The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1888-03-21

could not oot the principle os1ablished n eny
pssss SSoS ssa ssssoa
fror my Efforts 70 remove thss limitation n. ana
the dsts q disability Or SsoRs1ss 1s 20 shss is sSs
stigma should be wiped out and the honor OF
the nation rsdeemed. And yet the senator from
speech upon the innrmities OF the tariff on :
pension bill, said that we were told when that
bill passed Ia 1879 that IL would take about
the outside. to make IL operative and that hum
dreds OF millions had since been spent Mr..
President that statement has been refuted so
often that 1t does not deserve another word In
reply. No such statement was made; no such
statsment could have been made.
The only statement was that to apply that
principle 20 those who were already upon the
roll would not require at the outside over $780,
U.0,0oo and might not cost more than SIS 900 900.
How could ,S any one say what would DO the OK
after? 1t would depend entirely upon the
number Of applications under It, And yet.
with a disingenuousness that has no parallel,
upon every occasion that offers the Senators
who oppose this bill affirm that the nation was
duped into the adoption of that measure by
false statements as to the amount 1t would
Are we at last, SAYS the Sen. or from Mis-
souri,. TO have servfce-pensio.' ill? Nothing,
ne said, will content the soldiers and their
allies but service pension bill and are we TO
have that? Yes, Mr.. President you are to
have that There is not to-day a surviving
any surviving soldier I'm any Of the antecedent
wars OF the republic who Is not on the roll for
q service pension-not one l voted for the
Mexican service pension bill. not because be-
lieved 1t was wholly justifable, but for the
purpose OF removing the last obstacle in the
pathway OF giving service pension TO every
surviving soldier OF the Union armies
The Mexican war was waged In the interest
OF the Democratic party, for the extension OF
the area OF human slavery. A very large pro-
portion OF those who fought were from the
Southern States. and very large part OF those
who have been benefited by IL, believed then
and know now, had served In the Confederate
army Who do you suppose was the first man
who received a pension under the Mexican
pension bill? Who the first beneficiary OF
this service-pension billp Was 1t some disabled.
mutilated, INDECENT veteran. who. as the Sena-
tor from Alabama has assured me, fought
der the American flag in that great war, and
acquired that enormous area OF which the state
OF Kansas was once part?
IL seems TO me that can imagine that ven-
cradle, decrepit. and aged survivor of the Mex
the physical wreck who is getting 500 month
as a totally disabled Union soldier, to ask him
that the benehcence OF ~ a month might
be doled out To him for tho service he
rendered in the Mexican war; who
stands priplus inter pares on that roll of honor
shining and illustrious. as an illustration of a
nations gratitude? John s. Williams, ex-sena-
tor from Kentucky. man who would resent as
u personal imputation any avernent of any
description whatever that he was not an abso-
lutely sound hale strong and competent man.
We recolect the brown tresses that waved over
the brow OF that veteran, the appearance Of
youth and vigor, OF almost boyish juvenility
that was won't to accompany him; man who
was ar aspirant for an appointment on the
Interstate Commission, who wanted to be re-
elected to this body a man who IL generally
suspected OF being In the enjoyment OF an
ample fortune an applicant for the position of
Minister to Me xico a man who rendered, as /
am told, distinguished service as Kentucky
Confederate in the armies that were marshaled
against the American Unionl
And yet. Mr.. President, because we ask that
to the ten or twelve thousand disabled soldiers
and INDECENT veterans of the Union army who
shall DO granted, we are told that il is an in
furious extension of the nations liberality.
whom as a matter Of fact every one knows that
the benefactions and donations OF the Mexican
service bill indefinitely wider and more
expansive than anything that has been pro-
posed by the bill that ia now pending before us
as proposed even to be amended by the Senator
from Iowa.
Mr.. President, as the comrades of the Grand
Army Of the Republic have been stigmatized in
this debate rs band OF sordid mercenaries,
organized for the purpose Of plundering the
public Treasury. aud like the legions OF Rome,
ready either to be bid for to be hidden against
for the control OF the empire. will read par
agraph or two before / close from the journal OF
the twenty first annual session OF the National
Encampment held at st. Louis on the 2Sth, 18th
and 30th OF September last that organization
which the Senator from Missouri says through
its officers had insolently aspersed the Chief
Magistrate of the Republic and threatened him
with personal indignity il he attempted to visit
the city Of ST. Louis at the time when that en-
campment was being held. In the name OF that
organization, so far as can speak for IL, re-
pudiate and deny that assertion. No threats
OF dscourtesy, no nenaces OF violence, no hos
tile criticism was INDUCED against the Chief
Magistrate by the Grand Army OF the Republic.
he could have gone to st. Louis with entire
safety. He knew that he did not deserve well
OF that organization. and he felt the stings of
that conscience which makes towards OF US
all. The Commander of the Grand Army Of
the Republic says:
Il heartily congratulate all who have the
pleasure TO attend this grand reunion OF old
comrades whose friendship was welded in the
hot iamo OF battle, in the camp. on she march.
and cemented by tho love which all hUre and
still maintain for the Union. In frsternity,
charity, and loyalty we stand, proud OF the fact
that there is not now nor has there ever been any
bitter feeling of hate for those Of our fellow
citizens who, once in arms against us, but now
being loyal have long ago taken their old-time
places in our hearts, never, we deyoutly hope,
TO be removed therefrom. We have not now.
nor have we ut any time since the war closed,
had any disposition to open again the bloody
chasm which once unhappily divided this peo-
pie. We not only will not ourselves reopen
that dreadful abyss, but We will, with the loyal
people North and South, protest against all at
tempts which others may make 70 do so, by
holding up for especial honor and distinction
anything that pertains to or in any manner
glorifes the cause OF disunion.
with the people OF the South we only ask to
continue tho friendly rivalry long ago entered
upon In the effort to make our beloved land
great and prosperous, and its people intelli-
gent happy and virtuous.
we will rival them In exaltng all that per-
tains to aud honors this great Union and in
condemning everything that tends to foster
a hostile sentiment thereto. We will rival
them in earnest endeavor to incu L. ate in the
minds OF all the citizens of this country, and
especially OF our children. a heartfelt love for
the United States of America, to the end that
present and coming generations shall,
In o very part of the land, believe in
and maintain true allegiance thereto, based
upon paramount respect for and fdeli y TO
its constitution and laws, which will lead them
to 'discountenance whatever tends to weaken
loyalty, incites to Instruction, treason. or
rebellion or in any manner impairs the effi-
cheney and pennanency of our tree institu-
tions, and will impel them to encourage the
spread of universal liberty. equal rights. and
Justice to all men. and to defend these senti-
ments which are quoted from the fundamental
law Of our order, with their lives IL need be.
and to the further end that they shall 30 revere
the emblems OF the Union that under no cir
same honorable terms the symbols OF a senti-
ment which Is antagonistic to IT'S perpetuity.
Tho contemplation of the grand picture OF
long ago preserved Union, mighty people
prospecting no people on earth ever before
prospered with future far beyond that which
opens to any other nation. a land. comrades.
which to all its citizens Is worth living for, and
a country ind government worth diving for,
constitutes the gre atest reward of those who
havo suffered and bled and striven that such q
spectacle might be possible"
An organization that ontertans those senti-
ments and that Ia animated by such purposes
is stigmatized here as a gang OF sordid merce-
naries, organized for plumber Mr.. President,
they were organized for charity. The total