Weekly Chillicothe crisis. (Chillicothe, Livingston Co., Mo.) 1878-19??, 1882-03-30
JUSEiCE FOR THE SOLDIER,
MR. VOORHEES, GREAT SPEECH

seggars'.The Nations Credit
o's' Paying the Rondhold.
er and Putting off the
So'dier.-.Some
Hard Facts,
Mr: voorhees,. Mr.. President, it is
my purpose to-day to say a few plain
words on a subiec of commanding i'm.
'portance to the honor Of this govern.
ment and to the welfare of the most
meritorious class of its citizens. For
more than q year past it has been ob.
vlous to all that a determined effort
was to be made in certain quarters to
repeal the act of January %, 1879
granting arrears Of pensions to the dis.
aoled soldiers of the Union army in
the late war Of the rebellion. The col.
umns OF the leading newspapers of the
county have teemed with the most
enVe hoIsed denunciations OF this act
anr. rocked with coarse and ignorant
a Juse OF all who sustained it. 1t would
tndeed be impossible 10 exaggerale the
itone of malignant animosity which
has prevailed, and which more than
ever now prevails, on this subject in
The most prominent journals from the
moth end Of New England to tie Pa
cilic coast. Lean recall but two enact.
ments which have called forth such
rancorous literature. The passage of
the fugitive slave law and the repeal
Of the Missouri compromise are the on
Iy measures within lay recollection
which provoked such an explosion of
iDtMse wrath as We have heard against
The arrears of pensions act. If it had
been a measure TO disseminate pesti.
lence, breed famine, or provoke war,
it could hardly nave been stigrtati2ed
with greater bitterness. If, instead of
being, as it is, a law to fulfill a plain,
honest obligation toward those vino, in
sober fact, bled and died for their gov
erDMent, it had been "A measure to re.
ward highwaymen and enrich p'rltcs,
it could not have been assailed in
ItermB Of baser meaning than have been
used against it andagaiEst all who sup.
port it.
1t seems to be thought by a certain
portion of the press that u public epin.
ioa can be ere tied against this law
strong enough to enforce its repeal and
also to awe into silence those wh), like
myself, voted and worked for its pas
sage. | have Mt hand some Of these or
gans of swollen pretensiOns and AFRO
giant mendacity. One speaks of the
arrears ot pensions act ~ a "hugc
swindle upon the people of the United
States" Another says sit is hoped
the President in his message TO con.
jgres5 will call attention to the stupen.
,dous proportions Of the pension swim
die as it has been developed under the
operation OF The "pension arrears aet,
and then proceeds to express tsamaze-
ment and horror at "the consummalion
of so great an outrage" Another
prominent organ of all kinds Of cor.
pOrati0n wealth is SO enraged at the
sight of disabled soldiers and the wild
ows and orphans of the dead obtaining
some of the money of the government
una. ~ breaks torth , IN Vue !, IoIlowlnS I
eIcia!ldVloh: lnete IL d ,, "rits'ou,,u ,I'u',,'
Ell impression lnat 'lie Whole lheasure
lsa swndle--a swinuis III @ coiceptioIl' i
III s"iiiuie III ies'S'"''So p'o'eI"''',, -,
ana IN executive enforcement 1t
theh adorhs iohg "rvlcle vi 's'oI"''c'
ana lalsenood WIN sicn ePlvheG, d,
"JoDDery, iiauu' ana 'UeinaSos'Sh''
applied 10 III WHO supported tio meas
ure. Aholher very proniliie"u jou,lru
tehderiy oeVo'eu 10 tIie lhVere5L5 VI tn'
rlch ana powerful cries ou., Ley lilt
infamous arrears OF pensions laW OF
lo9 De repeaieu' anu sun allo.nel
announces aS one WIN ""'noi NY t"a
"Ihe olii winch mas Deeii lI''l'' lullouuoeu J.,
congress repeating the o"'raEeous 10,
calied the pension arrears "cV shou'0
p3 passed.
Hundreds Of such extracts might b'
read here, and many of them from
leading journals in my own state;
will content myself, however, with thi
following editorial from Il representa-
tive New England newspaper. Aftcl
announcing with approval that "i
bill has been introduced in congress t
repeal the arrears of pension bill" j
says:
"Nor were majority Of those witt
voted for this bill actuated by homes
motives. Not one in ten believed tina
justice to the nations defenders re
quired the enactment Of such law
The pension claim agents had sent pc
titions for the adoption of the arrear
of pensions bill into every congresson
al district in the union, and had sc
cured the signature of hundreds o
thousands of ex.soldiers, many of whom
signed the papers because they wer
promised back payments amounting t.
$1,000 each, and many more thought
lessly, without knowing the effect o
the measure they advocated. And s.
these faithless representatives close
their ears to the warnings of the CON
missioner of pensions, and to the eS
posure of the fraudulent way in whic
the matter was being worked up anon
the people, and voted for the bill in OF
der that thew miDlt NOT offend tn