Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1888-01-27
SOLID APPRECIATION.
INTERESTING DEBATE OVER A PEN
SION TO MRS. GEN. LOGAN

The Bill Passes by a Large MaJority"-
| A Capital Newspaper Knows All About
the Coming Tariff BilI-spooner Pro-
poses to Look After the Telegraph Bust
| ness-Plumb's Mares Nest.
| WASHINGTON CRY, Jan. The interest
in congressional proceedings Thursday CEN
tered on the bill providing a pension Of
| g., 900 per annum for Mrs. General Logan.
Berry, Of Arkansas, who rarely INDUCES in
| debate, improved the occasion to bitterly de-
nounce the bill Among other things he
said the pension was not given for distin-
guished services, but to prevent the widow
from becoming charge on the public. The
| pension to Mrs. Hancock was not in point,
| he commended because Gan. Hancock was in
active service when he died, but there was no
reason why that bad precedent should bs fol-
lowed. He believed the principle of the bill
was wrong, and he objected to it in tho in
terest of the widows of other officers and Of
private soldiers.
| Stewart of Nevada made splendid APP
| peal In favor Of the bill. He believed that
| the widows OF all private soldiers would re-
| joice in the passage of the measure 1t was
| necessary for the country to have some con-
| spicuous example,, something for our young
men to emulate. What would the country
have been without the name of Washington
What would it he in modern times with
out the name of Lincoln. and what would it
have been If no such men as Logan had livedi
The senate should recognize these facts,
and reward those who furnished con
spcu ous examples of public service.
HOar said il mere desert We're the tost, the
same rate Of compensation should he paid the
patriotic soldier AS to the officer, and the
same monuments erected to the one as to the
other; but it was to the interest of the private
soldier and Of those concerned in his fame
that cons pcuous houorS should be paid to
the military leader in his lifetime and after
his death ample and generous provision made
for his widow and orphans. 1t had been said
that the secret of Napoleon's success was that
every soldier under him realized that he car
red marshal'S baton in his knapsack, and
there was nothing more inspiring to the
courage of private solder than to feel that
he might be promoted to the chief places in
military command
Dawes, who reported the bill from the PEN
sions committee, expressed great regret that
objections had been made to it. In all times
nations had delighted in doing honor to their
distinguished citizens who, like Gen. Logan,
had illustrated in many capacities the virtues
of the institutions under which they had been
reared. The case of Gen. Shields was paral-
Iel to that OF Zen. LOgal-eaCh had served
in the Mexican war each had been Il mem
Der Of the senate, each had rendered distin-
guished services in the war of the rebellion,
and each carried to his grave the scars of
wounds received in the service OF his coun-
try. Mrs. Shields had been granted by con-
gress a pension of 500 per month"; and no
objection was made to it.
Reagan antagonized the bill with as much
bitterness as did Berry. lie charged that
the measure was in violation of fundamental
principles and endangered the very charac-
ter of the government. The founders of the
government had prohibited congress and the
states from granting patents of nobility,
proceeding on the idea that there was to be
no privileged class. For three quarters of
century this was the practice; but during the
last quarter of century this principle had
been dIsregarded and federal judges and
army and navy officers had been retired with
pensions. This was un-Americen and not
in consonance with our system of govern
ment.
Call of Florida, disagreeing with Berry and
Reagan, made very graceful effort on be-
half of the bill, which attracted tho marked
attention of Republican senators. There
never had been, he said, and never would
be "A government in which merit was not re-
warded, and thera could be no society in
which rewards wers denied to virtue. This
was a principle of public policy which the
people OF free repuJlic should cherish ev en-
more than the people of "A monarchy