The National tribune., 1893-02-23
F. WASHINGTON c. THURSDAY FEBRUARY 90 1soTwELyE

| Mr.. Chairman ain ready to use every means at
my command under the rules to prevent the pass
age of this measure.
| The opponents Of pension legislation are wont
| to describe the money squandered md wasted,
| and rs an oppressive burden of taxation on the
country. There is no truth in this representation;
| this money Is taken from the weaithiest OF our
people in the form OF duties upon luxries. such as
| cigars, tobacco. champagne and broadclotb and -
paid 10 the very poorest of our people, and goes im
| mediaiey into circulation TO buy agricultural
| products boots shoes, clothing and necessities oil
| every kind.
And 1 assure you that dire distress and great
suffering and sorrow will follow the passage of this
| Legislation. Other governments Of vastly smaller
territory than ours and OF vastly less commercial
| importance spend much larger sum to maintain
the substance of the people. We have 10 standing
| army we rely upon citizen soldiery TO repel
invasion and to defend our Government.
| / submit that in view Of that fact we cannot AZ
ford to violate the unwriiten PROMISE made these
men. The Nation may need soldiers again.
/ l am also opposed to that section which reduces
the number of Medical Examiners. The duty OF
these officers is increasing rather than being d.
n'ini.hed by tho number of soldiers requiring ex-
animation mt their homes in consequence Of H.
| creasing years aud increasing disability.
| Nearly or quite all of these physicians do not
give up their local practice. and this government
employment is a little addition To the income OF n
I very worthy and deserving profession. 1t il pretty
safe TO say that the average physician is the hard
est worked and poorest paid man In the COM
| munity. He never knows what il is to have con-
tnuous nights sleep. He has calls at all hours
| of the day and night. He answers hundreds Of
calls where he never expects to receive any COM
| pensation whatever.
Homer says:
/ "The wise physician. skilled orr wounds to heal.
| IL more than armies TO the public veal
1 And Cicero says:
| There Is no way in which men so much APP
proach the gods as when they try to give health
| to other men,"
And Charles TX, the bloody wretch who ordered
| the massacre of st. Bartholomew, and who sweat
| blood when dying, spared Pare tie author oil
| French surgery.
mi, ,ot,n ;,tIa G1-
/ business away from q large number of these ply
| scians scattered throughout the country.
| MIR. Chairman, there are one or two OF the pro-
| posed amendments TO this bill to which can agree
| l think non-resdenis of the United States and
| foreigners not wounded or disabled in the service
| should not be allowed to draw pension under the
disability Act of June q. $780, though the amount
| so paid Is insignificant and unmportant favor
| the Soldiers Home amendment. also, which con.
verts into the Treasury any pension in excess OF 80
| drawn by inmates OF Soldiers Homes who are not
willing TO pay such excess TO their dependent rela
| tives. The inmates OF the Soldiers Homes, know
| from personal observation, are provided with
| everything that they require-food. clothing. med
| cal Attendance. recreation, entertainments and
| ainusements-and they have very little use for
| money for any proper purpose.
| spent three months at Fort Monroe during my
| illness last Winter. and had large opportunity
! to make observations upon the Soldiers Home
| located at Hampton, two miles away. l met at
the hotel gentlemen from all sections of the coun-
| try and met the charge from some of my South
| ern friends that the inmates OF that Home were
| specimens Of the men who composed the Union
armies, hired by the North to put down the re-
beon.
/ Iconfcss that more imbruted, degraded, drunken
set OF men 1 never OF course there were
many honorable exceptions 10 this rule; but
want to tell my Southern friends that the Northern
soldiers who fought the battles OF the Union are
| not in any Soldiers Homes. The inmates of these
Homes are almost exclusively of foreign birth.
And it Is the misfortune Of that class Of people in
this country that too many of them think that The
Government is paternal and owes them living
without work and the fact that these men did
| duty Ill the army gives them an opportunity To
put their theory into practice under the patriotic.
wise and beneficent Government under which we
| live.
