The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1893-12-17
THE PENSION POLICY
Interesting Debate on Pension
sv, Matters, ','al .,l.
CANNON OPENS FIRE ON GROVER
southern Members of Congress Dc
lend the Presidents Actions /
In Suspending Pensions.
Associated Press.


washington. Dec 16.--The house, al
Ter routine business, went into com
mlttee of the whole on the urgent de
iiciency BILL 1 Hf a2,iI ~
cannon, of Illinois, addressed the
mouse on the deficiency bin appropriat.
ing $2OO,OCe for speeid pension. exam.
iners. ~, .t.....,
Ihe debate over the pension policy OF
'he administration growing out of the
item in the urgent deficiency ,approprl-
auon Dill appropriatng 5000, 900 for spe-
ciai examiners, consumed the entire
day in the house. Under the, lead Of
cannon an assault was made, against
the Cleveland Pension policy, especially
that portion which resulted in, the re
vocation of order l64. and the suhse-
quent suspension of thousands of pen
sioners. Livingstone, of Georgia, and
Enloe, of Tennessee, defended the an
ministration, and Lacy, of Iowa, anC
Morse, of Massachusetts, opposed it
Cannon thought it was time for con
gress to examine the manner in which
the pension Office was being conducted.
he referred to q clause In the presi-
dents message declaring that every
neighborhood. had its fraudulent pen.
sioners. He reviewed the action of
the department in cutting of thousands
of pensioners There had been much
allegation of fraud, but little had ma,
terialized on the s-examination or
2S5 special examiners in the department
a dozen were employed to run down
those who were alleged to be fraudu-
lent pensioners. All pensions cut OF
were classed blythe commissioner to
the credit of the amount saved by the
Office One million dollars in rejected
pensions had been classified as 81, 200, ,0OO
saved Yet, after d thorough exam
ination, it was found that but $St,bOO
had actually been paid out to pension
ers who had prociired pensions by
fraud. The speaker undertook to say
that there was no more fraud In the
administration of the affairs of the
pension Office which dlsbursed annually
$1SO,OOO,O 900 than in the adjudication or
cases in the courts Of the country, .r
Livingstone replied to Cannon, The
under discussion was to
provide for field examiners of the pen
sion office. Cannon had not challenged
the propriety or justice OF the appro-
priation, but had occupied his time in
casting a shadow over the administers
ton of the pension Office, and In, at,
tacking Secretary Smith and Commits,
sioner Lochern for revoking the order
No. 1874 Smith was a Southern man,
but he had not been in the confederate
army. Lochern had been q soldier in
lie Union army, and q gallant one
Cleveland had not been In the army,
out could assure the house and. the
that justice would be done by
hese distinguished men. Blair! Stone.
Picker Cannon, and Bingham hnTrass-
ID Livingstone at every step, and Blair
declared that he did not object to weed |
ng out fraud. but that he did object
o making that a pretext and cloak for |
deliberate conspiracy to deprive hon
st pensioners of their pensions. Liv- |
ngstone replied that the sole purpose |
# the administration was to purge |
he pension rolls Of the names that dis-I
IGNORED them. ~ jg@ 5aisqIrg yn I.
In proceeding to denounce the con.
uct of Commissioner of Pensions Loeb
rn, Lacy said that the whole country !
houId rise up and .rebuke the admin
,traton. Enloe wanted every soldiei,
l the country entitled to a pension To-
ave 1t, and have all he was entitled to,
ut he also wanted every soldier dis
onestly on the roll, or drawing more
loney than he was entitled to, taken
rom the rolls. In concluding. Enlot
lid the time would come when every
onest Union soldier ana every respect,
lg citizen would applaud the pension
ollcy Of this administration. Morse
osed the debate with a vigorous as
lult on Cleveland and Iochefn, AT.
he conclusion Of the speech, an agree,
ent was reached to close the debate
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