Mexico weekly ledger., 1894-07-26

if there is any other civil service so
employed?

| mIs SiaIh uiS 10 II uO do u
every able. bodied citizen of this
country. Any of us are liable to
be ordered into service by the
authorities at any time in defense Of
the Republic. | want to recur to
the proposition that l was starting
to make when interrupted, about
the service of this revenue cutter
business. 1t is not as hazardous
as being an engineer on a railroad
train; it is not as hazardous as be-
ing q fireman ON a railroad train !;
| it is not as hazardous as hitching up
q pair of mules on Western prairie
and driving them to reaper or
mower. Laughter. There are
more casualties on the farms and in
the factories of the land. 1t is no
more hazardous than ordinary steam.
boating. 1t is not as dangerous as
service in the merchant marine.
Now, one thing further, MIR.
Chairman. If the people of this
revenue service are entitled TO be
put on the retired list by reason of
the extra risks they run, want to
make the gentleman from Florida
and everybody else an additional
suggestion about the danger of diff
ferent kinds of service. The most
dangerous service that an American
citizen can be engaged in in time
of peace, not even barring the Army
or Navy, is the business of being a
United States marshal or deputy
United States marshal, especially
down in the districts where they
make moonshine whisky.
Mr.. Cox. What do you think
about a Congressman life?
Mr.. Clark. Why n Congressman's
life is in some danger in that kind
of district.
Mr.. Sayers. Unless he joins in
with them.
Mr.. Clark. Unless he stands in
with them.
This bill is the beginning of an
indefensible system. 1t is the thin
edge of the entering wedge. 1t
means list of pensioners from the
civil service which will be larger than
the pension list by reason of service
in the Army and Navy. No man can
compute the cost thereof. The
burdens of the people are heavy
enough in all conscience sake now.
They are most assuredly not in q
frame of mind to see them increas-
ed. They will not have it.
l submit in perfect good faith that
if you are going to pension these
officers, because that is what put
ting them on the retired list means,
where are you going TO draw the
line? Where will you stop?
What better right have these Of
ficers to this favor than thousands of
others? What man in this House
can vote for this bill and then refuse
to vote for bill when the marshals
and their deputies come in here and
ask that they be put upon the re-
tired list of the Army or that they
be pensioned because they happen
ed to get a bullet in them some
where in a strike CIR a riot, or in
hunting up an illicit still down in
the mountains of Tennessee, or
North Carolina, or Georgia, Or some
parts of Missouri. Laughter.
They will come as sure as fate if
you pass this bill, and a host which
no man can number will come after
them.
Now, Mr.. Chairman, l reserve the
remainder of my time until to-mor-
row.
To-day, when Mr.. Clark finally
saw the bill in its grave, Judge Hol-
man, "the watchdog of the Treas
ury," Judge Sayers and "Buck"
Kilgore formally announced to him
that he had passed the gates and
was now in the inner temple of the
true reformers and economists. They
welcomed him to their ranks with
many handshakings.