The National tribune., 1890-04-10
AN OPEN LETTER,
Hon. H7iHiam J. Stone, Representative Of the
Tioeg7h District Of Missouri.

Friday, day Of sweetly sacred associations
of the supreme sacrifices made for man by
the Son of Man-for savage assault upon
the men who had suffered and died to make
men free, even as He died to make them
holy.
1t was very bad day upon which TO make
such a speech. While in hundred thou
sand churches the worshipers were humbly
praying to have their hearts purged OF
"envy, malice, and all uncharitableness,' y
you were making the National Capitol ring
with utterances surcharged with direst envy,
malice and uncharitableness. 1t was an
exceedingly bad speech to make on any day.
1t was much too bad for the worst day in
the year,-whichever that may belt was a
wretched one with which to desecrate Good
Friday.
You were a bad man to make such n
speech. You could have no motive for il
save the aforesaid and innate envy, malice
and all uncharitabeness. 1t was such a
speech as might naturally have been expected
from JEFF Davis, or Robert Toombs, or some
other foiled and defeated conspirator, who
hated with undying malignity the men who
blasted his wicked ambition. But you have
not even the rage of the bafiled conspiratOr tC
excuse your vituperation. Whatever may
be your inclinations noU, you were toe
young before the war to have plotted treason
and so be now seething with the bitterness
engendered by defeat. But Il years old
we take your age from your own statement
in the Congressional DirectOry-at the time
Fort Sumter was fired on, your participa-
tion in the rebellion probably took no more
fragrant form than an exceeding looseness
Of tongue regarding "Lincoln hirelngs,'
Dutch mercenaries," yankee freebooters
and the similar customary epithets your
Missouri friends and neighbors applied to
everybody fighting for the Union. Conse-
quentiy it seems wholly unlikely that you
can have any personal grievances against
the Union soldiers. And comparative few
men have profted more by the prosperity
resulting from the victory they conquered
According TO your own statement you have
been holding lucrative offices much OF the
time since you graduated from the Uniyer.
sity of Missouri several years after the close
of the war
You are now serving your third term as
Representative, at the comfortable salary Of
S, 900 year, with mileage and other Incl.
deutals. What you have done to earn this
salary is not apparent, as this speech is the
first act to draw attention to you. Tn,
character Of your abilities and services i:
sufficiently indicated by the inconspicuous
position on unimportant committees given
you by your Democratic friends who con.
trolled the last two Congresses. Where, we
ask, would have been the pleasant Offices
and their delightful salaries, which you
have enjoyed so long, had not the men you
are now aspersing fought and suffered as
they did? Had not the sons Of the poor
Irish widow, whose poor little pension you
tried to prevent last Friday, and million
more like them, whom you denounced as 1
"rabble Of pension-mongers," fought as sol
diers never did before, you would probably
be now digging scanty living out 0
the soil Of Missouri, with the tax-gatherei
Of some dismembered and disorderly it'll,
despotism snatching from you every dolla
over and above what was necessary for you
bare subsistence.
He jests at scars who never felt wound.
Never in all your life of selEseeking ant
qualification having encountereda as mucI
danger or endured as much hardship as al
ordinary soldier in a single month of service
yOn have the hardihood TO sneer at the ser
vices and sacrifices Of those who gave all tina
makes life worth living, even life itself I
save the country and make it the abode G
contentment and prosperity for the enjoy
ment Of such men as you. Now. gluttin
yourself on the rich harvest Of their bloc
and sweat, you rise from your cushioned chai
in the sumptUous hall of the House to d,
nounce them as Treasury lOoters," "Pr,
torian guards, rabble Of pension mongers
etc AS your brother Democrat-Hon.
Logan Chapman, of Mich.-told you, a ma