There many patriotic foreigners in
army III all the great struggles OF the couHtry-in
! the Revolution. in the war Of 1872, and in the war
OF the rebelliot-but the statistics show that not
withstapding there were foreigners in the Union
army, aud even Irish and other regiments COM
posed of Foreigners, who rendered great service to
tile Union cause-f that the statistics show that
| it was a remarkable fact, considering the foreign
population of the country, that the percentage of
/ Foreigners III the Union army was very small ana
that these armies were made up largely and prnci-
| paly of soldiers of American birth and parents.
| And | repeat that the inmates OF the Soldiers
Homes are not fair specimens OF the Union
army. Surrounding the Soldiers Home at Hainp-
| ton. at Chesapeake City ESQ calied)-it should be
| called chesapeake Rum"-is a whole village
| of liquor saloons. While was there last Winter
| the quarterly payment OF pension was made,
amounting l think. to something $4,000
aud person in authority and qualified to
| speak told that in less than one week
! these whisky saloons around the Home would
two following pay day tile streets in the vicinity
were filed with drunken soldiers, and numbers OF
| them could be found lying by the roadside in q
beastIy state of intoxication.
| Now. | submit that it would be downright
blessing to the inmates of this Home to take this
money away from them, and / submit that the
condition of things tolerated by the State OF Vir-
ginia without the Jurisdiction OF the United States
| and in and around that Home is disgrace to that
| ancient Comm wealth And some measure OF
| relief ought Immediately to be had.
| Mr.. Chairman. earnestly desire to call the at
tention of the Committee and of the House, and.to
Call the attention OF The country 10 the Tact that
the most vicious legislation the subject of PEN
sons which we have is The special act. OF Congress
| which have overridden the law ard the rules and
| regulations of the Pension Office.
| am not here to say that some worthy and de-
serving have not been met by this legislation
but do ecRre that it has been the source of favor
itsm in many cases. and partnlity shown to the few
| who happen TO have friend mt court in the per-
Partially to be unjust and unfair to the multitude
OF the wounded, the needy, and the equally deserv-
ing have discouraged such legislation, and have
introduced but three such bills during the four
| years have been member OF this House.
| Mr.. Chairman, have heard aspersions cast upon
the soldiers of the Union armies upon this iloor-a
few may deserve il. Notwithstanding, am proud
| that was Union soldier. l am proud that
| have hung up in my home. for my children and
chiidren's children to see, cerllea,e issued by
| / was soldier. Aye. more, 1 am proud that was
one Of those, though only boy, who answered
Abraham Lincoin's first call for troops, and re-
sponded We coming. Father Abraham. three
| hundred Thousand more / have read in the his
tory of France how after the surrender of Napo-
| leon Bonaparte and his punishment to st. Helena
| Marshal Neg was made prisoner and sentenced
by the House of Bourbons TO be shot like dog.
| The day of his execution was fixed, the awful
| day and hour drew near; they drove him with his
coffin TO the place of his execution. they placed
| him in position and drew up file of soldiers to
shoot him. The officer having charge OF his execu-
| ton proceeded to read TO the old man his death
warrant; it was prefaced by his numerous titles;
he had ~ title for every battle: he had folio we'd
| Napoleon Bonaparte from the burning sands of
Sahara TO the SHOWS OF Russia. from Egypt to Mos
| COW; the old man as he stood there his gray locks
streaming In the wind, begged the officer to dis
| pense with the reading of his titles. and taking
the position Of a soldier he said, Call me Michael
| Ney only; call Michael Ney, soldier of
| France"
Mr. Speaker notwithstanding the aspersions that
have been cast upon Union soldiers this floor by
the gentleman from Missouri, ask greater
worldly hon for myself nor my children than that
| men write my gravestone when / am dead,
Here lies a soldier of the Republic. here lies
| who loved his country. and did what he could TO
| make good the immortal proclamation OF Abraham
Lincoln that closed with the words, Upon this act
| invoke the consdernte judgment of all mankind
| and the gracious favor of Almighty God" Jap
| plause on the Republican side
| Mr. Chairman, / notice each returning Me-
mortal Day when go 70 the cemetery with the boys
the little flags the graves of our fallen comrades
are increasing, and with them the widows and
| orphans of the dead soldiers. Shall we. as con-
| ternpiated by this bill, deny to the widows and
| orphans the So or Sl2 a month given them by ex-
listing law? No, Mr.. Chairman the Republican
/ members of this House will resort to every method