Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1894-03-15
WASHINGTON LETTER
From our regular correspondent,
WASHINGTON. D. c.. March 70 4.

plight of the cuckoo free traders +,
the senate. He has stormed ana
rayed bat 1t has been to no purposa
the free traders are still on the nm,
and today the prospects of the ult;
mate defeat of his tariff bin :
brighter than ever. The bit of mar
liamentary legerdemaiu by which
the senate took up the Bland bin
for the coinage of the seignioraua
did not improve his state Of mind
as the democratic party is even
more divided on that measure than
upon the tariff, and if the senate
promptly passes, it as now seems
/ probable, he will have 10 choose
between vetoing it and breaking
his word, pledged by Secretary
Carlisle to the New York bankers.
in order to prevent the absolute
failure of the recent bond issue.
The tariff bill is now in the hands
of the full finance committee, but
the ten democratic kickers, headed
by Hill, Gorgon and Brice, are
masters Of the situation. They are
growing over the cuckoos to such an
extent that some of them are threat
ening to become kickers themselves
because Of the concessions that have
been made to the ten. Senators
Allison and Aldricn, republican
members Of the finance committee,
have given the democratic members
of that committee notice, on the
floor of the senate, that the repub.
licans do not propose to allow the
bill TO be raiiroaded through the
committee, and the republicans,
owing to the absence of Senator
Vance, one of the democratic mem.
bers Of the committee, are in a
position to prevent any precipilate
action by the full committee. Sen
ator Hills open fight against the
income tax has not improved the
situation from n democratic point
of view.
1t must have caused Mr.. Cleve-
land, Hoke Smith and Commissioner
Lochren to blush with shame when
they read the manly criticisms
of the administration pension policy
made on the floor Of the house while
the pension appropriation bill was
under consideration. General Sick
les, one of the few democrats in the
house who always stands up and
fights for those who fought for the
country in it's hour Of need, made
ringing speech against the admin
istration policy. He began by
quoting the declaration concerning
pensions from Mr.. CIeveIand's '92
letter of acceptance, and declaring
most emphaticalIy that if that
declaration had been lived up to
there would have been no trouble.
Gen. Sickles' speech contained a
number of epigrams worthy of
preservation. For instance-"If
you would have soldiers in the next
war take good care of the soldiers
Of the past war"-and, speaking of
a compilation OF pension laws
issued by the pension bureau, which
he held in his hand-"They print
them Tor other people to read; they
Ought to read them themselves"
Gen. Sickles was particularly severe
on Commissioner Lochren for try
ing to break down the act of De.
cember 1898, declaring a pension
to be vested right, an act which
Gen. Sickles says will stand. Gen.
Grosyenor Of Ohio, in a remarkably
strong speech against the admins
tratiou's treatment of old soldiers,
paid his respects to Mr.. CIeve lands
libel about there being hundreds
of thousands Of fraudulent pen
sioners, aud said: "If there are
200 fraudulent pensioners on the roll,
the commissioner ought to be i'm
peached for ineficlency" Gen.
Grosvenor said he had been told by
an official Of the pension bureau
that the most of the frauds on the
roll had been placed there by Com
missioner Black, under the Mexican
veteran bill.
The charges connecting number