Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1884-03-12
Dayy Crockeit's Electioneering

| There was time when there were
few names more familiary known t.
The people of this country than that o.
Dary Crockett. Many stories were
told characteristic OF his courage, his
ait, his humor, his honor, his honesty
,Dd bis benevolence. | am about t.
relate one of somewhat different char.
acter, but not less honorable to him
than any that haye appeared.
| While he was in Congress l bad
business which required me to spend
several weeks in Was hington city.
| Waiting upon Jne of the departments,
or rather one of the clerks, for my turn,
| bad much leisure upon my hands;
| tor, though my business might have
been dispatched as we'll in two hours
AS in two months, yet ] had TO wait
| bad made up my mind that L would
not leave until my business Was settled.
My only regular employment was to
20 every day to the Office to learn that
that it could not be attended to that
day.
Crockett was then the lion of Wash
ington. l was great admirer of his
character, and, having several friends
who were intimate with him, | found
10 difficulty in making his acquaint-
ance. l was fascinated with him, and
he seemed to take fancy to me.
/ was one day in the lobby Of the
House of Representatives when bill
was taken up sppropristing monev for
1 H.. af ho Of OF n
guished naval officer Several beauti-
ful speeches had been made ir its sup
port, rather, as | thought, because it
afforded the speaker fine opportunity
TOR display than from necessity of con-
vincing any body, for it seemed to me
every body favored it. The speaker
was just about to put the question,
when Mr.. Crockett arose. Everybody
expected, of course, that he was going
to make one of his characteristic
speeches in support of the bill. He
commenced:
"Mr Speaker-I have as much re-
-pect for the memory of the deceased
and as much sympathy for the suffer
ings of the living, if suffering there be,
az any man in this House, but we
must not permit our respect for the
dead or sympathy for part of the
living to lead us into an act of injus-
tice to the balance of the living |
will lot 20 into an argument to prove
that Congress has no power to appro-
pirate this money as all act Of charity.
Every member upon this floor knows
is. We have the right, as individuals,
to give away as much of our own
money as We please to chari y; but as
members of Congress we have no right
to appropriate a dollar of the public
money. Some eloquent appeals have
been made to US upon the ground that
| it is debt due the deceased Mr..
Speaker, the decreased lived long after
the close of the war; he was in Office
to the day of his death and | have
never heard that the Government was
In arrears to him. This Government
can owe no debt but for services rem
dered, aud at a stipulated price. If it
is debt, how much is il? Has it
been audited and the amount due as
certained? If it is debt this is not
the place to present it for payment or
have its merits examined If it is q
debt, We owe more thai We can ever
hope to pay, for we owe the widow of
every sol 'ier who fought IN the war of
1912 precisely the same amount
There is woman in my neighboT hood,
the widow of as gallant man as ever
sbouldered mu-ket. He fell in bat
tie. She is as good in every respect
g. this lady. and is as poor. She is
earning her daily bread by her daily
labor, and if were to introduce bill
to appropriate five or ten Thousand
dollars for her benefit should be
Laughed at, and nv bill would not get
five votes in this House. There thous-
ands of widows in the country just
such as the one ! have spoken of; but
we never hear of any Of these debts
to them. Sir, this is no debt The
Government did not owe it to the de-
ceased when be was alive; it could
not contract it after he died. do not
wish to te rude, but l must he plain.
Every man in this House knows it is
not debt. We cannot, without the
grossest corruption, appropriate this
money a. the payment of debt. We
have not the sembisnce of authority to
appropriate it al a charity. Mr.. Speak
er, | have laid we have the right to
give as much money OF our own as we
please am the poorest man on this
floor / cannot vote for this bill, but
| will give one weeks pay to the
Inject, and if every member Of Con-
gress will do the same it will amount
to more than the b II asks 4"
He took his seat Nobody replied.
The bill was put upon its passage, and,
instead of passing unanimously, as
was generally supposed, and a., no
doubt. iL,would but for that speech,
It received out few votes, and, OF
course was lost.
| Like many other young men, and
I'D ones, too, for that matter, who had
not thought upon the subject, | desired
| The passage of the bill, and felt outrag-
I'd ut its defeat determined that
would persuade my friend Crockett to
move reconsideration the next day
| Previous engagements preventing me
from seeing Crockett that night l went
early to his room next morning, and
found him engaged in ADDRESSING and
ranking letters. large pile Of which
lay upon his table.
! | broke in upon him rather abruptly
by asking him what devil had possess
ed him to make that speech and de.
turning his head or looking up from
his work he replied. You see that
am very bury now; take a seat and
cool yourself will be through in 6
few minutes, and then | will tell you
all about it "
He continued his employment fol
| ahont tan miuutao and whan la haf