The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1886-07-30

times with vein of humor."
"a vein of humOr" God help the
Nation whose Chief Executive can find
no more fitting subject for his gibes than
the battered wrecks of great war from
which he held aloof; the widows and
the orphans of those who may sleep i'm
unknown graves where they fell, but
whose white foreheads have felt the kiss
of angels.
Truly 1t has been said that the spirit
and style of these veto messages have
no precedent, and 1t is safe to say that
i'm his heartless sneers at the unfortun-
ate he need fear no future rival or i'm
itator.
With great questions of national and
international importance pressing for
action; with scandal in his Cabinet so
gross that his own party papers demand
his attention to it; with our fishery in
terests paralyZed by foreign aggression,
the Administrator to take note; with
daily atfronts to our flag and arbitrary
seizures of our vessels by the petty an-
thorities of British colony, calling
aloud for the exercise of statemanship,
or nj 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 an
nounce that he denies himself to callers
on business and postpOnes Cabinet
meetings in order to devote himself I'M
disturbed to the grinding of his grist OF
pension vetoes! What employment for
great statesman i'm his honeymoon
cracking poor jokes at sick soldiers and
glibly arguing away the little pension
that would barely keep the wolf of hun
ger from the door of some destitute but
loyal home!
My God, Mr.. Speaker, what specta-
Gle this presents! ! think can see the
muse of history looking at the grand
procession of the Chief Magistrates of
tins country, seeking ont the illustrous
features in the likes of each TO be de-
pIcted in the great pantheon of Ameri-
can history, and | can imagine the ex-
preston of inetfable disgust which
would pass over the features of the God
dess of LibofLy Az she might he called
qpon to survey the allegorical represent
tations of the characteristic achieve
ments 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
battlefield ofGettysburg, amid the graves
of the heroes of the Union, and there
dedicating and pledging for all time to
come the gratitude of the American peo-
pie to the Nations defenders; and then
passing to the next panel, upon which
should be delineated with all the fell
city of art the picture of the Chief Mag
istrate of to-day. sitting i'm his shirt
sleeves, with his collar unhuttoned,
perspiring over the vetoes of little pen.
sion bills to the heroes ofthe American
Republic. [Applause.l
Mr.. Speaker, ! want to say word
about the manner IN which votes have
been divided in some striking cases on
this floor. OF the rs votes that were
cast March 3, 1885, against putting
Ulysses :. Grant upon the retired list OF
the United States Army, 66 were east
by Democrats, who on Feb. !, 1881
voted to put Fitz-JOhn Porter on thai
list. OF those IS Democrats IS were
from the States that were engaged il
the rebellion; unwilling to pay tribute
to the great chieftain of our armies
eager to reward the man to whom they
were indebted for Il Confederate sue
cess. Fifty-one of those Democrats are
Members of this House, and every one
of them who was present voted again al
this session to bestow upon Fitz John
Porter the honor which they had re
fused to Ulysses 5. Grant.
OF the n votes cast against Porter il
the House only one was cast by Il Dem
o2rat, and his constituency put hin
promptly under the guillotine. Thirty
four of the Democrats who in the 4Stl
congress voted to restore Fitz-John POr
ter to the honOrs and pay of Colone
in the United States Army voted III thi
congress that they would not allow tn,
widows of the Union soldiers who los
their lives through Porter's recreancy {,
have their pensions increased from So t,
SD month. OF 66 votes and two pair
announced against the increase of tn,
widows pensions all but two were cas-
by Representatives from the states late
ly in rebellion, the two exceptions be
ing the gentleman from New York (Mr
HewitO and the patriotic gentleman
from Wisconsin (Mr. Bragg, and no
body will want to dispute with then
the glory of that vote.
Mr.. Speaker, | want to put the re
6%sBeeihis:ii6n fbiifl where it belongs.
find by the Congressional Director,
that it was a remarkably representa-
tive vote Ofthe late Confederate States
1t embraced:
One ex-confederate postmaster ant
acting secretary of the treasury:
Two ex-cOnfederate congressman;
One eX-confederate State attorney
general,
One ex-confederate corps commander
Five ex-confederate brigadier-gener
ais;
Seven ex-confedcrate colonies;
Two eX-cOnfederate heutenant-cOlo
nels;
Two ex-confederate majors;
Seven eX-confederate lieutenants.
One ex-cOnfederate midshipman; an,
Four ex-confederate privates.
applause on the Republican side.)
AS look over that chivalric list, Mr.
Speaker, seem to hear again the plain
lively mellifluOus tones of the gentle
man from Kentucky, whom | do no
now see in his seat (Mr. Breckinridge)
who became so enraptured with tn,
"reminiscences of his own experience a
barefooted boy in the beautiful blue
grass region of Kentucky, that he coul,
J not bring his conscience to permit hin
to vote the little pittance of 81 more ,
month to enable the widows of Unioi
soldiers who died for their country Il
: put shoes upon their little barefootet
boys who have to fight against the rigor
Gus winters of that Northern land wher,
the patriotism was bred that saved tina
flag in the hour of peril. applause OF
the Republican side.)