The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1894-03-15

cssion for passing the act OF Dec. II, 1885 All
parties in this House voted for it. lt was
passed by Democratic Congress and signed by
q Democratic President. 1t expresses the just
sentiment of the country from one end to the
other. That act sir, will stand. Applause
| 1t ought to stand.
Mr.. Milliken Me-, r. spoke at length.
| Among other things, he said: He who de-
clares that in hundreds and thousands OF
| neghborhoods fraudulent pensioners are
known, and seeks to give the impression that
pension frauds are common in all parts of the
country is
MALIGNANT ENEMY
of the veterans of the Union armies, whatever
| his pretensions of friendship to them may be,
because he declares against them what every
| intelligent man in the country knows is not
| true. / was not little surprised that the gen.
tleman from Illinois [Gen Black should let the
occasion pass when he had unlimited time ac-
corded him to speak in without rebuking
that disgraceful SANDER upon his old comrades,
but on the contrary gave it at least the consent
of silence.
The gentleman from Tennessee Mr.. EnIoe]
on yesterday, and the gentleman from Illinois
[Gen. Black on Saturday, and they who from
time to time since | have been in Congress have
preceded them in the same line, prefaced their
attacks upon the pension laws and upon the old
soldiers by saying they desired that the pension
roll should be roll of honor; that it should be
untainted with fraud; that they wished to have
it clean. Have these gentlemen ever heard any
one say that he did not want clean pension
roll? Have they ever known any Grand Army
Post in this country TO resolve that they wanted
anything but clean pension roll, or desired
that it should be anything but a roll of honor?
When l was a student at school it used to
be laid down in our elementary books that one
of the most sESlful and effective sophstries was
to state first a selfevident truth, or something
universally conceded, TO get the mind to accept
that, and then draw the mind to accept another
theory which in fact was by means a logical
consequence of the first. So our friends upon
the other side of the House who
ATTACK THE PENsIoN-RoLL
say: ave want the pension-roll to be roll of
honor, roll that is not tainted with fraud
hence the existing pension roll is tainted with
fraud" Laughter. But. Mr.. Chairman, that
does not follow by any means. The utter alb
surdity of such argument no one, upon
reflection, will fail for a moment to perceive.
Pension frauds do not exist extensively in
anybody's district. ! have never heard the
charge of wholesale pension frauds made
this floor and sustained, or in any consider
able degree sustained. Like the boys 10000
squirrels, when put to proof they dwindle down
to 100, then to 80, then to one, and then to only
a suspicion of one. Laughter They have
never been shown in debate here to materialize.
III Is only tue enemy Oh PENSIONS OF the ell
tlrely uniformed who utter and send broadcast
these ISLANDERS upon the veterans of the Union
armies.
i could not but admire the assurance and
effrontery OF the distinguished gentleman from
Illinois Mr.. Black who on last Saturday stood
here before at least fairly intelligent audi
ence to advertise the Democratic party to the
country as the friend par excellence Of the old
soldier and of pensions. How deep an impress
sion does he expect his assertion will make
upon the neighbors of those old soldiers, when
they see their pensions withheld or cut off, and
the veterans thereby plunged into restitution
and suffering?
Gen. Grosvenor (Ohio r. asserted that the
estimates submitted by the Commissioner
showed that il was not intended to favorably
adjudicate large proportion of the appica-
tiOns now pending in the Pension Office, and he
called attention to the fact that out of $50
claims recently examined in day by an Ex-
aminer, 125
HAD BEEN REJECTED.
He took issue with the statement made last
Saturday by Gen. Black, that the Democratic
party was not unfriendly to the pension legis-
lation and policy of the Government. Not a
single general appropriation bill, with the
single exception of the Mexican veteran BILL
which, he claimed, was the source of the great
est abuse ever known in the Pension Bureau,
had received the votes of majority of the
Democrats in Congress, while not single Re.
publican vote was recorded against them. TAX
ing this record into consideration and also that
of President Cleveland, the soldiers of the
country view with distrust the assertions Of
the Democratic party on this subject.
Do YOU think that the old soldiers of this
country are to be humbugged by beautiful
utterances? asked the General. Do you
think they do not know who has done all this,
and who has refused to do all this? Ny COM
rades OF the war are most intelligent body of
men.
Mr. Grosvenor took up the letter of Commits
sioner of Pensions and disseeted it statement
by statement. He proved that the
WHOLESALE CHARGES
against the pensioners were false; that the
alleged frauds were either those already known
and published throughout the country and per-
petrsted by pension attorneys and others, or
claims that were illegally vouched for and pre-
sented, but not already allowed. In all this he
showed that in no instance was any ex- Union
soldier concerned.
What is required TO entitle man to be
pensioner? Our friends seem to have over
looked that question entirely. Even the gen.
tleman from Illinois Mr.. Black with his long
experience in the Pension Office, seems to be
utterly Oblivious as TO what it is that constitutes
the claim of a soldier to a pension. What differ
ence does 1t make, under the law of 1890,
whether the soldier served in the army in bat
tie or otherwise? There is but a single con-
dition imposed by that law, and when the soldier
complies with that condition he stands by the
law of his country, and he has right to stand
by it, and no man has a right, be he President
or Congressman or crossroads politician, to de-
nounce that right.
The claim Of the soldier is based upon the
facts that he served in the Union army for 80
days, that he was honorably discharged, and
that he is now suffering under a pensionable
disability. 1t is not necessary to show that il
was caused by service in the army. In this
connection another mass of
INCOMPETENT TESTIMONY
or demurrabe proof is sought to be introduced.
The allegation is that there are thousands of
dishonest pensioners on the pension-rolls, and
that the act of 1890 is especially responsible
for il.
That is the charge; now what is the evil
dencef The evidence is that there are soldiers
on the pension-rolls that never were in battle
And at one time, when Judge Long was as
sailed il was claimed by the Pension Depart
ment that an argument proper to be used
against him was that he had brains enough still
| to be Judge Of a court in the State where he
lived and that therefore it could not be that he
was so disabled as 10 be entitled to pension Of
| S72 month
Gen. Grosvenor made strong defense of the
| Ohio regiment slurred in the speech by Gen.
/ Black. He found at the Pension Office that
| Gen. Black meant the 1924 Ohio. The General
| had said they were To-day men, when they
were one-year men, and he had claimed that
| since they did nothinu hut ri a railroad nd