The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-01-28
ACTION ON AMFNDMENTS.


structed the peace commissioners to de-
mand the cession of the Philippines
ACTION ON AMENDMENTS.
The whole debate to-day was spirited and
50 intense was the struggle when the bill
was taken up for amendment under the
tve-minute rule that the first section had
not been completed when the House re-
cessed at o'clock. The first vote was
taken on the committee amendment to in
crease the number of chaplains from thirty
TO forty and it was carried-68 to 3S
Mr.. Hay Dem, Va.) offered the following
! amendment: Provided, that the increase
of the regular army beyond what it was
before the war with Spain shall only be
used IN Porto Rico, Cuba, the Philippines,
tne Hawaiian islands and the LadrOnes;
both omCers and men, shall be mustered
Out OF the service within two years or
sooner 90 Il the exigencies permit" Rejected
Mr.. Mcclellan Dem, n. " offered an
amendment am to strike out the adjutant gen.
era era ana inspector generals departments
tttI r OItdte d general stan. He SAID II TINS
dlllehaIheht prevailed it would give the
army drI a tnodern, flexible general staff. The
anne endinent was lost without division
MT. Lacey moved to strike out the pro-
Nislon Tor a lieutenant general, and after
snort debate the motion prevailed.
General Henderson, who the first
speaker to-day, spoke OF the demonstration
OF the 'kickers'' which the country and the
IIouss ndu witnessed. me kicking had be-
gun before the war was fairly under way.
some kicked" at the President, some al
the secretary of war, some at the staff
some at the adjutant general There was
kicking at everything and anything. 1t
was easy to kick" He was the cheapest
Kind of statesman, and the applause that
greeted it was the cheapest sort of ap-
plause. 1t had been charged, he said. that
the commission appointed to investigate the
war was stacked" He eulOgized all the
members of the commission, Chairman
Dodge by name, paying a high tribute to his
incorruptibe and fearless character.
QUESTIONS FOR JOHNSON
Adverting to Mr.. Johnson's speech on
Wednesday, he said that never, in sixteen
years experience, had he heard a speech
SO deserving of the condemnation of patri-
otic hearts. What crime had the President
committed? The President had done every
thing possible to prevent the war. Was that
a crime? There was not enough powder in
the country TO last guns twenty-four
hours; there were neither arms, ambu-
lances surgical instruments nor other equip
ment. When the war came he quickly set
factories and arsenas in motion Then he
forced the fighting in two hemisphere and
IN ll3 days he had whipped the enemy on
land and sea and had wound up the war be-
IoIS the people OF the country had fully
realized that it had begun. Was that a
crime? He had driven the enemy from
cuba, he had seized Porto Rico and the
richest island in the Ladrones Was that
crime? By the guns of his country and
by treaty he had terminated the war. Was
| that a crime? The treaty divested Spair of
| her sovereignty over the PHILIPPINES After
| IT was ratified new problems would come
Until 1T was ratified the war was legally
sun IN progress. During the war it had
| been the duty of the President, as the COM
mander-in-chief of the army, to strike the
enemy where the blow would have hurt He
| had struck him in the Philippines and the
| echo of that blow would ring through COM
ny ages. Ontll the treaty was ratified the
PRESIDENT must hold what we had taken.
But, he said with deliberation, Il say
| frankly that entertain grave doubts as to
the wisdom of holding the Philippines
| against their will" Democratic applause
| While this was his present opinion how
| ever, he added that when the time came TO
determine this question he must know what
| ms duty to his country
Mr.. cousins tRep., 1a.l, in support of the
| DILL did not touch the Philippine question.
lie sad that the milk In the cocoanut Of
| the opposition to this bin was it's increa Sc
| IN the manifestation of federal authority
Any articulation of the national spirit is
| tyranny" said he, but if a patriotic mani
| 1eStat1On of federal authority or assertion
| of the national spirit is threat at personal
| liberty and a menace at our institutions
! then the very existence of the national spir-
| II must be an inherent evil. have not lived
| long enough to have learned of anything in
| Ine history OF the exploits of American sol
| diery or of their service to Justify that sls-
| Plclon which is cast upon the institution
KnoWh as the regular army of the United
| states by the imputation that it could ever
pc used as a menace to the liberties of
American citizenship. Does the history of
| valor and of glory in the revolution prompt
| the gentlemen of the minority and opDOsi-
tlon to warn America against American
soldiery? Does the record of the regulars
led by General jackson at New Orleans fill
the hearts of gentlemen with fear or appre-
hension for the safety of our citizens? Does
Chapultepec send warning even into mod
ern Washington2 Did there ever issue from
the lips. now closed in everlasting love and
1a1ne IN that silent mausoleum by the Hud-
son, any word of menace to a future citi-
zen, any thought save peace, any oracle
| save liberty and union? God spare a CRATE
ful country and an admiring world from
| any doubt about the matchless magnani-
| nifty of Appomattox.
MANY LONELY GRAVES
THE lonely graves of regulars dot the
| Western plains, unlettered and obscure. Can
| 1t be possible that in those sepulchres of
silence gentlemen hear echoes of dead
| voices menacing our liberties? Shall any
thought of tyranny be attributed to For
| sythe and his fifty gallant followers in that
famous conflict with the Sioux? Would a
| standing army of 100000 of men like Capt
Gunnison menace anything save barbarism
or fail in their protection of great and noble
| enterprise? Perhaps 1t is to Colonel Fetter-
man, with that famous detachment of the
Eighteenth United States Infantry and the
Second United States Cavalry, who were
guilty or nothing save being masacred in
the Fatal valley near Fort Phil Kearney
that gentlemen mean to impute a tendency
to usurpation of the liberty of citizens? or
may be they mean Lieut. Grattan and his
detachment of the Sixth United States In
fantry, murdered in the man trap near
Fort Laramie, Wyoming. in 1854? 1t could
not be General Candy and the famous he-
roes of Modoc war in the awful lava beds
Perhaps in the peerless Custer and his an
initiated followers this anxious and solicit
tous minority read some sign of usurpation
which makes them fear that future regu-
lars, inspired by their illustrious example,
might encrOdch our civil liberty. But,
after all, ii may be that not until the cool
and desperate charge at San Juan hill,
through murky river water up to the waist
band, then through the terrible entangle-
ments of barbed wire woven in the brush
land; then up the hill to death and victory,
did these gentlemen of the opposition feel
so keenly the threatening danger of
regulars to the liberty of our citizens Or
regular or volunteer. have they foreseen
the tendency which they say can only ter
inmate in the destruction of the liberties of
the people. In all the years of toll and
strife and victory that make the history of
our Republic great the regular army has
been its shield and buckler.''
Mr.. fitzgerald (Dem.. MasS.) closed the
general debate in opposition to the bill.
Mr.. Hull in charge of the bill. closed for
MS side. The number of enlisted men pro-
Vlded IN the bill, he said, was based not upon
Inc personal views Of the members of the
committee, but on the authoritative express
Cubd the evacuation commission had de-
ciafed that J0,cO0 soldiers were necessary
not necessary 10 enforce order but to insure
peace ana tranquility without bloodsbed