Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1884-09-18

grapher said that he could not get all of the
report. because part of nv speech made in
Congress was taken down by another phsno-
| grapher, who had gone to the country, and
that that portion of my remarks was mac
cessible.S
Now. gentlemen, think will go back
ward a little. The gentleman SAYS that
| paid great compliment to myself BY using
| the expression ''we." which l believe to be
] perfectly parliamentary. ] did not pay
greater compliment to myself than he did to
himself when he said that the Hon. r. w.
| Townshend, of Illinois, had introduced
Mexican pension bill without consulting the
party to which he belonged, and he War
ner) knew that because he had not been con-
suited.
/ will say for the benefit of Gen. Warner
that it is of no use for any man to come into
Guernsey county, or into the Seventeenth
District, new or old, to play the demagogue.
We have common schools in this country;
and the people are intelligent. [Applause.
He has undertaken to say here to you that
the bills l introduced in Congress would
bankrupt the government; that they would
require more money than there was in the
public treasures of the world; or words to
lIidl cucCl Is lIlaI Iruc! NO :!
do not propose in this instance, to come
before you without having with me the
proofs of that which | shall say This is
no hour for empty defamation; this is a
time for stubborn facts; and facts, and facts
only, can prevail before this vast and intelli-
gent audience. Applause.
What does the gentleman says l intro
duced two bills to which he refers. One
was to equalize bounties, and the other was
to repeal the limit to arrears. Gen. Warner
says my bills would bankrupt the govern
ment. | hold in my hand letter written
by Commissioner Dudley within the last
four days in which he uses this language:
81 endeavored, to the best of my ability,
to urge upon Senators and members the i'm
portance of recognizing what l believe to be
the public opinion upon the subject of pen
sions, to-wit: that voiced by the Grand
Army of the Republic in their memorial to
Congress upon the subject, of which l en-
close copy"
have here in my hand the copy which
Gen. Dudley enclosed in his letter to me.
This memorial petitioned for the passage of
the very measures embodied in my bills.
Would Gen. Dudley, the Commissioner of
Pensions, who knows more about this busi-
ness than any other man in this country,
laws, and all these provisions, would he
stand in the corridors and in the lobbies and
on the floors of Congress, and beg members
to pass bill which would bankrupt this
countrys / hold in my hand report of
this committee, signed by Generals Merrill
Wagner, Grosvenor, Van DerVoort, and
Comrade Tanner, which recommends all. of
the provisions of the bills that introduced,
and all the provisions of the Senate amend
ments to the Mexican pension bill, of which
shall speak hereafter. 1t recommends the
equalization of bounties. the arrears of
pensions, pensions to prisoners of war, and
divers other provisions away beyond the
two or three bills which / introduced
Whom will you believe, Commissioner
Dudley or Gen. Warneri
[Cries of dudley Dudleypl
The report of the Grand Army committee
has, among other things, the following:
"We are in favor of the extension of the
arrears limit to January l, 1885.
1--WE are in favor of giving the widows of
veterans the increase from eight to twelve
dollars per month. We would cheerfully
recommend an even greater increase if we
thought you would grant it.
"We also favor the continuance of a SOL
dier's pension to his widow or his dependent
relatives regardless of whether he dies from
the effects of wounds or disease resulting
from service or not.
ave also favor giving pensions to all
honorably discharged soldiers and sailors
who are now disabled and are dependent
upon their own labor for support, or are
sixty five years of age, without compelling
them to prove at this date that such dis
ability actually arose from service.
"We are in favor of the passage of bill
for just and equitable equalization of the
bounties paid to soldiers by the general gov
ernment."
Do you believe that those brave men who
followed the flag during all the years of the
war, would go to Congress as did this COM
mittee, representing the Grand Army of the
Republic, and importune any committee of
Congress to pass law that would bankrupt
this government !?
And while the gentleman talks to you about
the bills which introduced, will talk lit
tie about bill which he introduced. He is
here to-day telling you that he is a friend of
the soldiers of this country-that he spent
more hours than l did moments in the con-
sideration of the great questions affecting
their interests. In the 10th Congress he in
troduced bill which reads as follows
BILL
served in the Army and Navy during the late
and were honorably discharged, to be in lieu OF
all other claims.
Be IL enacted by the Senate and House of Repre-
sentGtives of the United States of america IN Con-
eyess assembled, that each officer enlisted man,
whether of the Volunteer or Regular Army or
Marine of the Volunteer or Regular n avy of the
United States, who served during the late war of
the rebellion faithfully land received honorable
discharge therefrom), for period of not less than
ninety days, shall be entitled to public lands as fol-
lows: Enlisted men, eighty acres; heutenants,
o-,A ~ onfo hrrn.
dred and sixty acres; majors, two hundred acres;
lieutenant coIones, two hundred and forty acres;
colonels, three hundred and twenty acres; briga-
der generals, four hundred and twenty acres;
major generals, six hundred and forty acres: Pro
vided that for each additional period of such ser
vice with such discharged OF six months, or trac-
ton thereof, not less than one-haf, each of the
hereinbeforc specified officers enlisted shall
receive like amount of public lands: And, pro-
pided further, that this grant shall be in lien Of all
further claim against tie United States for services
rendered in the late z0ar Of the rs6s!ios by the said
officers or enlisted men.
ask of you, my friends, whether General
Warner was not the friend of the brigadiers
rather than the common soldiersf Yes,
Yes."l A brigadier general gets 420 acres,
| and private soldier only so acres.
But assure you that in all the bills in
troduced made no difference between the
soldiers, whether they be brigadier general
or privates. [Applause.l How does that bill
| of Gen. Warmers compare with the justice
of the bills introduced to equalize bounties
and to give arrears to the soldiers who file
their claims after the first day of July, 1880?
| How does that bill sound here in Cambridge
in the hearing of my neighbors and friends
and of the soldiers of the Union arrnys"
He complains because / did not say So
nd-so in the 47th Congress. Well, l was
in there six weeks-six long weeks. The
gentleman was in the 46th Congress two
long years; and have brought the records
of this 46th Congress they're under this
table; and I've brought the records of the
48th Congress-and they're here; and I am
going to ask him to open those pages and
tell the people what he did for the soldiers
in the 46th Congress, and what he did for
them during the long session of the present
Congress. ["That's it I" and applause.]
He says never went before his commit
tee. Great Heavens friends-the idea of
my going before his committee! Laughter
Why, he says that 1 am no gentleman!
| Well, you know whether l am or not.
won't agree to leave it to him. l will leave
it to you, Democrats as well as Republicans.
| ["You are gentleman."l Thank you!
appreciate it because you have lived with
me from my childhood, and you know
whether am or not. And while may not
come up to the standard of the gentleman
who has written this letter, would great