The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-03-01
AN AUCTION In POLITICS.
VEST MAKES A GREAT HIT ON THE
PENSION BILL.
The Grand Army of the Republic the

atOrS Merely Bids for the Soldier
Vote in the Presidential Campaign.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 29--In the Senate to-
day the dependent pension bill was again
taken up
Mr.. Wilson, of Iowa, moved an amend
ment to insert the words 'from infirmities
of age" so as to pension all ex-soldiers suf-
| fering from intirmities of age, or from
mental or physical disability"
In the debate which took place ON the
amendment Mr.. Plumb delivered an elo-
| quent eulogy on the army, referring par
ticularly to the fact that 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 avoca-
| tions.
TO WARD OFF POVERTY.
He did not believe that any patriotic
man, any man who looked with patriotic
fervor on that portion of the country's his
| tory when 1000, 600 of men sprang to arms
! to maintain the government, would ever be
willing to oppose the enactment of any law
whereby any of those men should be drawn
| from the ban of poverty and given at least
| a decent livelihood. The bill as it came
| from the committee was, perhaps, a step in
the right direction 1t was not what it
ought to be and he had sought to make it
better
NO sLUR INTENDED.
There was to be, he said, no insinuation
| in the Senate or elsewhere that Union sol
ders were to be beneficiaries under the bill
| in the sense of being supplicants or un-
worthy persons. He did not think that
! partisanship would go that far; and if it
| did, he believed that the American people
would refute it. Congress was not now
| dealing with slender resources, but was
| dedling with abundance. Less than the
| pending bill proposed would not be Just,
more was not asked for.
Mr.. Vest said that he had not had the
slightest idea when he spoke, to Mr.. Will
| sons amendment, of producing the burst of
| patriotic, fervid eloquence, which the Sen
| ate had just listened to.
ALMsHoUsEs AND SOLDIERS.
They had heard good deal about aims
houses and veteran soldiers. In the State
! of Missouri there were no Federal soldiers
in the almshouSes, and he was proud to say
| that there were no Confederate
| soldiers in the almshouses
either. When Gen. Lee surrendered
| at Appomattox there were but 5000 muskets
| left of that splendid army which had faced
| the world in arms, and which had been
battered and beaten back by overwhelming
numbers. Out OF the companies which had
gone into that terrible struggle, from 125 to
| 180 men strong, only 10 had gone back to
their kindred and their homes.
NO BEGGARs IN THE SOUTH
The South, to-day, was covered with
manned and crippled soldiers. who had been
shot and shelled and sabre struck for their
| honest convictions, and they asked no pen
sion and would not takeit God be blessed }
| They were not in almshouses, and none of
them had been seen begging their bread
| Whence, then, came the talk of Federal sol
diers in almshouses? They were
not there. He was tired and
sick of the insinuations of robbery. and
pretence and hypocrisy in the name of the
| true and gallant soldiers of the Union He
| had personal friends among them, and las
he had said before) he would give TO every
| disabled or dependent soldier of the Fede-
raj army, and the widows and orphans of
those who had lost their lives in the service,
the last acre of land and the last dollar. He
would have done the same for the Confede-
rate soldiers ''if God had blessed our cause y
LIBERALITY UNPARALLELED.
Why talk that Congress had not done
| enough for the union soldiers when the
country had paid out since 1865 1888, 600,
| 600 for pensions, liberality unparalleled in
| the history of the worldg The State had
been told that the country owed the soldiers
| debt of eternal gratitude because they
had not with their mained hand seized the
government. The great military and
| political organization, the Grand Army of
| the Republic, had thrown its lance into the
debates of Congress and had sent bills to
| their accredited Senators for the puT pose of
| being enacted.
| LIMIT TO HUMAN ENDURANCE.
When the President of the United States
had honestly and bravely discharged his
executive duty and vetoed an enactment
| which he considered improper, he had been
| threatened by the officers of that organiza-
| tion with personal insult If he dared TO
| make his presence known in the city where
1t held its annual meeting. There was
limit to human endurance. He had voted
for the pension bills, coerced by his posi-
tion, because he had been a Confederate,
and because he was honestly anxious
for the honor and glory Of the country. He
had voted for them because he wanted 10
evidence, TO the world that the men with
whom he had acted in the unfortunate strife
respected the fair and gallant soldiers Of the
Union, and were willing to give them even
more than they demanded.
THE LIMIT REACHED.
"But," he repeated with strong emphasis,
'DHeTe Is II iiliJ, anu udNb IeaEHbu III. L
will be driven no farther by claim agents
and plunderers in the garb of
soldiers For the honest aud brave
and real soldiers of the Union
am willing to vote any amount of pen
sions. In this city is a corps of men en-
gagged in inventing legislation TO take more
money out of the Federal Treasury The
report Of the Commissioner Of Pensions
shows that when the arrears Of pensions
act Of 1879 was passed there were some
10000 applications for pensions pending
The very next year the number of applica-
tions jumped TO 10000.
INVENTED BY CLAIM AGENTS.
The claim agent invented that law and
put the Limitation on IL, and the number Of
applications for pensions jumped in one
yoar from 80, 900 TO 1l0,O ,O00 and the amount
Of disbursements from $50, 5000 TO $57,-
0O0,000."
Mr.. Vest went on 10 say that of the
1900 900 men enrolled as soldiers during the
four years Of the war there were applica-
tions from ,200,0 900 for pensions on account
of disability. Such military execution, he
said, had never been known in the history
of the whole world.
THREE DISABLED BY ONE.
The Confederates had thought that they
had poor powder and ordnance stores; and
yet, making due allowance for the effect Of
the climate in producing disability, 10 would
appear that ono Confederate soldier, half
clothed and half fed. had disabled three of