The National tribune., 1883-03-08

Prorided Such soldier shall be in needy circunl-
stances and shall take oath of allegiance to the
| United States.
On call for the yeas and nays, but eight
Senators voted for Mr. Blair's provso, and the
question then recurred on Mr.. Calls amend
ment, which was also reected-yeas Is, nays
%, the Republicans voting solidIy in the
negative, on the groundthat its adoption would
endanger the passage of the bill by the House,
and that it ought to be made the subject of a
/ separate measure.
Mr.. George ID. Miss.) then offered the follow
! ing:
SEC That n pension of sS a month be- and the
same is hereby, granted TO every surviving soldier
| of the United States who served for three months
or longer in the last war between the United States
| and Mexico, and who was honorably discharged
from said service ProridCd, This section shall not
| apply to any such surviving soldier who has means
! of support without rcsorting to manual labor
| Mr.. Hoar (Mass.l moved to add to the pro-
/ viso the words land who lab0rS under the dis
! abilities imposed by the fourteenth amendment
! to the Constitution of the United States" but
refrained from demanding the yeas and nays
/ A vote was then taken on Mr. Georges amend
ment, and it was reicctad,-ycas IL, nays 2l-
| the vote being essentially the same as that on
| Mr. Calls, with the exception that Mr. NOor
hees Und.) voted with the Republicans in the
negative. The bill as amended i'll Committee
! of the Whole was then reported to the Senate
and paSsed-yeas 81, nays 1.-THE only Demo-
cratic votes in its favor being those Of COckrell
(NIo.,l Vest, (Mo, } and Voorhees,, tInd.) Messrs
Harrison, (Ind.,) Logan, Qll,) McDill, Ia.,)
Miller, tCal.,) Miller, IN. W Rollins, (Ft..)
and Sawyer, wis. who had voted against the
Platt amendment, were recorded in the affirma-
tive on the question Of adopting the bill as
amended The negative vote was entirely
Democratic. The yeas and nays were fol-
lows:
Yeas--Aldricl, Allison, Blair, Cocl,rell Congcr,
Davis of H., Dawes, Hale, Harrison, Hill, Hoar,
Ingalls,, Lapham, Logan, McDill, Mcmillan, Miller
Gf New York, Mitchell, Morrill,, fatt, Plumb, Rol
lns, Sawyer, Sewel Sherman, Vest, voorhees,
Nays-Barrow, Bayard Beck, Call, Coke Gar
land, George, Harris, Jones, Maxcy, Morgan Pugh,
Walker, Williams,
From this resume of the proceedings OF the
Senate it will appear to the readers of THE
TRIBUNE that the failure of the FortyDolar
bill was due principally to the division of
opinion among the Republicans themselves,
but it is equally true that but for their unan-
unity of opinion that something should be
done to increase the pensions of our oDc-armcd
and One-egged soldiers, action whatever
would probably have been taken. The debate,
as We have said, was extended and diS;ointed,
and not of sufficient interest in itSciftO war
rant its reproduction in these columns. We con-
tent ourselves, therefore, with simply giving
an extract from the remarks Of Senator Logan,
which embodies, as it scenes to us, the essence
OF the whole question. Said Senator Logan:
So far as am concerned, have apologies to
make either here, TO the country. to any body
else for having voted for pensions always. eX-
pcct TO continue TO do il while am in Congress |
know some of the suiierinlss Of soldiers; do not
mean any particular soldiers of any particular
war, but in reference TO their sulferings under all
circumstances; and whenever one has lost his leg,
his arm, or both, eye. or both eyes has
been physically disabled on account of other
wounds or diseases occurring i'll the line of his
duty, will always be the defender of that
when he asks the pittance which lie gets from the
Government of the United States.
The ailusion that made to the arrcarageS of
pension law has nCtiinG To do with this bill will
say i'll answer to that, was not here To vote for it,
but had been should have done so on the pTln-
ciplc that where you agree to pension man you
pension him on account of n wound or on account
of disease, a disability; and if the contract under
your law Is that If mG. Is wounded or disabled on
any account in the army he shall be penSioned,
that contract applies and attaches at the time the
disability occurred and at no other time; so that
man is entitled to pension from the time the disa-
bty was incurred. Though Senators constantly
prate in this Chamber about arrearaGeS of pension,
the only wrong that was done in reference to that
was that they did not apply the pension at the time
when the law passed that If should have OBJ
tanned from the time the disability was incurred
The only opposition that could be found III the
country to the of pension ct is that it took
q large amount of money at time. 1t took no
more if the law ut the time it passed had given
the man the pension from the time the disability
was incurred, no matter when the application was
made which would have been right and would
have been just. SO say the arrearuges of pension
law is right and it Is not question with me as to
how much II costs. The question with me II
just; is he entitled to that pension? If he is it is
not for me to inquire where the money shall come
from; will pay my part OF it, and let everybody
else do the same. The government that does not
protect, the government that does not support and
sustain to certain extent the lame, the crippled,
i'll the time of emergency of their government, i'll
for its preservation and protection, fails in the
performance of that duty that ought to apply to all
governments and all nations When the Govern
ment asks that the best blood of this land shall be
poured out for its preservation, is not for that
government TO higgle and complain when these
uniortnnatcs asl. a pttance TO aid them through
the time they shall live along the pathway Of life
until the time comes when life shall cease to exist.
Sir, these complaints are often made, but un-
wisely made. The honest man at home Is not the
man who complains of his taxation for pensions.
No man would be ever heard to complain in this
land that subject if it hHh not been for members
in the Congress of the Incy states trying to show
that the people were imposed upon by large assess
mcnts for unworthy purposes. This has been done
from both sides of the Chamber. The fault lies
equally with all those who make these complaints.
EFFECT OF THE ACT.
The bill as passed benefits but two grades of
invalid pensOners-thOse who are now receiy-
ing SIS per month and those who are receiving
sd per month. The pensions of the former
are increased to $2l per month and the PEN
sionS of the latter TO $50 per month. The pen
sions of those who draw less than $IS per
month are not increased. The Commissioner
OF Pensions has issued circular prescribing
regulations for carrying the provisions of the
act into eff. ct. No formal application by the
beneficiary is necessary TO be made other than
to forward to the Commissioner of Pensions the
pension certificate, accompanied by letter
stating in the handwriting Of the pensioner his
present pOSt-oiice address. As soon as possible
after the receipt of the pension certificate afore
said the Commissioner viii reissue to him Il new
certificate for the new rate and will forward
the same to the proper pension agent to in
scribe the name of such pensioner on the roll
at the increased rate, and to make to the pen
sioncr the proper payment. In the case of am
putatiOn the certificate will be reissued without
any further medical examination. The inter
ycntiOn Of an agent attorney in such ad-
mitted cases are affected by this act; being
nmnn nncesaarv. viii not be recngnized.