The times., 1899-02-11
Mr.. LEN4Z TALKS OF
EAGAN'S PUNISHMENT
He Thinks Few Men Would
Object to Such Treatment,
A High Premium Placed Upon Dis
graceful Conduct.
The Obioan looks Upon the Presi-
dents Action ns indicating
Extreme FnvOritism.

During the debate on the sundry civil
bill in the House yesterday several gen
tlemen took occasion to make speeches
upon the subject of expansion. Mr. Bro
sius OF Pennsylvania. Mr.. Dockery. and
Mr. DeArmond of Missouri, and Mr.. Gill
lette of Massachusetts each spoke at some
length all save Mr.. Brosius opposing the
proposition. Mr.. Lentz of Ohio also spoke
but not upon the subject of expansion. The
! gentleman from Ohio took for his subject
the case Of Brig. Gen. Charles p. Eagan,
charged with feeding the troops in the field
with spoiled embalmed beef, from which
many are alleged to have died.
! Mr. Lentz spoke directly 10 the question
| of the order issued by the President reliev-
! ing Eagan from rank and duty, with full
( pay, for the insult TO the Commanding
General of the Army.
Mr.. Lentz-Mr. Chairman, yesterday the
gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Cannon
, suggested an enormous deficit in the i'm
mediate future, and il occurred TO me that
it might be advisable to call attention 10
the fact that the Administration could,
within the past forty-eight hours, have
saved this government S1S,3I5.
\ short time since we saw the state
ment throughout the press of the United
/
ular establishment of our army had said of
J the Commanding General of the Army the
| following II read from The Washington
/ Times of Wednesday lasD:
| He lies in his threat; he lies in his heart; he
! lies in every hair Of his head, and every pore OF
his body; he lies wilfuny, deliberately, inten-
/ tionally, and maliCiously.
| The man who uttered these words plead
! ed guilty to the offence and upon that the
aE do ), ,sH
| significant declaration:
The accused. after a trial by court martial
composed Of officers Of high rank and distinguish
! ed services. las been found guilty of conduct
I worthy OF an officer holding commission OF the
) United States. and obnoxious 10 the highest de
! gree 10 the discipline and good order OF the
/ military establishment.
| Now. gentlemen. if General Sherman, or
General Grant. or General Sheridan, after
their distinguished services to the country
/ had asked for leave OF absence exceeding
( thirty days in a single year TO make
/ trip around the world or 10 investigate the
I military institutions of Europe. what
! would have been the law that would have
! been applied to them. / read from the
| Military Laws, section s21, these words:
Officers when absent on account of sickness or
wounds or lawfully absent from duty and wait
ing orders, shall receive full pay; when absent
with leave for other causes. full pay during
such absence not exceeding in the aggregate
! thirty days in one year. and half pay during
| such absence exceeding thirty days in one wear
The most distinguished officer in the
army of the United States cannot receive
leave of absence exceeding thirty days
without suffering a reduction of one-half
Of his pay.
Now, by way of punishment-aye, by way
! of reward for this obnoxious conduct on
the part Of the brigadier general-the Pres
| ident of the United States says to him what
the President could not have said to Gen
eral Sherman or General Grant: Il give
/ you six years leave of absence. Go act as
a travelling man for the beef trust, if you
choose; go tender your services to the plu-
/ tocracy and money power for the next six
years and this Government viii pay you
; $500 "A year" Thirty-three thousand dol
| lars in the next six years Will be taken out
of the public treasury for man who has
! been guilty of the grossest insult that has
4 ever been perpetrated in the American
Army in the history of it from the days of
1 Washington down 10 this hour. Applause
/ on the Democratic sdel
/ That is not ALL II is stated by the Ad
jutant General that the brigader general
. will have reached his majority within
I few days after the six years are up. In
[ other words if he had reached the age OF
! Gi in five years. then the suspension would
; nave been lNe years II ne NaU TtatHeu IL
/ in four years. then the suspension would
| have been four years. But it is so ar
ranged in this suspension that the briga-
/ der general comes back to the full glory
OF the American epaulettes of brigadier
a few days before he is 81 years of age,
( and then he is to be retired under the law
OF section 620. which will pay him three
/ fourths annually of $500 which will
amount TO 81, l25 a year. AS his expectancy
H.. ,..,'t fC oil In hat
/ eleven years he will receive si5.3,5 addi-
! tional out OF the treasury of the public,
! in all $33 600 and s45. .3I5. making $1S,315
| for man who says of the Commanding
/ General of the Army that He lies in every
/ pore lies in every hair. lies III his throat
/ and in his heart" when the Commanding
General had simply told the truth, and
there are $4,000 privates that will testify
that they were fed rotten meat that they
could not stomach. [Applause.l That meat
! caused diseases and death. and We had it
certified here in the enormous, outrageous
death roll in the camps in our osn home
States. Seyenty-eight thousand three hun
dred and sevcnty-five dollars to a man who
| viii never render another days service TO
the United States,
This suspension is so arranged that this
man will draw SIS 900 out of your Treas
ury without being on duty single day.
| Have you ever heard of any such thing
is there an American officer today in tie
service who could not afford to accept that
punishment? There is not Lieutenant, not
a captain. not brigadier general, that
would fail to accept leave OF absence until
a few days before being sixty four years of
age and then retire and get to draw three
fourths pay for the rest OF his life. Ny
friends there IS not a Congressman on the
floor OF this House that could not afford to
accept this punishment of $500 year for
the next six years without doing anything,
and Si,l25 year for the next eleven.
Applause There is not Senator over at
the other end of the Capitol that could not
afford this punishment. There is not a
| man on the Supreme Bench OF the United
States that could not afford to be punished
by such an enormous punishment as this.
ILaughter.l Let us all be punished to-
morrow morning. lLaughter.I Seventy
eight thousand, three hundred and seven
ty-lve dollars for calling the Commander
OF the Army liar in every pore Why
sir. if he had called the President of The
| United States liar in his throat and in
| his heart and in every pore, ] suppose he
would have got million dollars' Laugh
ter What lieutenant in the army viii
not read this report and think that the best
way to promote himself will be to call his
, commanding officer liar, and take the
discipline, take the punishment? Aye, my
! friends it is apparent here that a reward
has been given the man who attacks Gen
eral Miles in such language this. ] an
not a defender of General Miles, but | wan
TO say that he took Porto Rico with loss
of three men in a campaign OF nineteeI
days when he was directed to meet II G0t
Spaniards armed with Mausers and direct.
.