Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1888-03-09
Senator Vest ON the Pension Bill

/ Senate last Wednesday on the de
pendent soldiers pension bill was one
of the most interesting of the session.
( In the debate which ensued on
an amendment offered by Mr.. Wilson,
/ Mr.. Plumb delivered an eloquent
euolgy on the army, referring partic-
ularlv 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 10 peaceful avocations.
Mr.. Vest said when General Lee sur
rendered 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. The South to-day was COW
cred with manned and crippled sol
diers. who had been shot and shelled
| and sabre struck for their honest con-
victions, and they asked no pension,
and would not takeit God be blessedD
| They were not in almshouses, and
none of them had ever been seen beg
ging for bread Whence, then, came
the talk of Federal soldiers III aims
| houses? They were not there. Why
| the talk that Congress had not done
/ enough for the Union soldiers when
the country had paid out since 1865
/ 1888, 600, 600 for pensions-a liberality
unparalleled in the history of the world?
| The Senate had been told to-day that
/ the country owed the soldiers n debt
/ of eternal gratitude because they had
not with mailed hand seized the gov
ernment. 4 great military and po-
| litical organization-the q. y. R
| had thrown its lance into the debates
of Congress and had sent the bills 10
| their accredited Senators for the pur
pose of being enacted. When the
| President of the United States had
honestly and bravely discharged his
executive duty and vetoed an enact
ment which he considered improper,
/ he had been threatened by the officers
of that organization with personal in
suit if he dared TO make his presence
known in the city where il held its an
nual meeting Here was a limit to
/ human endurance He had voted
/ for pension bills, coerced by his posi-
ate and because he was honestly anX-
! ious for the honor and glory Of the
! country. He had voted for them be-
! cause he wanted to evidence TO the
world that the men with whom he had
| acted in the unfortunate strife re-
/ spected the fair and gallant soldiers
| of the Union, and were willing TO give
! them even more than they demanded.
But he repeated with strong EN-
phasis, there is limit and / have
| reached it. / will be drawn no further
by claims agents and plunderers in
the garb of soldiers. For the honest
| and brave and real soldiers of the
Union | am willing to vote any
amount of pensions. In this city is II
corps of men engaged in inventing
legislation 10 take more money out OF
the federal treasury
Mr.. Vest went Oh to say that OF the
2,3O0, 600 men enrolled as soldiers dur
ing the four years Of the war there
were applications from 100000 for
pensions on account Of disability.
Such military execution, he said, had
never been known in the history Of
the whole world. The Confederates
thought they had poor powder and
ordnance stores, and yet, making due
allowance for the effect Of climate in
producing disability, it would appear
that one Confederate soldier, half
clothed and half fed, had disabled
three Of his adversaries. There had
been no such destruction in military
annals since the Children Of Israel
marched through the wilderness de
stroying whole nations in n single
day. A recent dispatch from Paris
had caused political candidates TO be
come as thick las leaves in Vallam-
brosa." Before that dispatch had
come under the yeasty waves ofocean
the Republican party had been in the
condition Of the man who, having
come home some hours before his US
ual time in the morning, and having
been asked why he had gone home so
soon. replied that every other place
in town was shut up. The doors OF
the Republican party were now open
and presidential candidates were com
ing TO the front without limit as to
quantity or locality. The Senate had
been engaged for some days past in a
political auction for the soldier vote.
First had come his friend from Ne
braska, (Mr. Manderson). backed by
the Grand Army Of the Republic, a nd
he (Mr. Vest) had listened with real
qualification to his dulcet and modu-
lated voice from the beginning 10 the
end Of his speech. Even that sena-
tors filings at the President Of the Uni
ted States had not detracted from the
general merit OF his bid for the soldier
vote, and when he received a floral
tribute as a token Of regard from his
admiring constituents behind him, he
(Mr. Vest) had but one single sugges-
tion TO make, and that was that the
lilies should have been embroidered
over the portal Of the White House
That was the object Of all debate.
of all the bidding for the soldier vote