The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1888-02-29
unless he knew the opinion Ct the chic; .x.eu.

unless he knew the opinion Of the chief exeeu-
tive
members of the pension committee that side,
collectively, scriatim and otherwise, TO get up
and say what they mean by this bill. and whsth-
er they would vote for 1t If they knew the Presi-
Mr.. Faulkner disclaimed all personal knowi-
edge of the views OF the executive in tho mat
ter.
Mr.. Plumb said he had not supposed that the
Senator from West Virginia had talked to the
President about il. But, however it was wheth-
er By ANALYSIS by induction. or otherwise, IL
was plain To be seen that effort was made 90
get bill which the President would sign. and
that was to be the limit. the verge Of what the
Senate was to do. The ex-soldiers who would
be relieved by the bill were appealing TO Con-
gress to legslate in view of the facts and not in
relation to the campaign of next autumn.
Mr.. Teller protested against the Senate OF the
United States being threatened with an execu-
tive veto He bad never heard such thing be-
fore in the Senate, and he hoped he would never
hear it again. 1t seemed TO him to be great
degradation to the Senate for Senator to stand
up and say that he proposed TO be governed in
his vote by what the executive thought, or felt,
wanted The President was coordinate
branch of the government, but was not the leg
islative department of the government If the
great high body which had maintained for one
hundred years decent. dignifed position
among the people was to be threatened with ex-
ecutive disapprobation, there would be an end.
and there ought to be an end, to the American
Senate.
Mr.. Beck hoped that the Senator from Colo
RADIO would tell the Senate what he thought Of
the speech of the Senator from Nebraska MI.
Mandersonl as to the action of the Ct. A H.,
the benefciaries under the BILL to what their
lodges and posts had determined that the Sem
ate should do, and how far that was legitimate
Mr. Henderson suggested il the Senator from
Kentucky proposed TO take away the right of
petition from the G.. A. r. he would meet with
no support, even on his own side of the chamber.
He denied that the G. A. r.. as an organization.
was to be benefited by the bill. That oreaniza-
ton represented the cases OF those ex-soldiers
who. by reason of their disabilities, were unable
to attend it's encampmsnts. Perhaps the time
had been reached when the q. A. Il. should
apologize, not Only for exercising the right OF
petition. but for helping to maintain . legisla-
tive body to which it could not appeal for re-
dress of it's wrongs.
DIR. Beck denied having ever suggested that
the G. A. r. should not exercise the right of Pc
tition; and said that nobody had suggested that
the President had not right to veto an OBJ
noxious measure. The Senator from Nebraska
had told the Senate that the action of the com,
mittee on psnsions in reporting the bill. had
grown out of the action of the G. A. r., which
to be itself the beneficiary under the bill.
The Senator's Speech he said, was moro degrad-
ing to the Senate than any alluston to the Presi-
dents action on the bill could be.
Mr.. Henderson said he at q loss to
ceive how the executive was so immaculate and
unapproachable that his action was not to be
criticised. He claimed the right, not only in his
capacity as Senator, but as citizen, to criti-
else even the acts Of the President He had not
discussed the probable action of the President
on the bill. except to suggest the desire to have
bill passed that would probably become a law
the Senate and he thought that every Senator
ought to feel that it was degradation. he did
not mean to say that the President was respon-
sible for that If he was, he ought to be i'm
peached. The President has no business catch.
ing the ears of the Senators before the bill was
presented to him.
Mr.. Blackburn said that he deprecated the
violation of that very proper rule which prohio-
tied Senator or Representative from under
taking to influence legislative action by any ref
erence to the presumed course of the executive.
He had heard that rule violated by three Sena.
tors-Mr. Davis, Mr.. Henderson and Mr.. Blair
These Senators had all said that the bill had to
be framed and fashioned to avoid . veto mes
sage at the hands of the executive. He did not
know what authority they had for the state
ment. But he did know that there was but
one political organization in the country to-day
which was in perfect marching order, ready to
take the field with knap-sacks packed and all
things ready. 1t was not the Democratic party.
something of it's organization and of the appre-
citation of the necessity for it, 1t was
not the Republican party. Crushed by its
long-expected and woll-earEsd defeat, its
disintegration had made it anything except an
efficient organization to-day. 1t was the g. A.
r., which represented the only efficiently organ
The Senator from Nebraska, who so apiy
championed the bill, had told the Senate and
country that the bill was the demand made by
the g. A. R., and had protested substantially
against any material amendment of it, because
that organization had formulated WHAT Not it's
petition to American Congress. but its de-
mand or an American Congress for legislation,
in which, as his colleague had said, it was itself
to be the beneficiary. IL the Senator
from Nebraska was to be accepted
authority, tho bill not petit
ton, but q demand, sent to Congress by q
great well-organized and perfectly systematized
political agency that proposed to remove the
trouble which environed both houses; to do
away with revenue bills, and tariff revisions,
and additions of internal revenue taxation, and
to dispose of the treasury surplus by such bills
solution to be offered by the Republican party
for the financial difficulties in which the country
was involved He denied that the Senator from
Minnesota, or the Senator from Nebraska. or
any other Senator, had any right authority
to charge or to intimate that the President had
made up his mind to veto the bill II 1T went to
him in one shape or in another shape
After some remarks by Senators Henderson
and Blair, Mr.. Blackburn went on to say that il
was not to be wondered at if those Senators in
their zeal should undertake TO warn the super
loyal of the land against the disloyal policy of
loyal executive. If those Senators were unwill-
ing to submit the bill for the determination of
an American Congress, but insisted that it
should go through in stereotyped form after
a procrustean fashion, because the G. A. r. so
surplus 10 the Treasury in thar way, and no
other, they should be frank enough to face the
issue and 60 to the country upon it,
After further debate by Messrs. Teller. Hoar,
Black burn. Blair and Henderson, the bill went
over without action, and the Senate proceeded to
executive business and soon adjourned.
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