Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1892-10-20
SENATOR HARRISON.

SENATOR HARRISON.
WHIT he SAID AND THOUGHT OF
PRESIDENT CLEVELAND.
se0o Pointed Renarks About His rre.t-
neat Il OLD soidisrs-Also some Dem
eesatis History MaSs when THAT Party
Coatrelied the Senate.
Especial Correspondencel
WARRINGTON. Oct. 10.-The efforts
made BY the Democrats to convince the
old soldiers while at Washington that
Cleveland was and still is their ..best
friend" lends interest to the following
extracts from some remarks delivered
IN q senate of the United States by
senator Benjamin Harrison, touching
the treatment Of the old soldiers nv
President Cleveland. The remarks were
delivered in this senate on March pa
1855, after the Cleveland administration
bad been n year in control of the Of
hces, but long before President Harrison
q reason to expect that he would HIM
self be placed as the leader of his party
IN opposition to the man whose admins
tration he was then criticising-all of
which lends interest to the remarks as
viewed in the light Of the developments
which have interviewed and the con-
ditlons which now exist. The extract
Il as follows:
Senator Harrison Said.
"Mr. PRESIDENT have noticed another
Incident in connection with this reform
administration. | have tried to get up
q statement OF the results of this adj
ministration upon the soldiers of Indiana.
l have written to every county in the
state n nave returns from all but four
OF them. The returns of course are
not absolutely accurate. They are not
made up to the same time, some of them
having been sent in before others, but
the results | think are Approximately ac-
eurate, and find that thirty-three presi-
Dental postoffices that were held by
soldiers have been vacated either by
expiration of term, resignation or re-
moval, and that in these offices only ten
soldiers have been placed by appoint
ment. In other words, thirty-three sol
diers have gone out and only ten have
come in.
I'm the whole state Of Indiana | have
found that 361 soldiers and eleven SOL
diers' widows have gone out, and that
ninety soldiers and one soldiers widow
have come in. Mr.. President, when this
administration came in the United States
court house at indianapolis was filled
from top to bottom, with a single excep-
ton, with soldiers. The United States
marshal was q soldier, now he is not;
the United States district attorney was
a soldier, now he is not; the collector of
customs was a soldier, now he is not: the
collector Of internal revenue was a sol
der, now he is not. There was Just one
OF the large Offices there that was filled
by a civilian. l am sorry that | have
not time to go more fully into this mat
ter"
A Democrat Also Testifes Against
Cleveland.
Ihave in my hand the report of the en-
ployment committee of the Grand Army
Of the Republic for the District of
Columbia, signed by jerome j. Burke,
who, ! understand, is a Democrat. |
waL.t to read an extract or two from
lat and see what these gentlemen out
side the departments, who gave their
time gratuitously in order to secure to
worthy soldiers employment in the de-
partments here, say about The changes
under the new administration. They
say:
while the employment committee of
CORNER years were principally engaged
IN securing employment for applicants,
and with fair success, the present COM
mittes have, we regret to report, owing
to conditions that will be mentioned
hereafter, met with little encourage
ment. By far the largest amount of
u labors for the past year has been
spent in seeking the reinstatement of
comrades discharged from their positions
in the executive departments, and In
~endeavoring to secure the retention in
their places Of those who had employ
ment.
knowing that many of our comrades
Were anxious as to the future, and fear
full that they might lose their places, we
concluded to address the president upon
the subject (here followed copy of ad-
dress and presidents reply. But in the
meantime our comrades in the depart
ments were being rapidly displaced, and
feeling that our appeal had not been as
effectual as We had a right to expect, we
again conclude to memorabilia the pres
ident and request his official interposi-
ton.
"Nor is this the worst feature of the
case, bad as it may be. Not satisfied
with looking with disfavor upon the
boys in blue it has sometimes seemed
as if the boys in gray were to be recog-
nized as prodigal sons returning from
their wanderings for whom the fatted
calf was to be especially devoted. We
have seen a comrade whose record in the
army was of the very best, and whose
civil service record was irfeproachable,
degraded from a high position that he
won by meritorious service and his
place filled by one who was in armed re-
bellion against the government"
Union Soldiers Displaced by Confed-
crates.
On this subject of the employment of
ex-Confederates to the displacement of
ex-Union soldiers, Senator Harrison re-
ported to the senate in 1882, under a
resolution calling for the information,
that the average Of Union soldiers en-
ployed by the Republican house and
Republican departments at that time
was As per cent, while in the then Dem
ocratic senate the percentage of Union
soldiers employed was but Is per cent,
and the x-Confederate soldiers 1S15 per
cent.
The Democratic campaign text book
admits that Mr.. Cleveland while presi-
dent withheld his signature from 524
pension bills, of which number 297 were
either vetoed outright or killed by n
pocket veto. 1t also admits that only one
other president ever vetoed a pension
bill, and that the total number OF pen
sion vetoes prior to Cleveland was bat
6v~.
An American reporter connected
with the New York Herald, STAN