morning journal and courier., 1880-12-17

moved to strike out that portion of the thir I section which provides for the establishment I of fund and addressed the Senate, urgin 1 that the government necessity of the presen I day required the annual distribution of th l total interest accruing. He also advocated al amendment providing for the distribution o
 money according to illiteracy rather than ac
 cording to the school population. Mir. Telle favored the bill as calculated to free the peo pie from sectionalism and raise them to higher plane.
 Mr. Vest, while believing in the necessit, for universal education, did not believe thu education of their people should be takel from the States He could not vote to giv, the power to subordinate officer of the gov ernment (the Commissioner of Education9 tt section of the bill after the States had through their Legislatures, formally accepted the trust
 At o'clock General Grant, accompanied by Generals Logan and Beale, entered the chamber through the coat room on the Re publican side and was warmly greeted by the Senators in the vicinity. His appearance made some confusion in the Senate and con. siderable stir in the galleries, so that MT. Vest was imperfectly heard and suspended his remarks.
 MT. Edmunds said the ex-President of the United States was on the floor, and as many Senators desired to pay their respects after his long absence from the country he moved a recess of ten minutes, which was agreed to. The Senators then passed over and greeted the distinguished visitor.
 This ceremony over MT. Vest resumed his remarks in opposition to the feature of the bill indicated.
 Mr. Eaton suggested that lower rate of interest than per cent could be obtained by the government.
 MT. Hill said that ordinarily he would agree with the Senator from Connecticut, but in this case, where the interest was paid for the benefit of the people, he would vote for even higher rate of interest. The argu- ment that the bill interfered with the right of States was wrong. On the contrary, it rec ognized the right of States in placing a fund at their disposal. Being donation from the general government, it had right to pre- scribe the terms on which it should be used, and in his judgment would be derelict if it failed to provide against it's misapplication.
 Mr. Maxey argued that the colored people who were freed from slavery by the war were necessarily poor and uneducated, that their education was essential to the perpetuity of republican institutions, and that inasmuch as they were made citizens with all the rights of citizenship by the general government, it was but justice that the government should assist in their education.
 Mr. Morgan advocated the incorporation in the bill of an amendatory clause to the act of 1862 for the endowment of agricultural colleges, making the admission of women to these schools compulsory, and in the course of his remarks stated that in fourteen of the thirty eight States women are excluded from these schools, owing to doubt and uncertain ty as to the construction of the act.
 MT. Merrill closed the debate with an ap- peal to the Senate to vote for the bill sub- stantially as reported.
 MT. Wallace moved to go into executive session, but the motion was opposed by the friends of the bill, who insisted that a vote should be taken as understood yesterday, when 1t was agreed that a vote should be taken at 4 o'clock to-day.
 After half an hour spent in fruitless efforts to reach an agreement as to when a vote should be taken MT. Burnside moved to ad- journ, giving notice that he would ask the friends of the bill to stand by him until the bill was disposed of. The Senate at p. m. adjourned till tomorrow.
 HoUsE.-Ine consideration or the pension bill today led to a slight po- litical discussion, all growing out of the question of which party should have the credit of originating and passing the arrear- age pension bill This has been a question in campaigns for the past two years, Demo- crats and Republicans each claiming it. There was really no occasion to bring up the question on a bill appropriating money, but it afforded an opportunity to do so, which was eagerly availed Of. Mir. Hubbell of Michigan, who had charge of the bill, ex- plained that it appropriated $50, OOO, 1000. The appropriation for the current fiscal year was $32, 4O4. 1000, but as there was a de- iciency of $17, 800, GOO which would have to be met, and as the sum required for next year would not be less, the committee thought it best to report the full amount at once. MT. Hubbel then proceed ed to give some startling figures as to the amount required to pay pensioners. He dis claimed any hostility to the arrears bill, but felt bound to give the facts. Up to Noyem- Der 4, 1880, the sum of over $34, 900, 900 had been paid out under the arrears act. The average sum paid to each pensioner was S53S. There are still PSI ,987 claims for ar rears to be considered and the average ar -ears in each case will be $1 100. Supposing thirty per cent. of these claims be disallowed, here will still be 197, ,81S claims for arrears 70 be paid, which at an average of $1, 100 will amount to $217 ,599, 800, which with the paid will make the arrears cost in III the sum of $242, 287 ,OOO The average annual payment after the first payment is 6103. 64; the average age of the pensioners s only forty-one years so that for years an snnual appropriation of $46, 460, 418 will be 'equired, In view of the vast sums that are by the pension office it is worthy of he most serious consideration of Congress whether greater safeguards should not be thrown about our system of payment. He asserted that under our present system out of he $50, 100000 paid at least four millions were paid upon fraudulent pensions.
 MT. Sparks, of Illinois, spoke of the ar ears of the pension act as a measure of jus ice to the soldier for it capitalized the amount received by all in like classes. He spoke of he law as having come from the committee on invalid pensions in the last Congress, of which General Rice, of Ohio was chairman.
 Whereupon MT. Fort, of Illinois, corrected 1im, and said the bill was passed at the in stance of MT. Cummings, of Indiana.
 MT. Haskell, of Kansas, here interposed hat he too was entitled to some credit, be- cause, while it was true that Mr. Cummings aad offered the bill, it was passed under of the rules on his motion. >
 MT. Sparks said Mir. Rice's bill was sub- ,tantially the bill which became law, and that Mir. Haskell was trying to se- cure the credit for what MT. Rice had done.
 MT. Haskell denied that Mir. Rice's bill was substantially like the one which had be- come a law. He denied :.also that he was in- ringing upon some patent right of MT. Rice. He read the seventh section of MT. Rice's bill, which proposed to restore to the pen sion rolls the names of those who were
  on to say that Rice's bill was an attempt to catch Union men in trap by getting them to put disloyal soldiers side by side with loyal ones on the pension rolls. .
 Mir. Sparks in reply denied that MT. Rice's bill or any part of it was intended to pension disloyal persons. It only proposed to restore to the rolls the names of men and the widows of the men who had borne the flag on a hun dred fields in the war of 1872 The idea that General Rice would attempt by a trick to catch Union men he regarded as preposter- ous He referred to Rice as hobbling into the House on wooden leg, having left leg on the battle field in the cause of the Union. He would put Rice's loyalty and patriotism, throwing in his woodenileg, against that of Mir. Haskell The country had enough of this sort of clap-trap.
 The bill was then read for amendment, and on motion of MT. Keller the proviso was stricken out which limited to one dollar to be paid to remaining surgeons for examining each applicant for a pehsion.
 MT Coffroth offered an additional section to extend until July l, 1882, the time for the filing of claims for arrears of pensions. Un- derthe existing law the time is limited to July l, 1881. The proposition was ruld out