Mexico weekly ledger., 1898-04-07

IL stealing s,at in congress were Q
felony and great party could be i'm
prisoned for grand larceny as can an In
diyidual. then on the plan Of oumula.
tive punishment the Republican party
could be consigned to the penitentiary
till the crack of doom.
IL any man wants to understand thor
oughly "the lick 1t is done with, /" let
him read Judge Miers' entire speech.
james NJ. Kobinson.
The other Hoosier representative who
distinguished himself y James IL. Rob-
inson, one Of the brightest young men
In the house. 1t lis a delight to hear him
speak. He not only has vast store Of
information, coupled with oratoricaI
ability, but Is possessed of considerable
histrionio power, rarity among public
men and gift Of great service to o
public speaker.
Robinson's personal appearance is al
so much in his favor. He belongs to
that class which, physically rather small,
but wiry. has contributed so many
distinguished men to the service of their
country. He has fine,s open face, olive
complexion, bright black eyes and O
wealth of curls Of raven hue.
Thus equipped, Roisnso would OBJ
tain ready hearing In any assembly.
It may or may not be generally known
that Friday night sessions are set apart
to consider pensions, at which the at
tendance Of members is small, the press
gallery almost tenantless and there is
nothing In the environments to inspire
the orator. Nevertheless it was at one
of these night sessions that Robinson
made a speech which ought 10 be oirou-
lated by the million as Democratic
campaign document.
His theme was the utter hypocrisy Of
the Republicans in the treatment Of the
old soldier. He danced war Jig upon
the @. o. P. and showed 1t up In q way
that ought to make it stink In the nos
trils of old soldiers and their friends
People who desire to be informed on
the subject ought to send to Mr.. Robin
son for his entire speech. have room
only for this short extract:
"By the action of the managers Of the
other side pension legislation ia delayed.
held up and defeated. With the power
and control you did not appoint the SOL
dier committee; but, persistently and
consistently in opposition to him, you
also destroyed his Friday night meet
ings. When this current which you
have created against the soldier will
run by, no one can tell. You have set 1t
going and where 1t will stop no man
can know.
"What do we find this session in
proof of the pension polioy?' The SEN
ate pension committee passed rule
permitting no soldier to appeal to that
body for relief till year after action
by the pension bureau, II presented to
the bureau.
''The soldiers must give up one year
more of their lives before relief will be
given by the great lawmaking power Of
the government. The same rule has
been substantially enforced by the COM
mittee of this house.
"The commissioner of pensions, the
Hon. H. Clay Evans, has closed the
doors of the pension bureau to the SOL
diers in like cases II mistake is made
there, or however just the remedy
sought, the soldier is told that his head
is off and will remain of for year,
and he cannot be heard.
"Under late rule Of the pension bu-
reau a pension agent or attorney who
directly or indirectly solioits or pro-
cures his soldier client to get his men,
ber of congress to call for the status Of
his claim suffers disbarment at the de-
partment.
Recurring to the proceedings Of the
4th of February Of this year, the dis
tinguished gentleman from Indiana Mr..
Johnsonl, in urging relief by special
bill in this house in most meritorious
case, showed and said that the soldier
had been denied relief at the bureau Of
pensions because the construction there
was too rigid against the soldier"
Cid soldiers who have been voting
the Republican ticket under the delu-
sion that the Republican party is their
best friend may have their eyes opened
by reading the following words Of Mr..
Robinson's speech:
"What else do we find? The appro-
priations committee this session cut of
100 names from the list Of employees
In the pension bureau, and this house
passed the bill, thus putting the wait
ing soldiers back that much farther In
their wait for pension consideration, al
though they have been for years wait
ing and are now patiently waiting. I"
In that brief paragraph old soldiers
will find the explanation OF the tnex-
cusable delay in having their claims
passed on.
The following excerpt from Robin
sons speech ought to convince the old
soldier as to who Is his true friend
here:
"The gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Nor
toni, than whom the soldier has no bet
ter friend, than whom no better soldier
fought upon the field, has called to the
attention of the house the evils Of this
soldier policy, but his efforts to secure
relief have been met by no feelings OF
oomradeship by the champions Of this
system. They have not moved to give
relief. He seems to have offended them.
The head and front Of his offending is
that he is soldier, q member OF this
house and of the committee and DEM
ocrat, and not in sympathy with this
policy of defeat to the soldier. You can
not convince those who have waited 30
long that the clerks were not needed.
"This is another stroke Of soldier
policy as false as any, and 1t is proved
by the record. You needed these clerks
before. and in the former congress voted
the money to pay them. You are far
behind in pension cases and you need
them now. II you do not need them
now, you did not need them then, and
II you did not need them then why did
you vote in the Fifty fourth congress to
continue them? This inconsistency calls
for an explanation.
bzzubAS1