The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1886-05-14
WASHINGTON LETTER
lFrom our Regular Correspondent

| WASHINGTON. d. c., May 10, 1886.
| Some of the Presidents latest work
has been that of carefully examining
private pension bills. He was suppos-
ed to have work enough to do already
without assuming any new burdens
but it seems he feels, the necessity of
taking hand himself in the retrench-
ment campaign which Mr.. Hewitt and
some other influential Democrats have
begun in the House of Representatives.
Mr.. Cleveland's predecessors have gen
orally regarded life as too short to
spend in examining this class of legis-
latlon with special care They have
contented themselves with the assur-
ance that Congress had opportunities
for investigating the claims III the most
thorough manner, and that if the bills
had got through both Houses there
must have been some merit in them.
A few days since a rumor about the
Capital, to the effect that any further
raids upon the Treasury would be com.
batted by the Presidents veto, created
considerable sensation. President Cleve
land is the first President, it is said,
who has undertaken to scrutinize pri.
vate bills. But he became alarmed at
the reckless way Congress was rushing
the pension business. A fortnight age
the Senate alone, in one day, passed
over $50 such bills, after merely read
ing their titles. This hurried and care.
less way of taking money out of the
National Treasury struck the President
as eminently improper, and he began
sending to the Pension Office for the
records in order to satisfy his mind
concerning each of the cases which
have thus far come before him. 1t is
perhaps, no more than the President s
duty, but it is duty which has rarely
been performed and the question is,
where Mr. Cleveland is going to fin d
the time for the pursuit of his excel
lent policy
No speech probably has been made
during the present session of Congress
which has created so much of seusa-
tion as the one delivered by Mr.. Hew
lit, on Thursday, when he protested
against any further raids upon the
Treasury under the name of bounties
or other benefits of that kind to soldiers
of the late war, Most of these propo-
sitlons are ill-considered, and although
for seventy-fiye years to come, the
South will be helping to pay pensions
to the soldiers and TO the widows OF
the soldiers of the North, a Southern
Member cannot raise question as to
the prOpriety of any of these grabs,
without rendering himself liable to
charges of disloyalty, hlppantly and
cheaply brought.
The reference made by the gentle
man from New York to the peculiar
position of Southern Members, who
are thus embarrassed when they would
like TO oppose these ruinous schemes
according To their convictions, was
especially relevant and timely. lie de-
clared that the limit of endurance on
the part of the tax payer had been
reached and that the discomfort on &C
count of excessive taxation was break
ing out in riots, dynamite and death.
"Those who want to dive their hands
down into the Treasury" said he, stake
advantage of the delicate position in
which the Southern men are placed,
being subject to the charge of disloy-
atty if they resist the steal" But