The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-01-15
THE PENSION pERATE.

The house took up the pension appro-
priation bill Immediately on ,conyenlng.
Northway (Rep0 OF Ohio, replied to the
criticism offered by Bartlett (DenD of
New York, yesterday. 1t mattered not to
him whether pensions were legal gratul-
ties or constituted vested rights. Morally
they were higher than vested rights
could be.
Pensions should be given a broad,
catholic, humane spirit The veteran
should not be placed in position of a
mendicant. The spirit in which the pen
sion laws were beng administered was
manifestly unfriendly to the soldier. In
proof of this he cited the case Of a
soldier who lost one arm and one leg, who
was deprived OF ms pension unoer me to-
tai disability act of 1880, because he was
able to earn $2o a. month as a guard at a
railway crossing.
the pension bureau had ruled that un-
der the act of 1880, if a widows income
exceeded $50 a year she was not entitled
to pension A soldiers widow should
not be Obliged to stand ShlYerinS and
starving at the door of the pension Of
flee in order to obtain a pension, and the
PENSIONS committee therefore had re-
ported an amendment TO the present law
requiring that sas a condition precedent
TO receiving a pension she should prove
that her net income did not exceed $500.
Mr.. Hemingway (Rep.) Ind, favored
the adoption of the Graft amendment
prohibiting the suspension of pensions
until fraud had been proven in United
States court. He predicted that in No
Republican president who would appoint
a loyal man from the north secretary
of the interior to administer the pension
laws with justice and fairness to the old
soldier.
Mr.. Arnold lRep.) Pa, in criticising
the pension 9rtice, denounced particu-
larry the practice Of calling on Demo
cratic postmasters to furnish informa-
ton as to alleged fraudulent pensions.
Mr.. Gibson (Rep.) Tenn, who was pen
sion agent at Nashville in 1881, devoted
-f-s--
tieular cases. which he claimed proved
the hostility of the pensio notice. A
speech by Mr.. Walker (Rep.) Va, at
tracted more than usual attention. Mr..
crate army on the staff of General Ju-
bal karly. He replied particularly to the
remark Of Mr.. Hemingway, to the eff
feet that when 4 Republican again took
his place in the white house, no man
from the south would preside over the
pension Office. General Walker declared
there was misrepresentation of feeling,
and the sentiment of the southern peo-
pie and the Southern soldiers toward
pensions for the men who fought for
the union. There was no sentiment
against the pension policy of the gov
eminent in the south, and he assured
his Republican friends of the north that
the fortunes and pensions of the union
soldiers would be safe in the hands of
the soldiers of the south. HIS remarks
ELECTED applause from both sides OF the
hall.
Mr.. Wood Rep.) Ill, Mr.. Fitzpatrick
Rep) Kan, and Mr.. Poole Rep) n. Y,
followed. and then Mr.. Cummings Dem)
n. Y. created the sensation of the day
by short but bitter arraignment of
the pension Office and an eloquent repu-
dlation of the sentiments expressed by
his colleague, Mr.. Bartlett, yesterday.
He declared it was time some radical
action was taken to call halt on the
pension office.
At the conclusion of Mr.. Cummings
speech, the committee rose and the
speaker announced the appointment of
the Chickamauga park commission as
follows: Messrs. Grosyenor, Ohio; Keifer,
Minnesota: Strong, Ohio; Avery, Mich;
Bowers. Cal; republicans. Wheeler, Ala:
Cox Tenn; Maddox and Crisp, Georgia,
Democrats. He also announced the APP
pointment of Delegate Flynn of Okla
homa to the committee on agriculture,
and Murphy of Arizona on coinage,
weights and measures, and mines and
The house then, at AIS, adjourned I'M
til tomorrow.