Huntsville gazette. [volume] (Huntsville, Ala.) 1879-1894, 1891-07-18
fHE IOWA pEMAooouEs.

HE tOWA OC"A0O0Oe0s
Two Contradictory Planks In tho Plat
form of Boies' Henchmen.
In its twelfth plank the Iowa demo-
cratic convention declares:
We denounce the wasteful and lavish appro
priations of the last congress which in times
OF profound peace expended an amount equal
to one third the total pubic debt incurred in
four years of unparalleled war for the preserva
ton OF the union. This billion-dolar congress
marks the fInal EFFORT Of desperate politicians
to perpetuate themselves in power by subsidiz-
ing classes, communities. special interests and
privileged individuals from the public funds,
which should be sacred trust to be admins
tered solely for the necessities of the govern
ment AAt - a.
In its tenth plank the convention
further declar es: HE a.!s .
We again acknowledge the great debt of
gratitude the nation owes to the soldiers and
sailors OF the union. and I'VE declare in favor Of
just. liberal and equitablea pension laws for all
invalid and dependent soldiers and sailors and
their widows and orphans. n.
These two planks Are entirely incon-
sistent, the one with the other. The
total increase of apEopriations for the
two years of 1891 and 1892 over those of
1859 and 1890 was S17O, 900, 900. OF this
increase So, 600, 900 must be credited to
the postal service, IS, 600, 0on to the cen
sus, 81. 900, 600 to the building of steel
warships for our navy, $4,000, goo to riv.
ers and harbors, SIS, 600, 900 to the re-
funding of direct taxes to the states.
These cannot be claimed as republican
or lavish appropriations, as the demo-
Gratis in congress voted for them. But
the principal item in total increase is
$113, 800, 600. or nearly two-thirds of the
whole sum, for pensions. In their tenth
plank the Iowa democrats have de-
clared themselves in favor OF pensions.
Are they then in favor of pensions
and at the same time opposed to pay
ing them? Are we to understand that
they acknowledge the services of the
union soldiers in saving the nation by
declaring that they deserve their pen
sion money but that the democrats are
opposed to paying it? Have they not
put themselves on record as willing to
give the old veterans bread and then
offering them stones? What kind of
consistency is this? What do they
mean by such qualification?
A considerable item in the increase is
due to appropriations to pay the In
dams, for lands acquired from them by
treaties recently made. Are we to un-
.derstand& that 4 the Iowa democrats
think these treaties should not have
been made? Or, having made the
treaties and opened the lands to settle
ment, that they are not in favor of pay
ing the Indians for their lands? Or
that they are in favor of getting the
lands and cheating the red brother? Or
that they are altogether opposed to the
policy of opening up public lands to
settlement? Or what are we to infer?
Another item Of this increase was the
payment of two or three millions or SO
to Indian agents in the Chickasaw steal
"a grab which was put through by
democrats in congress the southern
democrats from states adjacent to the
Indian territory having dictated to
their subservient northern tools that
they must vote for it and they obeyed.
This was purely democratic grab.
Are republicans to be charged with re.
sponsibility for it?
Two-thirds of the increased appro-
priation by the last congress was for
pensions. If the Iowa democrats are
honest in their twelfth plank why did
they adopt the tenth? Why did they
not put themselves on record as OPP
posed to the pension list and why did
they not urge the Fifty-second congress
to repeal pension legislation and thus
cut off two-thirds of this so-called
''wasteful and lavish expenditures"
They know that all this talk on their
part about wastefulness is mere bun
combe, put into platforms for deceptive
effect among very ignorant voters. If
there were any appropriations of an
objectiona BILE character, and undoubted-
ly there were some, democrats and re-
publicans are alike responsible for
them as they alike voted for them. The
most dagrantly wasteful appropria-
tions, like the Chickasaw Indian steal,
were fathered and engineered through
by democrats Those which were made
for public purposes were warranted by
the demands of the public service. And
these democratic demagogues know
this Chico ro Tribr,no