Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-12-07
THE PENSION ARREARS BILL.

bill which opened the door to wholesale
frauds upon the Government, and at the
same time they set up barriers against the
Institution of such inquiries as would have
led toexposure, while tomake the thing per-
fectly safe they determined upon securing
the dismissal of Commissioner Bentley.
whose honesty they feared. The fact |
that they succeeded in all these schemes
must be regarded as proving that Congress |
in passing this bill was not simply care
less. It is now alleged that the bill was I
twice shelved by the committee to which it |
had been referred in the House, and that |
at last the thieves, finding they could not
get it through on favorable report OF the |
committee, took the bold course of having |
the committee discharged from further
consideration of it, suspending the rules,
and passing it forthwith. This was done.
Debate was shut off, and the bill was
passed without discussion or inquiry. In
the Senate it was debated for several hours,
but in superficial and perfunctory man
ner, none of the Senators having prepared
themselves by examining the facts.
1t is evident from this sketch of the
record of the bill that the passage of the
measure was not due to mere negligence.
That would have been bad enough, consid-
ering the Importance of the subject, but
when bill is forcibly taken from the COM
mittee which has charge of it, and is passed
under suspension OF the rules, the fact in
dicates plainly that the affirmative vote is
an intelligent one, if it is not an honest
one. And there is no ground for the pre-
tense that Congress was in ignorance of the
implications of this law. The truth is that |
though the nations lawmakers failed in
their duty, the press did not. The real
character of the Pension Arrears bill was
exhibited by the leading journals in the !
most clear and convincing way. 1t was
pointed out that it must lead TO the fabri- |
cation of claims on gigantic scale. It
was calculated that it would cost the coun.
try from $3.50, co., 900 to $3.50, coo, 600. |
All its bad points were fully exposed, and
this so generally that Congress could by |
no possibility plead ignorance of what it
was doing. As matter of fact Congress
understood perfectly well that the bill was
bad one, but two powerful influences
were at work in support of the Pension
thieves. One of these was corruption. The
other was partisan cowardice. II cannot |
be doubted that the men who had the lob. |
bying of the bill employed corrupt means
to gain their ends: They could well afford |
to'pay literally for votes, for the bill was
perfect bonanza. 1t is known that they |
expended large sums of money in fabricat- |
ing sham public opinion, and it is not
credible that they abandoned the use of
money when they reached the lobby at
Washington.
But there was another influence of |
almost equal persuasive force at work. A
Presidential campaign was about to begin,
and neither party had the courage to OPP
pose measure which pretended to be in
the interest of the poor soldiers. Each |
party knew that the other would be sure |
to make capital out of any such opposition.
Neither could be certain what effect such |
representations would have upon the pub
lie mind. And SO the thieves, by making
an adroit use of this prevalent political
cowardice, managed to silence all the op-
position which could not be bought, and
carried their bill through in triumph. TIE
case was one in which for the time being
the Treasury was left undefended. Re-
publicans and Democrats alike shrank
from a course which would have rendered
them liable to the censure of demapogues
for being hostile to the interests of the
country's saviors. By trading sklllfully on
this sentiment the Pension Ring carried
their point, and fastened upon the country
one of the worst measures that has ever
found place upon the statute books
Every prediction made regarding it has
been more than fulfilled. It has proved a
more powerful machine for robbing the
Treasury than even its projectors antici-
pated. And now, after it has withdrawn
hundred and fifty millions, two-thirds of
which may be looked upon as literally
stolen, it is announced that it will require
further outlay, or rather squandering,
of two hundred and fifty millions more.
It is no wonder that Congress is begin.
ming to feel uneasy about its share in this
infamous transaction, but assuredly the
members who voted for the bill will not be
permitted to shift their responsibility on
to the shoulders of others. They are
equally unpardonable, whether they were
bought outright, or whether they allowed
themselves to be gagged by partisan pol
troonery. They knew, one and all, that in
voting for the bill they were deliberately
throwing open the national Treasury to be
plundered by gang of shameless thieves,
and knowing this, they still voted for it.
Under this Pension Arrears bill the d :.
mands for pensions have jumped from $685.
600, 900 to $50, 900, 900 annually, and The
|
banding as they grow holder with con
tinued success. Ii this measure is not re-
pealed, indeed, it is capable of swallowing
up all the surplus revenues of the Govern
ment, and compelling the suspension of
further payments in liquidation of the
public debt. And it will have to be
repealed. Congress cannot stand up and
justify it. No man who has been
its advocate and supporter can remain
long in pablo life. The people will mark
every one of these faithless representatives.
The press will publish their names, aud the
record will convict them. The sentimental
pretense which sufficed to shut the mouths
of both Republican and Democratic poll
ticians will not satisfy the people, whose
money is being stolen under the provisions
of the BILL We have seen from the first