The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1890-07-18
FUNSTON ON LEADING ISSUES.
Our Representative Ably Voices the
Sentiments of His Constituents on
Important Questions.

Three of the measures brought be
fore the present Congress that are Of
greatest interest to the people of the
Second District have been the Service
Pension bill, the Free Coinage bill,
and the bill to prevent grain gambling
On each of these measures at the prop.
er time Hon. +. HI. Funston spoke
strongly and sensibly, representing
faithfully the sentiment of the great
majority of his constituents. The
The speeches ars too long to be given
in full but the following extracts will
serve to show those who may not have
access to the Congressional Record,
the work our Congressman has been
doing and the position he has occupied:
THE SERVICE PENSION BILL.
1t is doubtless well known to the
members on this side of the House
that have favored and worked most
earnestly for perdiem service pension
bill. And now that / am about to
support measure 1.-THE Morrill, bill
having none of the per diem features
in it, l think it due myself that 1
should give some reasons for support
ing this measure.
Mr.. Speaker, if / had my way in
this matter there would be before the
House at this moment per diem SER
vice pension bill, having none of the
restrictions as to age, and granting to
each man a pension In accordance
with the length of time of his service.
/ can see no other principle on which
Justice can be melted out to all, and
every man satisfied. The man who
served his country four years certainly
ought to have larger pension than
the man who served it only ninety
DAYS. This proposition seems so rea-
sonable TO ME that can not see how,
any man on this floor can dispute it.
1t is certainly self-evident and there
fore needs no argument.
Now. as to restricting the beneficiar-
les to those who have reached or shall
reach the age of sixty-two, I can see
no reason for this, unless it be that
the committee hope that before many
of the old soldiers have reached the
age of sixty-two most will have gone
where they need no pensions.
am aware it is urged that heal
thy man does not need help until he
has reached the age of sixty-two. This
is possibly true of those who are
engaged in business other than manual
labor. The lawyer or the doctor is
doubtless at his best at or near sixty
two, and so also with the banker or
teacher and those who hold clerkships.
But it should be borne i'm mind that
there are comparatively few old sol
diers who are lawyers or bankers or
teachers. They had DO time to study
law or banking, or to make teachers
of themselves. The days they might
have spent i'm qualifying themselves
for such place were spent on the march
and on the tented field, so that to-day
the great body of old sol1iers are L.
borers on farms, i'm workshops, and
engaged i'm various other vocations
which require hard manual labor.
Will any man upon this floor assert
that the common laborer who has
toiled all his life with pick-ax and
shovel and pillow is at his best at six
ty-two? Certainly no one cares so lit
tie for his reputation for good sense as
to make any such assertion. Physiolo-
gists tell US that the human muscles
begin to shrink and lose their elastic
ity at the age of forty. At the age of
forty-fve go little account Is the man
for the performance of hard labor i'm
the way of long marches and the
fatigue of the camp that the Govern
ment exempts him from draft. And
yet this bill virtually says he is able
TO toll and sweat and earn his bread
by the hardest knocks until he has
reached lineage ofsixty-two. So much,
Mr.. Speaker, against the bill.
have only said this much to justi-
fy myself in the efforts I have made
for bill which 1 believed was better
than this one. Upon the whole, how
ever this is not bad bill. The most
we can say against it is that it is de-
fective, because it does not go far
enough in the right direction. The
committee has already admitted this
much by their consent to reduce the
age to sixty instead of sixty-two. If
it were safe to offer other amendments,
which would improve the bill, feel
quite sure that the majority on this
side of the House would be In favor of
so doing.