St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1882-01-13
The Pension Folly.

We give below an article from the
Springfield Republican, setting forth
the record of the last pension folly in
which Congress indulged, and the de-
tails of the blunder from its inception
to the present time:
At the second session of the 45th
Congress, Mr.. Cummings of Iowa in
tIoduced this famous bill April ,, 1878.
1t was naturally referred to the com
mittee on pensions. 1t provided that
all pensions which have been granted
OF may hereafter be granted in conse-
quence of deaths, wounds, injuries or
disease resulting from service for the
United States in the rebellion shall
Commence from the date of the death
OF discharge from said service of the
person" on whose account the claim
has been granted. The rate of pension
for the intervening time was to be the
same as under the original pension.
On the 10Th of June, 1873, the last day
Of the session, Mr.. Haskell of Kansas
moved to suspend the rules, discharge
the committee from consideration of
the bill and pass it with an amendment
cutting off claim agents from receiving
any compensation for making applica-
tion under this act. The speaker pro
TEN. (Finley) ruled out all debate Mr.
White of Pennsylvania asked: Can
not we understand whether this is the
bill which was reported from the com
mittee on invalid pensions or not 7"
Mr.. Rice of Ohio replied : at is not
the bill. | have been trying to get the
bill reported unanimously from the
committee acted upon, but have failed
to do So" Yeas and nays were order
ed on the suspension of the rules and
they were suspended, l64 to 81, or AZ
more than the necessary twO-thirds
vote. In the list who voted for the
suspension of the rules were Aldrich,
Banks, Butler, Clatiin, COnger, Grape,
Garfield, Hiscock, Joyce, Keifer, Nor
cross, w. w. Rice and George ID. Rob
insOn. Thus the matter was taken out
of the hands of the committee and
without line of debate or a moments
consideration the bill was rushed
through the House in IA manner which
requires less than a page of the Con-
| gressiOnal Record to tell, even includ
ing the long list of yeas and nays. The
best men on the Republican side of the
House wanted to have a grand act of
bounty passed on which to ego to the
country" in the coming election. 1t
was a strong article of Republican faith
that Democratic victory would result
in pensioning all the rebel soldiers :;
the cOunter-claim must be established
that Union soldiers should be literally
taken care of. Consequently, the Dem
Ocratic majority of the House, know
ing that if they voted against this
measure they would simply be held up
as hostile to the Union, either voted
for the bill, like 5. S. Cox, or largely
abstained from voting. Even this did
not avail, for some of our readers
must remember the great stress laid by
Republicans in the Garfield campaign
upon an innocent letter of BeltZhOOver,
Pennsylvania Democrat, in which he
admitted that claims to pension in in
dividual cases did not fare well in that
i Congress. That letter was printed in
fac -simile and spread far and wide,
and actually made many Republicans
believe that the Democratic Congress
which passed the arrears of pensions
bill had badly ill-treated the Union
soldiers! The arrears of pensions bill
was, in short, part of the process of
''making political capital" in which
even good men will inadvertently in
dulge.
But this bill which thus passed the
House at an all-night session, ending
sine die at a. M, did not lose its sta
tus by the recess and continued in life
as bill which had passed one branch
of Congress. The next winter we find
it appearing in the Senate, where il
, was referred to the pension committee,
} of which the astute Senator Ingalls, OF
Kansas, the great Oponent of civil-ser-
vice reform, appears to have been
chairman. The bill was reported with
out amendment and called up by In
gals January 10, 1879. On being ask
ed how much the bill would require
/ Senator Ingalls, gave it as his judg-