Birmingham state herald., 1896-01-17

chamber of commerce to the effect that
 congress had refused to pay $400,000 for
 the seizure of Canadian sealers and
 found to be due by the Paris tribunal of
 arbitration, thereby preventing the gov
 ernment from settling a debt which 1t
 was in honor bound to pay. On point
 made by MT. Crisp Speaker Reed ruled
 that it presented no question Of priVi-
 lege; but Mr. Grow succeeded in denounc- ing the publication as false.
 The house then concluded the general debat te on the pension appropriation bill Speeches were made, the principal topics of which were the honor and valor of the soldiers of the late war and denuncia- tion of the statement by MT. Bartlett, democrat. of New York, in his speech on Monday to the effect that the efforts to secure further pension legisla ton had for their object the footing of the treasury, by Messrs. Clark republican, of Iowa;
 Griffin, republican, of Wisconsin; Hatch,
 republican, of Indiana; Brumm, republi- can, of Pennsylvania and Dovener, re- publican, of West Virginia.
 Mir. Linney, republican, of New York,
 an ex-Confederate, took occasion to in- weigh against the internal revenue laws. MT. Bartlett. democrat, of New York, closed the debate in opposition to the change in the law regarding widows pen sions reported in the bill He said he felt that vote of thanks was due him from the republicans of the house for being the means whereby the mouths of many of them had been opened and the house inundated by the flood of oratory which had ragged the past few days In
 that time he had been made the target of attack and abuse, and some of the charges made against him, he thought,
 it might be we'll to refer to. Generally the speeches had been sophomoric in style and fallacious in argument Others had been mere invective and rant; and in
 one case the speaker had grossly violated
 parliamentary propriety by descending Into profanity and coarseness. That
 member, said MT. Bartlett. had not the
 courage to avow the words as his own,
 but put them in the mouth of one who
 sat behind him. Although the statement
 was of such character as would war
 rant him (Mr. BartletD in summoning him to the bar of the house. the member was not worthy to be so dignified In the course of the speeches made by republi-
 cans on this subject. continued Mir Bart
 lett the policy he held regarding the sub
 ject of pensions. policy held by many | distinguished democrats including the
 senator from Maryland (Mr Gorman)
 and the chief executive of the nation, and the arguments he had advanced in sup port of that policy had been character ized as rot" He would leave 1t to the
 judgment of the house whether any ar t5
 make before it, legal or otherwise, con- stitutional or based on moral grounds, Justified anyone in characterizing 1t as "rot"
 Since listening to the speeches that had been made in response to his remarks q few days ago, Mir. Bartlett said he had doubted that representatives who agreed | with him were free men, whether or not they had right to raise voice against expenditures of the revenues of the gov ~I1 t<x n1rro< Gentlemen on the other side" he said, ''have conjured up visions of the cir cumstances in which I am supposed to live and they hold 1t to be crime that I should sit at evening time, before the fire in my own house and indulge in the use of tobacco. Because I may not be in actual want that fact is adduced upon
 which to base the charge that I am des- titute of any sympathy with soldiers widows and orphans
 In the course of the debate MT. Bart lett said he had been charged with being opposed to the payment of pensions at all and hostile to the old soldiers. These he denounced as unqualified faIsehoods. He had also been charged with lacking in patriotism. The true patriot, he said, was the man who refused for supposed partisan and political purposes to sanc- tien an unlawful or illegal expenditure of the public funds He had favored and would favor special legislation to meet special eases of necessity ana ne dld not consider the payment of pensions an inn proper depletion of the revenues Of the government or funds in the treasury. MT Bartlett read letter from con- stituent which commended the courage which enabled him to stand in the midst of "an acre of demagogues" and antag- onize further pension legislation. and in conclusion quoted the late Gen. Henry w. Slocum. speaking in 1891, that 1t was time to call halt Tn the matter Of pen sion legislation.
 The committee then rose.
 MT Hooker. republican, of New York. reported from the committee on rivers and harbors a bill extending to January 22, 1899, the period within which the Aransas Pass Harbor company must improve the harbor by securing a depth of 20 feet over the bar. Calendar.
 MT. Moody. republican. of Massachu- setts. announced the death of his prede- 'cessor, Gen. William Cogswell. on May 22 last. and the usual resolutions were adopted. and as mark or respect the house at $50 p. m. adjourned until to- morrow.