The National tribune., 1886-03-11
TIE 49TB CONGRESS,
Pension Appropriation Bill Passed After
A Heated Debate.

the DEBATE on the pension appropriation Dii-
| or rather on collateral matters, for there was
no opposition to the bill itself as shown by the
! final vote. The debate was mainly on the
/ charges made by Democrats. that the Pension
| Bureau under the administration of Commls-
sioner Dudley was largely used as a political
machine, for the benefit of the Republican
| party. The contest in the House was very
| warm, and at times so bitter that after the
members had cooled off several Of them with
drew, and asked to have omitted from the Con-
qreSSi0nG} Record, remarks Of an Extensively per-
| sonal character, which in their warmth they
had been betrayed into using.
! During the closing hours of the debate, on
| Thursday, the House was lashed into fury of
wild excitement Members left their seats and
| crowded around the disputants, giving utter
ance to their feelings in cheers and shouts OF
! approval or Kisses and groans of dissent. The
| Speaker almost pounded the table to pieces
with his gavel in vain effort to quell the up
| roar Their was no semblance of order. Some
| times A dozen members were trying to speak at
! the same time, shouting at the top of their
voices in the attempt to make themselves heard
| above the din. No such scene has been wit
| messed in Congress for many years. As has been
| said, nobody was opposing the bill. The real
! point in all the racket was, which party was
! the greatest champion of the soldier and his
rights Each claimed with extraordinary
/ vehemence to be, to the war-wOrn and battle
SCARED veteran, the friend that "sticketh closer
! than a brother
This furious debate began the week before
! last, and these columns have already contained
! liberal extracts from the speech of Mr.. Town
| shend llll.), who was in charge of the bill, and
| the eloquent and fiery denunciation of his
! political opponents by Mr. Henderson (1owa),
/ in which he said he would rather spend an
eternity in hell with Confederate than live
| forever in Heaven with Northern Copper
! head" Mr. HendersOns speech provoked
/ numerous pungent replies from Southern MEM
/ bers, whom he had arraigned for casting 81
! votes against the widows increase bill. One
! by one Northern Democrats and Republicans
went in, and the fight ragged all along the
| line.
Mr.. Cannon Ill.l argued strongly in favor of
the repeal Of the arrears limitation, and also
for less stringent regulations in the proving of
! claims. He said
| To illustrate a soldier makes his application for
pension; his Government after due examination
| by its Surgeons mustered him into the service; the
law required that lie should be a sound man and
fill the regulations; but he is now required TO prove
| that he not disabled at time of muster-his
muster should be conclusive upon that point Again.
if there is record of his disability treatment in
hospital then lie must make strong proof that the
disability was incurred in the line of duty; the regi-
mental Surgeons, his officers and comrades fire.
quently found to have died in other found
10 be living i'll distant parts of the country and fire.
quently not 10 be found at all, and when found
not able 10 recolect with sufficient accuracy the
which II was incurred Many soldiers have said TO
me that general rule hospital record was the
most undesirable thing n good soldier could have
while IN the service, but the most useful thing
disabled soldier could have when it comes to pro-
curing a pension.
Mr. Cannon did not favor service" PEN
sion TO all soldiers at this time On this point
he said:
The best estimate we can get is . $50 0cC, and
doubtless ii Is very nearly correct, the total num-
Der of enstments during the late Probably
$4,000 of those were double enlistments, giving
2,3S,000 as the number Of original enliStmeuts. If
you deduct from that 500 600 which, rs near rs /
ascertain after careful inquiry, is about the
number of those soldiers who were killed or who
dIed leaving surviving widows minor chill
dren, il leaves a million and half rs the number
who will receive u service pension in the event of
the passage of the bill referred to. The average pen
sion of those now upon the roll is about $40
per annum; but count the average at about 500 if
the service pension should be given. This would
MAKE the cost O! passing tins bii alter deductIng
those now on the roll, SlI7 000 per annun. Add
to that the S39000o00 the amount ofthc annual roll
now, and you have sI56. 600 COO expenditure per
annum the result of such egislation-legisiation
which, in my judgment, ought not to be enacted
Yet there is a growing public opinion demanding
it, and i have no doubt that the time will come
when a bill will pass with perhaps some restric-
tlons giving service pension to the soldiers of the
late war. But ] fear that such legislation at this
time would do much to break down the policy of
the Government which has been pursued since its
formation, namely, to rely upon citizen-soldiery
for Defense because If would be at that if
the persion-rol were TO be swollen to that extent
twould beget q burden of taxation which would
be felt as grievance even by the very men receiv
ing the pensions, and would postpone if not render
impossible the repeal of the limitation Of the
of pension act and various other provisions for SOL
diers who are actually disabled.
