Red Lodge picket. [volume] (Red Lodge, Mont.) 1889-1907, 1892-10-22
SENATOR HARRISON.
WHAT HE SAID AND THOUGHT OF
PRESIDENT CLEVELAND,
Some Pointed Remarks About His Treat
ment of Old Soldiers-Also Some DEM
ocratic History Made When That Party
Controlled the Senate.
Especial Correspondence !

old soldiers while at Washington that
Cleveland WAS and still is their chest
friend" lends interest to the following
extracts from some remarks delivered
in the senate Of the United States by
Senator Benjamin Harrison, touching
the treatment of the old soldiers bv
President Cleveland. The remarks were
delivered in the senate on March 26,
1886, after the Cleveland administration
had been one year in control Of the Of
hces but long before President Harrison
had reason to expect that he would him
self be placed as the leader of his party
in opposition to the man whose admins
tratio.l he was then criticising-all Of
which lends interest to the remarks as
viewed in the light Of tie developments
which have interviewed and the con
ditions which now exist. The extract
is as follows:
Senator Harrison Said.
"Mr Presitlent-I have noticed another
incident in connection with this reform
administration. | have tried to get up
statement Of the results Of this ad-
ministration upon the soldiers of Indiana
| have written to every county in the
state and have 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-
curate, and find that thirty-t!.1ee presi-
dential postof1ices that were held by
soldiers have been vacated either by
expiration of term, resignation or re
moyal, 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 III.
In the whole state of Indiana have
found that 3Gl soldiers and eleven sol
diers' widows have gone out, and that
ninety soldiers and one soldiers widow
have come in. MI. 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 soldier now he is not;
the United States district attorney was
d soldier, now he is not; the collector of
customs was 4 soldier, now he is not; the
collector Of internal revenue was a sol
dier, now he is not. There was Just one
Of the large Offices there that was filled
by a civilian am sorry tl,a. have
not time to- go more fliiy into. Tins mat
ter.
A Democrat Also T-stities Against
Cleveland.
llaye 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 u Democrat !
want to read an extract OF two from
that and SEC 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
former years were principally engaged
ID securing employment for applicants,
and with fair success, the present com
mitte7 have, we regret to report, owing
to conditions that will be mentioned
hereafter, met with little encourage
ment. By far the largest amount of
our labors for the past year has been
spent i'll seeking the reinstatement Of
comrades discharged from their positions
;,, hn Il 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
eFectual as we had a right to expect, we
again conclude to nemorialize 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 comrade whose record in the
army was Of the very best, and whose
civil service record was irreproachable,
degraded from 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 10 per cent,
and the ex-Confederate soldiers 1917 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 a
pocket veto. 1t also admits that only one
other president ever vetoed a pension
bill, and that the total number of PEN