The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1882-07-29


to recover it. He lost his cyc-sight in the ser
vice of his country and has refused to 60 upon
the pensiOu-TOll. L think he was more nice
than wise and have 50 advised him. / think
no man ought to be ashamed to apply for q PEN
sion where he actually incurred disability in
the line of duty in the service of the country,
and the country ought to he just as glad to pay
him as he should be made to make an appilca-
tion for the pension.
SENATOR LOGAN TO THE FRONT.
Senator Logan next took Mr. Beck in hand
and handled him without gloves. Said he:
l know persons who draw pensions who
look as if they are stout and healthy men; but
at the same time | have no doubt they are en-
titled to pensions. | could illustrate this by
members on this floor. l know three Senators
on this floor to-day who are suffering from
wounds they received in the army; but yet
they do not draw PENSIONS; they do not ask
for pensions. To look at those men there is
not a man in the Senate who would suppose
that either one of them could obtain Il pension
if ne would try; yet they could without any
trouble, and l know that they suffer and are
confined frequently to their beds from the
effects of their military service. Yet nobody
would suppose they were entitled to be pension
ers.
Therefore, I conclude that there are many
persons drawing pensions III this country
| whose wounds are covered by their garments
and are unseen, wounds which are painful to
| them and because such man is going around
people say he IS not entitled to pension. That
is the reason why there is so much criticism on
| the pcnsion-lst l know an eX-o.hccr of the
army here i'll Washington city to-day. He
comes into the Senate very frequently. He is
| a pensiOner. | suppose il any Senator were to
see him he would say that man is fraud. /
know he is not fraud, and viii tell you why.
i,
as you or |, and yet that man wears a seton i'll
his body running through from side to side,
and he has done SO ever since the war. He has
| to do it in order to keep the wound open to
preserve his life, and that man is as healthy Il
looking man as l am. But his wounds are con-
| Cealcd and many persons say that he is a fraud.
know he is not fraud. | know he is not
able to-day to perform any labor of any kind,
and yet he walks around a healthy-looking
| man.
There is one thing I desire to say, and am
sorry to have to do so here. | have frequently
| replied to it on this floor although I am not on
the Committee on Pensions, and that is this
enormous pension list. OF course il is enor-
NOUS There are many other things that are
| enormous; many other of our appropriations
| IN other directions are very strange, far as
| the amount is concerned. There are many
| things in regard to which we might say Con-
| grcsS was apprOpriating q large amount of
| money where there was not half as much merit
/ as there IS III the pensOn-roll 1t is true we
appropriate $10O00O000 or q little more this
| year. We appropriate it because we owe it,
| that is the reason why. In other cases we
| appropriate that which we do not owe but ap-
propriate for things that we propose to do This
| is an appropriation for an account accumulated
against the Government of the United States
where the debt exists to-day by reason of pass
! ing on these claims by the Commissioner of
! ln low
ate for that which we owe, that which has been
! adjudged against us. l ask why, then, should
a raid be made on that any more than on an
! appropriation that is made to pay the judgment
of a court that has decided III reference to a
/ claim, or something of that character? l can
| not understand it.
The Senator from Kentucky said that about
| New Orleans there were q great many persons
| drawing pensions who were not born when the
battle of New Orleans was fought, on the ale
! CATION that they assisted General Jackson.
| That may be true. II it is, | cannot under
! stand it, | must confess. The law is perfectly
plain. All persons who gave a certain number
of days service in that war are entitled to pen
sion, and their widows are entitled to pensions.
| Why did not the Senator say that a soldier who
| served in the war of 1872 atterWard may have
married lady who was not born at the time
! the battle OF New Orleans was fought, but as
| his widow she is entitled to the pension? Is
al
| he would have it go to the country that because
| persons draw pensions on the roll OF the war
| of 1912 who were not born at that time, there
| fore they are frauds against the Government.
A Senator ought not to put such phase on 1t
as that and let it go to the country, because 1t
| is not true; it is not the fact 1t is the fact
perhaps that they were not born then, but it is
not Il fact that they are fraudulently on the
| pensiOn-ron. We may say that children draw
pensions who were not born when the late war
existed. That may be true but does that prove
that they are fraudulently on the pensiOn-rollf L
Certainly not; it only proves that they are the
children of deceased parent, and by the law
they are entitled to the pension that the parent
would have received that Is all. 1t does not
show that it is a fraud.
agree with the Senator from, Bahsas that
this thing Of publishing tho names in the
newspapers and posting them up in the post
Offices all over the country is an 0ffense to any
man of a sensitive nature. / do SO regard it.
But | say, if you publish it in reports to the
Congress of the United States the same as you
publish any other report, then 1t cannot be an
ofiense, because then they are treated like
| everybody else; but to single them out and
post them up as if they were pirates or
plunderers / do consider an otiense; l would
if | were one of the pensioners. [ say an
Otiense; 1 do not mean an Otiense intended,
but L mean that is the effect of it, and it would
/ L u
and my name was posted up in my Post-otiice
50 that my neighb0rs could look at it and
examine and see whether [ was thief or not.
| The object is not to notify the people who the
pensioner is, but to subject him to criticism.
Mr.. PLATr CLOSES THE DEBATE.
Senator Bayard, of Delaware, and George, of
Mississippi, endeavOred to help Mr.. Beck out,
but only succeeded in displaying their own
utter ignorance of the workings of the pen
sion system. Mr.. Platt, of Connecticut made
the closing speech of the debate, and put the
case in nutshell. Said he:
will state my great objection to publishing
this list in all the papers. 1t is an objection
which is suggested to me by my examination
of pension cases. Case after case has come here
where people have been dropped from the rolls
upon the charge that they were fraudulent
pensioners; that they had obtained their pen
siOns by fraud; and in every instance I think
| there has been developed the fact that there is
a neighborhood quarrel about it. Tho people
have taken sides; half of the community. for
instance, think that the pension is properly
granted; the other half think that it is i'm
properly granted. What Will be the result if
these lists are published publicly in the news
papers? 1t would be q blessed thing if we could
have the millennium and all people should
dwell III harmony; that there should he no