Mr.. Wilson (W. Va, who served in the Con-
federate army, replying to MIR. Henderson, de-
livered good -natured eloquent Speech which
at times was heartily cheered by Republicans.
He said:
IL was scarcely necessary. Mr.. Chairman and yet
it was exceedingly natural that the gentleman 8lr.
Henderson, of Iowa should pause. from time to
time in the line of his remarks to assure this side
of the House that lie animated only by the
kindcst feeling. Those of us who know the frank
of the and his gallantry soldier could
have no doubt on that point. We we'll understood
that it was, after all, but stage thunder. or if the
gentleman will allow nae TO say it, stage roaring;
ana when the necessities OF the occasion allow him
TO doff the political mask we shall see that he. like
Snug the joiner, IS very gentle beast and of
good conscience" Laughter and applause
In his peroration Mr.. Wilson said:
Sir, as go back in memory once again to take
my place, humble private in those haIf-ciad,
half-fed, but uncomplaining ranks; 1 plunge
once again into the sitting smoke of the Wilder
ness listen 10 the swelling diapason of the artl
lery about the Crater; as gaze Oh the ashen faces
Of the dead drink in the delirium of the wild yell
that sgnaied the advancing column, feel the
awful death-lile stiffness that settled over the sui
len and defiant retreat. encounter influences
catch no voice, feel the knding of no sentiment
that does not urge me in the position now occupy
To do my whole duty TO my country and 10 every
section of it. [Applausel AS look back To that
dread panorama, after the lapse of 20 years see,
or seem 10 see. but the stately stepping Of that
Providence which used the wrath of man to work
ont its own comprehensive and beneiicent pur-
poses.
The institution OF slavery was the balefu heritage
which came down to us from our fathers. For lis
introduction and perpetuaton section of this
country was more responsible than another. In
I the growth and development OF the country
nOmic considerations fastened ii upon one section
and freed the other sections from it, il to
pass f to the people Of the South to hold to it
seemed death, to let il go seemed also death IL
had become wrought into the social and political
organism of body polite that, in nay humble
Judgment, nothing less than the heroic surgery of
a great civil could eradicate it. The immedi-
! cable wound would yield 10 nothing but the sword
/ and the sword pierced very TO the Nations
heart; but If the anguish Is over, If the wound is
healing, what wisdom, what patriotism. what mag
| nanmIty in seeking TO make IL bleed afresh?
! Mr.. Chairman. the time has come, and | agree
with my friend from Iowa, the time has come when
| we of the South not less than of the North re-
loIce In the substantial results of the war. IGreat
applause. We feel, no less than you do, those re-
| suits worth ali the sacrifice necessary TO Sc
| cuTe them. The immense treasure poured out by
the North, with Its precious expenditure OF human
life, the immense treasure poured out by the South
| with its priceless expenditure of human life, its
draught of the bitter cup of defeat. whose awful
| bitterness no one can know who has never tasted
| it, have purchased not the mere preservation of
the Union that was the prime object but the least
| result of the war. Greater than the preservation
OF this Federal Union the extinction of the in
stution of slavery and greater than the extinction
of the institution OF slavery II the total annihlation
of every ground, occasion, excuse for further
| sectional division sectional hate. Prolonged
| Appiause