The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-08-01
JOUR 97O,ooO PENSIONERS
MUST RECEIYE IHEIR Sfao. 900. .o00
 IN BEST COIN IN THE WoRLn.

So Says Major Mckinley Addressing a
 Body of veterans-Loya1 to the Govern-
 ment in Time of War. They Will be Loyal
 in Time of Peace-Has a Word to Say on
 the Tariff and How it Fostered Home In-
 dustries to the Advancement of Our Na-
 tional Prosperity-The Speaker Fre-
 quently Cheered.
 Canton, O., July 31.-A delegation oc
 400 old soldiers and citizens of Guern-
 sey county and Cambridge, O., called
 on Major Mckinley at noon to-day.
 Introductory speeches were made by
 ex-Congressman Taylor and Captain
 Macfarlane. The major responded as follows:
 Tt gives me great qualification to re- ceive this call from my old friends and neighbors and fellow citizens of Guern- sey county. know something of the spirit of your people. I know some thing of your loyalty and devotion to
 the Union in war, and know muchpf
 your loyalty to good government in peace (Cheers.} I am glad to meet the representatives of labor who are
 assembled this morning. I congratu- late them upon the advance made in
 the tfnplate industry to which Colonel Taylor has referred.
 T am glad to know that republican legislation gave to this country an in-
 dustry that gives work and wages to American workingmen and brings hap pinesS to American homes. (Great cheer ing and applause.) am glad to meet
 my old comrades of the G. A. R., my comrades of thirty-five years ago. The
 war seems not so far away, but as [ look into the faces of the old soldiers
 before me to-day see age is stamping it's lines of care upon them.
 Their step is no longer as steady
 and as firm as it was thirty five years
 ago, but their hearts are just as loyal to the old flag of the Union. (Tremen- dous cheers.) They are just as loyal to national honor to-day as they were loyal to national unity then. (Ap- plause.) When the war closed there were two great debts resting upon this government. One was the debt due to the men who loaned the government money with which to carry on it's war. The other was to the men who had of fered their lives to the preservation of the Union.
 "The old soldiers waited patiently for their pensions until the government
 had reduced nearly two-thirds of the
 great money debt. The old soldiers never were in favor of repudiating that (Applause) They wanted every dollar of the debt paid in the best money
 known to the world. (Applause.) And
 every dollar of that debt up to this
 hour has been paid in gold or it's equiv- alent, the best recognized money of the, world. (Cheers.) And every dollar of that debt, my comrades, yet to be paid will be paid in the same unquestioned coin. Most of that debt is out of the way. The great debt of the govern ment is now to the surviving soldiers. (Applause)
 There are 97O,OOO pensioners on the honored pension roll of this government
 and the government pays out of it's
 public treasury in pensions over $140,- 000,OOO Every dollar of that debt must be paid in the best currency and coin of the world. (Great cheering.) There is nobody interested in maintaining
 sound and stable currency more than the old soldiers of the republic