The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1888-03-08
THE DEPENDENT PENSION EILL.
A Telling Speech by Senator Vest.

The dependent pension bill was then
taken up.
Senator Wilson, of Iowa, moved an
amendment to insert the words "from
the iHtirmities of age SO as to pension
all eN-soldiers suffering from the in
| tirnities of age or from mental or ply
sical disability.
In the debate which took place on
! the amendment Senator Plumb deliv-
cred an eloquent eulo@y on the army.
! He referred particularly to tbs fact
when the war closed the army could
have placed one of its leaders at the
head OF the Government, and could
have dictated its own terms, but had
asked nothing except to be permitted
to disband and return to peaceful avo-
cations. He did not believe that any
patriotic man, any man who looked
with patriotic fervor on that portion
Of the country's history when two
millions OF men sprang to arms to main
tam the Government, would ever be
willing to oppose the enactment Of any
law Whereby any of tie men should be
drawn from the ban of poverty and
given at least decent livelihood
The bill, as it came from the COM
mittee, was perhaps step in the right
direction. 1t was not what it ought to
be and he had sought to makeit better.
There was, he said, no insinuation in
the Senate or elsewhere that Union SOL
dlers were to be beneficiaries under the
bill IN the sense of being suppliants or
unworthy persons. He did not think
that partisanship would 90 that far,
and if it did he believed that the
American people would refute it. Con-
gress was not now dealing with slender
resources, but was dealing with abund-
ance: Less than the pending bill pro-
posed would not be just, more was not
asked for
Senator Vest said that he had not
had the slightest idea, when he spoke
to Senator Wilson's amendment, of
producing the burst of patriotic, fervid
eloquence, which the Senate had just
listened to. They had heard a good
deal about almshouses, and he was
proud to say that there were no Con-
federate soldiers in atnshouses either.
When Gen. Lee surrendered at Apo
mattoX there were but eight thousand
muskets left of that splendid army
which had faced a world in arms, and
which had been battered and beaten
back by overwhelming numbers. Out
Of companies which had gone into that
terrible struggle from 125 to $50 men
strong, only ten had gone back to their
; kindred and their homes. The South
to-day was covered with manned and
crippled soldiers, who had been shot
and shelled and sabre-struck for their
| hnnact aSl- M
pension, and would not take it. (God
be blessed.) They were not in aims
houses and none of them had ever Jeen
seen begging for bread. Whence then,
came the talk of Federal soldiers in
almshouses? They were not there. He
was tired and sick ofthe insinuations of
robbery, and pretence and hypocrisy in
the name Of the true and gallant sol
, diers Of the Union. He had personal
friends among them, and las he had
said before he would give to every dis
abled or dependent soldier of the Fed
eral army, and the widows and orphans
Of those who had lost their lives in the
service, the last acre of land and last
dollar. He would have done the same
for the Confederate soldiers ''if God
had blessed our cause" Why say that
= Congress had not done enough for the
: Union soldiers, when the country had
paid out since 1865 eight hundred and
eighty-three million dollars for pen
sions. A liberality unparalleled in the
, history OF the world.
I The Senate had been told to-day that
the country owed the soldiers debt OF
eternal gratitude because they had not
with mailed hand seized the Govern
ment. That great military and politica,
: organization, the G.. 4. r., had thrown
4 its lance into the debates of Congress
t and had sent bills to their accredited
o Senators for the purpose Of being enact
y ed. When the President of the United
[ States had honestly and bravely dis
: charged his executive duty and vetoed
( an enactment which he considered
improper, he had been threatened by
the officers of that organization with
S personal insult if he had dared K
It make his presence known in the city
n where it held its annual meeting. Their
was limit to human endurance. H
\ voted for pension bills, coerced by hi
n position, because he had been a G. )n
federate and because he was honestl,
anxious for the honor and glory of th
country. He had voted for them be
= cause he wanted to evidence to th
J. world that the men with whom he hat
acted in the unfOrtunates strife reSpecte,
u the fair and gallant soldiers of tn
u Union, and were willing to give then
10 even more than they demanded, bu
" the repeated with strong emphasis
) there is limit and l have reached it
5 will be driven no farther by CLAIM
e agents and plunderers in the garb c
n soldiers. For the honest and brave AM
y real soldiers Of the Union I am willin
- to vote any amount Of pensions.
In this city is corps Of men engaged
in inventing Legislation to take NOR
money out of the Federal treasury. TIL
II report of the commissioner of pension
i shows that when the Arrears-of-Pen
% sions Act of 1879 was passed there wer
=, some 10000 applications for pension
Il pending. The very next yearthe mum
'e ber of applications jumped to O,0N
e Claim agents invented that law and pu
20 limitation on it, and the number 0
applications for pensions jumped in on
: year from 10000 to 100000, and tn
e amount of disbursements from thirt,
is millions to fifty-sevpn millions.
r. Senator Vest went on to say that Q
= the 2,3OO,0OO men enrolled as soldier
u during the four years Of the war thcr
y were applications from 100000 70
pensions on account of disability. Sucl
military execution has never beel
known in the history of the who'll
o world. The Confederates had though
:. that they had bad powder and ordnanc
, stores, and yet, making due allowanc
l. for the effect of climate in producin.
It disability, it would appear that on
Confederate soldier, half-clothed anc
half-fed, had disabled three ofhis adver
:. saries There had been 10 such destruc
v ton in military annals since the Child
rem of Israel marched through TIL
Il wilderness destroying whole nations il
e q single day.
d The craftsmanship Of the Persian
-, IL \ ,.,i,;.,,, Ni,rl,i..