Omaha daily bee., 1889-06-24
A Dependent Sen ator.
ST. Louis Republic,

Senator Charles +. Henderson, of Ne
braska, has the reputation of being man of
abundant means, but whether he is or not,
he has degraded himself and the senate in
becoming pensioner on public bounty. He
has done this, and in doing it has committed
the additional wrong of using his senatorial
influence to obtain special privilege for him
self over others more deserving public char
ity because more neceSsitous. Under the
arrangement between Tanner and the SER
geant-at-arms of the Nebraska senate acting
for Mr.. Henderson, his claim to increase
was expedited" granted aud the pension re-
issued so as to give him 81, 900 in lump as
arrearages. Mr.. Henderson can not claim
that he receives this money as a testimonial
of his country's gratitude. He received his
full pay during his service, and he was while
it lasted, promoted to the rank and pay of a
brlgadier general. He has since been pro-
NOTED to the rank and pay of United States
senator, and was in the full enjoyment of it
when he asked charity; when asking addi-
tonal charity he uses his influence to obtain
largess.
1t is at all times shameful thing, uu-
worthy the character of an American, that
any able bodied citizen capable of supporting
himself should ask to be supported at public
expense. 1t Is more shameful that such
man as Mr. Mauderson, with ample means
of support, should make himself q burden on
the badly paid and overworked labor of the
country. This $4,000 he has obtained as
back-charity was taken in taxes from men
who work hard on small wages; who find
great difficulty in supporting themselves and
their families. Senator Manderson knows
this. He knows that IN the long run the taxes
come out of the labor of the country; he
knows that the poor workmen of the north
and the poor negro of the south are the ones
on whose enforced charity he has forced him.
self. They may not knowit. not being capa-
BILE of the close reasoning necessary to COM
prehend it, but being a United States sena-
tor accustomed to reason on such matters,
he knows that in his abundance he forces
himself on the charity of American poverty
and puts himself as an added load on the
back of the laborer, already staggering with
the loads upon him.
1t is not easy to understand how any man
who claims TO have the self-respect of self
governing American can become pensioner
on the public unless he is in absolute need.
There Is something in the idea of dependence
on the public that has in all times been re-
| voting to the honest pride that seeks to go
through the world bearing its own burdens
on its own shoulders, that it may thereby
perhaps find opportunity to tighten burdens
| on the shoulders of others. But it does not
present itself so to Hon. Charles f. Mander-
son, senator from Nebraska. The idea of
being public burden is so far from being
repulsive to him that he deliberately in
CreaSeS HlllSell dS II uuiucu W Juo lull lllulu
of his senatorial influence. IL his honor feels
the hurt, it is healed by the jingle in his
pocket Of the poor coDpers taken from the
| ignorant negro laborer and the poor miners,
| who, as he may learn from Governor Hovey's
proclamation, are now starving to 9eath in
Indiana.
Yet having done this, Senator Manderson
will no doubt do his best to look self-sup-
porting Americans in the face as if he wers
independent and their equal. 1t is remarka-
ble That n United States senator should have
succeeded in deceiving himself into the be-
lief that, if dependence and independence
can not be reconciled, pension with "a, 600
back charity is better than independence.