Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1884-09-18
COL. TAYLoR,s SECOND HOIJR.

COL. TAYLOR'S SECOND HOUR.
GENTLEMEN:-I shall not permit james
A. Garfield to be slandered in his grave;
and | must correct one statement in regard
to him before 1 begin the second part OF my
argument. In letter in which have here
from the Hon. Ed Mcpherson 1 will read
one paragraph:
"The question of the proper method of
controlling debate has repeatedly been con-
sidered.
'In debate in 1880 on this subject Gen.
Garfield, then a member of the House, went
to the extent of holding that members of
the House are at liberty to speak in verse or
IN prose, as they may choose. Beyond pro-
hibiting the placing upon the records, under
the guise of debate, copyrighted volume,
or British volume on an economical ques-
tlon, the House has never gone" In this
case a leave to print had been given and the
member had inserted poem instead of
speech. The right OF the member was sus-
| tanned.
Another thing: The gentleman stopped
this time very much as he stopped before; he
stopped at the real estate business. | am not
going to discuss what party has given away
the public lands. That is not in this issue.
to blame for having given away vast quanti-
ties of the public lands. Some was given
away properly, and some improperly. That
has nothing to do with this question. That
was to stir you up little, to get you away
from the issue. | am going to stick to the
issue. l am going to follow him on his own
line-on the line Of that letter.
One thing forgot before. When he was
giving 420 acres TO the Brigadier Generals,
to which class he belongs, he said that he
supposed that he introduced this bill BY re-
quest. What small hole that is to creep
out of BY request He admits himself
that the bill would show this if he did
it by request, but it does not. 1t does not
show this, which disproves his allegation. 1
brought this bill from the files. This is his
own original bill. l want to show one very
important thing. don't want you to forget
that he was giving only so acres to the
private soldier, the man who had left his
shop; the man who had left his babe in the
cradle, his horses ins the stable, his plow in
the field; the man who had left his home,
his kindred and his little ones whom he
loved. The private soldier went out to fol-
low the old flag; he slept on the cold ground;
he marched in the rain and storm; he drew
$l3 or SIC month; he had to meet the
y
fires of death, almost in the Jaws OF hell; he
did not give commands, but he knew his
duty, and did it by day and by night To
these brave boys who kept step to the music
of the Union Gen. Warner only gave 80
acres of land. And he ought to be man
enough to stand up to his bill. [Applause.l
But that is not all. There is trick in this
bill. There is trick in this bill of which
/ did not speak before; modesty forbade.
had said so much about the General that
my conscience smote me little. l am not
accustomed to saying these hard things.
don't like controversy. / was forced into
this sort of discussion; my character was in
question. l was arraigned and indicted and
called to make my plea, Guilty or not
guilty? And here to-day, in the presence
of all these Union soldiers, from every part
of the 18th district, and from many parts of
Ohio, l am glad Of this privilege of making
my plea to men who can appreciate the situ-
alton. am glad that l am in the presence
of Union soldiers that will carry to the ends
of Ohio and back to the ends of the earth
the news that this Marietta statesman has
made the biggest mistake of his life. [Ap-
plause.
But that is another depression. The end
of this bill had a job in it: Listen: "And
provided further: That this grant shall be
in lieu of all further claims against the
United States for services rendered in the
late war of the rebellion by said officers or
enlisted men,"
This was a scheme to get rid of pensioners
or claimants for pensions.
Oh, my countrymen, think of that You
who have been drawing pensions, think OF
the introduction of this bill in March, 1SS0l
Many of you have drawn 81 900, 81 800,
$500 and $1,000. Think of how many
widows drawing pensions who, if that bill
had passed, would thoughtlessly- have
grabbed at the 80 acres of land, and thereby
have forfeited all their other claims against
this Government That was the way this
whole pension business was to be settled by
this bill. 1t was to put an end to the Pen
sion Department of the Government. This
grant of land was to be 'in lieu OF all fur
ther claim against the United States for ser
vices rendered in the late war by the said Of
fcers and enlisted men" If you want to
vote for the man who is the author OF that
bill vote for him; shall never object.
He says, however, that there is not word
of my printed speech in the manuscript of
my reported speech. He does not profess
to have the transcript of all the notes. He
did not show the transcript until COM
PEELED him to do so. / drew it from his
pocket. 1t was due you that he should have
produced it before. The first issue OF this
discussion was that fact. In the opening
lines of his letter he said had spoken no
word of this speech; and that ought to have
been the first proof. want him to print
the transcript of the notes, and you viii find
that / have there the very arguments
that / have in my printed speech-every
one of them; every word in substance that
ne read you will find in the Congressional
Record of August 1st, so far as had time
to proceed in the House, not in the same
order, not in the same language, but in the
language of Gen. Gof, you will find the
substance of what / said and the argument;
the substance of it is all there.
In any event, it ill becomes Gen. Warner
to assail me on this point, when, as / have
shown, his own speeches are far more open
to criticism in this direction. But i was hur
ried into this debate. / did want to have a
photograph of the manuscripts as he left
them in the Government Printing Office.
They would have looked magnificent. lmay
yet take their photographs to distribute over
this district to show you how he mutilated
his speeches.
Suppose, for the sake of argument, that /
had not delivered word of my speech in
the House; had unanimous consent to print
whatever / desired. / think, gentlemen,
when was working hard for these Union
soldiers, working hard day and night, when
had amendments ready to offer in the first
days of the session, but was unable to do
anything because Gen. Warner withheld his
report until April q, think you will say
that am not to be unduly censured as to
this matter. 1 make no pretensions to have
been brave, or to have done more than my
duty wherever l have been in my life,
but 1 knew enough when l went to WASH
ington on the first Monday in December last to
know what the Union soldiers wanted; but
strange to say it took him until April 2l to
find out one single thing that they wanted
and to make report. Here is the speech
he made in fourteen minutes. Exhibiting.]
Here is a speech by the Hon. George L. Con-
verse, one Of the best Democrats and one of
the grandest men in this country. He had
eight minutes, and in that time he made .
speech which covered the points, and then he
elaborated it until, with the statistics, l
doubt whether it could be read in much less
than an hour. He stated his sentences bet
ter, he put them in better order, and he made
his speech read better. So, too, here is the
speech of the Hon. Beriah wilkins, another
distinguished Democrat, and 8 most excel
lent gentleman, who is running for Congress
over in the other district. He had only two
L