Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-04-04
FROM THE CAPITOL.
HOUSE ONLY IN SESSION.
A Lively Discussion on the Subject
of Pensions.
THE HOUSE,

After the reading of the journal the House pro-
ceeded to the consideration Of various private
pension bills coming over from last Friday
nights session.
NH. STONE MAKES FEW REMARKS.
In speaking to one of these bills Mr.. Stone
(Mo.) declared that no people had been 80
despoiled and burdened under the name of
patriotism and under the guise of PEN
SION laws as had the people Of the
United States. He denounced the demands
OF the GAR and asserted that the presidency
inank God, there was one grand man who had
os gecIned TO be party to such sale.
Though he had fallen he had
failen bearing the reputation of
wise and incorruptible statesmanship and
enjoying the respect of every honest citizen.
Applause on democratic side.l Benjamin Har-
rlson had attained his Office by cash raised by
Wanamaker and disbursed by Dudley. He (Mr.
Stone) believed that the government had been
generous enough to the soldiers.
Speaking for himself (and speaking, he knew,
against the judgment Of his party associates,
he declared that he had gone as far in the di-
rectIon OF pensions as he intended to 60, and he
represented one of the largest ex-
Union soldier districts in the country.
He favored a liberal system of pen
sion laws, but he entered his earnest protest
against indefensible extravaganza in public ex-
penditures. He favored the granting of liberal
pensions to true and brave soldiers, but he was
opposed to granting pensions to undeserving
soldiers or to bounty jumpers.
IGNORANT - As HorrESror,"
Mr.. Lane Gil. }, in favoring the bill, referred
to remark made by Mr.. Stone that a contract
existed between the government and the
soldier, and said that man who would declare
that was as ignorant of the relations between
the government and the soldiers as Hottentot
70 of ,x,An .t~n
words OF the gentleman from Missouri. but be-
heved as he Uane) did that the government
had not done justice to the men who had de-
Tended it in its hour Of peril.
THE DAY WHEN COST WAS NOT COUNTED.
Mr.. Chapman (Mich.) criticised and de-
nounced the speech made by the gentleman
from Missouri. 1t was not the time to talk of
the cost of pensions. He well remembered the
day when cost was not counted; when the
government was prodigal Of money
and lavish of blood; when the motives
which brought men under the flag were not
scanned and analyzed; when the man who en-
listed was the hero of the hour. Then no man
was mean enough to suggest that men went out
to risk their lives for the paltry pay of sic a
month.
THE TIME FOR HALT HAD NOT COME.
The man who would make such suggestion
would have been whipped and scourged and
looked upon as rebel. He could not
have lived in decent society. The
gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Stone9
cried a halt, but the time for halt had not
come and would not come until reasonable
provision was made for the needs OF every
soldier of the country. The country
needed a service pension; it needed an
increased pensione for the deaf and dumb:
1t needed q pension for widows and 1t needed a
law establishing rule of testimony. in pen
sion cases whereby the oath of private
soldier would receive as much credence as
that of an officer. The pension system must
continue until the last soldier who served the
his fathers. [Applause1