St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-03-17
In THE SENATE.
The Widows Pension bill Passed.
Edmunds' Resolutions.


The Widows Pension Bill Passed.
Edrnunds' Resolutions.
WASHINGTON, March 1G.-In the senate
the chair announced as members of the
committee on the part of the senate to es-
cOrt the remains of Representative Hahn to
Louisiana. MessrS. EuStis, Vance and But
Ter. The house bill increasing the pensions
of soldiers widows was then taken I'D.
After amendment and reconsideration the
bill passed as it came from the house. It
increases the pensions of widows and de-
pendent relatives from IS to S12 a month,
and only needs the presidents signature to
become a law. The Edmunds resolutions
came up and Mr.. Morrill, spoke briefly upon
them. Mr.. Cullom followed him. He said:
The senate has been denied the right to in
quire into the management of public office.
To make intelligent inquiry the senate needs
the papers on file. Consistency Is not jewel
conspicuously worn in these days of sJefFer-
sonian simplicity" Relevancy of papers
must be judged by their substance. After
the president sends papers to the departments
and they are placed on file they are public
papers. If the president has removed no
officers except for cause, some such
papers must have been fled, and the
president ought in good faith TO produce
them. The present administration has been
treated by the senate with impartial cOnsid-
Grafton and exact justice. It has been treated
precisely as Republican administration
would have been treated. In the general
clamor of the very hungry and the very
thirsty for seats at the Official feast there Is
danger of talSehOOd or even perjury. The
president said he hoped defense against I'M
just suspensions might DO found in the JUS
tice of the executive Upon what meat
dnfh this nnr Cfnsar, feed, that he has grown
~ ~ EIeet. Inc theory that the king could
uo no wrong was long since exploded among
SnhShtened nations. MOI Honest men have
friends in Office, butd don't ftvls went TO keep my
chamber" proceedings that reflect on the
personal character of honest men. a refusal
TO produce the paper is an admission that
they cannot bear the light.
MIR. MAXEY.
The real question ut issue IS one of grave
Importance. Where does the senate find
authority to condemn the head of depart
ment under the circumstances OF this case?
Who so well as that officer could know the
facts on which his action rests? The simili-
tude between the presidents message and
the communication Of King Charles
l. does not exist. The fatal i'm
becility that brought the king to
the block by the semblance of q court, Il
court organized to convict is not to be found
in this case. He who attempts to play the
role of Cromwell here will find this is not the
country for it, nor this occasion the occasion
for IL. The Cromwell has not yet been born
who, in the name or the senate, can grasp
the constitutional powers vested in the ex-
ecutive of this republic. The real object is
TO ascertain the presidents reasons for sus-
pensions or removals from Office. The re-
port of the majority of the committee is
simply stump speech dignited with the
name of a committee report. This report
claims that 643 removals have been made,
and the people complain because ten times
643 have not been made. The election of
1854 meant that the people wanted Demo-
cratic methods, principles and policy-a
Democratic administration, root, stem and
branch. The president should have the Sc
lection of honest and competent agents in
accord with tho policy indicated by his cleo
ton. The power of removal is essentially an
executive one, and the action of the Republi-
can majority is simply to keep Republican
oihceholders in place. 1t Is an attempt to
control the discretion Of the president, which
will fail.
MIR. DoLPH
then took the floor in support OF the major
ity report. The first consideration to which
Mr.. Dolph addressed himself was that in
volved in the last clause of the majority
resolution.
That clause related to the discharge from
government service of ex-UniOn soldiers and
the filling OF their places by men who had
not rendered similar service to the country.
nc SeuI 10 the utSA ana rttu u report
the employment committee of the Grand
Army of the Republic, department of the
Potomac, for the past year. This report,
among other things, stated that this had been
an ''oifice" for the class which the committee
represented, that the greater part of their
labOrs ha1 been directed to securing the re-
instatement of comrades TO places under the
government from which they had been dis
charged. Seventy-eight Grand Army COM
rades had been discharged during the past
year, as well as u large number Of eX-UniOn
soldiers and sailors not affiliated with the
Grand Army; that it was not TO be sup
posed that those who served the nation
i'm war were skulkers and bummers i'm the
''piping times of peace;' that the discharges
amounted in some cases 10 ostracism, the
boys in blue being boycotted for the advan-
tage OF the boys in grey, who were TO be
treated as ''prodigal sons" Mr.. Dolph had
no means of knowing how many of the 643
suspensions were cases OF eX-Union soldiers,
but there were many. Several cases had
come under his observation in which one
armed and one-legged soldiers were discharged
whose families were thus left in destitution,
and their places filled by persons who had
rendered no service TO the government.
Who were those persons thus Disseminated
against? Not strong, able-bodied men, but
men who on the march and on the battle
field and in their rebel prison had suffered for
the cause of the Union, the men who by their
sacrifices, had carried our flag to victory and
saved the republic. The discrimination
againt these men amounted to practical
nullification of law.
At this point the senate adjourned, Mr..
DOlph retaining the floor.