The Portland daily press., 1886-07-13
A cRUDcINc MAGISTRATE.
Telling Arraignment of President
Cieveland's Vetoes.
Speech of Hon. Charles A. Boutelle
in the House of Representatives.
Congressional Record.]

Congressional Record.]
We have presented here a spectacle un-
paralleled in the history of the country. The
great general court of the United States, sit
ting here for the calm consideration and
grave examination of public matters, have
decided, upon unanimous reports of their
committees, and by the unanimous votes of
the two houses in many cases, that it was
becoming and proper for this great and rich
government to extend in this its hour of
prosperity and wealth, little dole, little
pittance to some one-legged or one-armed
soldier to some veteran, dragged uoWh ny
disease or weakened or disabled by the un-
r+tarable horrors of Southern prison-pens
or to grant to some widow left-as in one
case recently vetoed-with seven small chill
dren to support, the small sum of $12 a
month to help her to feed and clothe and
educate as good citizens the offspring of the
patriot who laid down his life under that
flag; and it remained for the President of
the United States, the Chief Magistrate of
fifty millions of people, to refuse his assent
to that slight act of justice to that widow !;
and not only that, but to send it back to the
Chamber at the other end of the Capitol,
coupled with slur upon the chastity of the
mother who had asked so little at the hands
of the great government for which she had
sacrificed so much.
Twelve dollars a MONTH One hundred
and forty four dollars year to care for the
widow and seven fatherless children OF one
of the dead soldiers of this Republic,
snatched from her after it had been granted
by Congress, by the veto OF Presldent sur
rounded by every luxury, and for the mere
decoration of whose table at single repast
the people have contributed more for flowers
than would pension several such widowed
households for year. Not that the people,
rich or poor, grudge the Chief Magistrate
the elegancies beftting the exalted station
he occupies, but the thought can not be re-
pressed that the generosity OF the people
should beget in return thoughttulness Tor
the nations especial wards, the sorroWIng
ones whose blood and tears have purchased
our great deliverance and rendered possible
the prosperity out OF which tney nave a
right to be remembered.
| read, sir, few days ago, In paper pup
lished in this city, an account OF the marvel
Gus industry of our Chief Magistrate IN tnlS
crusade that he has inaugurated against the
veteran soldiers of his country. l find that
the one hundred and forty-one cases
that he has considered have been disposed OF
by him within ten days, or two hundred and
forty hours, counting night and day; SO that
if he had set up nights and gone without
food and rest, he would have devoted put
TWO hours apiece to the pension cases which
had occupied the attention OF Representa-
tives and Senators, some OF them, for weeks
and months.
find it stated, in regard to one batch of
these bills. that he occupied only between
the hours of 10 O'Clock in the morning and
O'Clock in the afternoon, to dispose of nine
teen veto messages in pension cases, hYe
hours in all; but allowing an hour for lun-
cheon, which would not be an unreasonable
time for a gentleman of his ayordupols, II
would leave four hours, two hundred and
forty minutes, or less than thirteen minutes,
for the President to dispose of each case
cases, too, some of which had occupied the
careful attention of the committees OF the
two branches Of Congress for months at
time
That is the calm, judicial ireyiew upon
which the President seeks to set aside the
deliberately expressed Judgment OF the Sen
ate and the House of Representatives. And
this newspaper further tells us that the fres-
ident was jocular over his work. 1t says
In writing his veto messages the President was
quick to take advantage of any discrepancies In
the reasons given for allowing pensions, and made
them appear in very terse language. sometimes
with a vein of humor.
"a vein of humorp' God help the nation
whose Chief Executive can find no more NIT
ing subject for his gibeS than the battered
wrecks of great war from which he held
aloof; the widows and the orphans OF those
they fell but whose white foreheadS have
felt this kiss of angels.
Truly it has been said that the spirit and
the style of these veto messages have no pre-
cedent, and it is safe to say that in his heart
less sneers at the unfortunate he need rear
no future rival or imitator.
With great questions of national and IN
ternational Importance pressing Tor actl0n;
with scandal in his Cabinet SO gross that
his own. party papers demand his attention
70 x.yif ~ fcb cbarx- intarpGfS nara lUznd nv
foreign aggression, of which it seems impos-
sible to induce the administration to take
note; with daily affronts to our flag and ar
bitrary seizure of our vessels by the petty
authorities of British colony, calling aloud
for the exercise of craftsmanship, or at least
some show of interest, the Executive head
of this great nation can find nothing more
important to do than to haggle with Congress
about few private pensions, and the papers
announce that he denies himself to callers on
business and postpones Cabinet meetings in
order to devote himself undisturbed to the
grinding of his grist of pension vetoesl What
employment for a great statesman IN his
honeymoon-cra poor jokes at sick sol
diers and glibly arguing away the little pen
sion that would barely keep the wolf of hun
ger from the door of some destitute but loyal
home!
My God, Mr.. Speaker, what a spectacle this
presentsl l think | can see the muse OF his
tory looking at the grand procession OF the
Chief Magistrate of this country, seeking
out the illustrious features in the lives of
each to be depicted in the great pantheon OF
American history and | can imagine the ex-
preston of ineffable disgust which would
pass over the features of the Goddess OF Lib
erty as she might be called upon to survey
the allegorical representations Of the char
aeteristic achievements OF our great rulers,
frescoed forth in the Rotunda of the Capitol,
as her gaze should first rest upon the picture
of Abraham Lincoln standing on the battle
field of Gettysburg, amid the graves OF the
and pledging for all time to come the grati-
tude of the American people to the nations
defenders; and then passing to the, next
panel, upon which should be delineated with
all the facility of art the picture. OF the Chlet
sleeves, with his collar unbuttoned, perspir-
ing over the vetoes Of little pension bills to
the heroes of the American Republic. lAp-
rlaucp