The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-12-07

vision that any officer of the army on
the active list below the grade Of briga-
| der general who served during the civil
war shall, when retired, be retired with
the rank and pay of the next higher
| grade
Mr. Moody offered an amendment giving
| to all officers now on the retired LIST, and
who served in the civil war, the pay and
| rank of the grade next above which they
| held when retired, and advocated it as a
! matter of mere justice. The amendment
was supported by Mr.. Mahon.
| Mr. Moody's amendment was lost, and
| then he moved to strike out the section.
MIR. Hull defended the section. 1t pro-
posed. he said. to provide for the Off, srs
who served in the civil war, through ne
Indian wars which the gentleman from
Pennsylvania tMahon described SO pa
thetically. and through the recent war.
There werc comparatively few of these
officers, lieutenant colonels, majors, and
captains. and he hoped the committee
would give TO these cid soldiers who had
served their country faithfully and con-
tinuously for forty years the same rec
ognition that had been SO freely and glad
ly given to naval officers by the last Con-
gress. He hoped that no man who posed
as the friend Of the old soldier would
strike out the section, to slap the most
deserving of the old soldiers in the face.
Mr.. Hay denounced the bill as vicious.
In that it was class legislation and tended
to increase the retired list, already bur-
den and growing heavier every year.
Mr.. Mahon made an impassioned plea
for what he called equal justice.
Mr.. Hepburn said the section should
be stricken out. The promotion provided
was illogical, and it was in effect an
effort to modify the pay of officers in the
retired list. If that were done, he said,
it should be done directly and not by in
direction.
The section was stricken out.
Mr.. McDermott offered new section di-
recting the President. on December 81,
1862. to reduce the enlisted force OF the
army to $1,000, which number should not
thereafter be exceeded. Supporting the
proposition. Mr.. McDemott made his
maiden speech. attracting close and gen.
erai attention for the five minutes allowed
him. The suppression of disorder in the
Philippines, he said. was not the real
reason for the increase of the army. II
it were the Republican leaders would
consent to an amendment limiting the ex-
istence Of the army to the duration of that
disorder. If the United States forces could
not reduce that disorder in the Lezt two
years. the Government should do as Spain
had done after holding the islands for
three centuries-fnd another county that
wants a gold brick.
The Cnnteen Provision.
When the canteon provision was
reached. Mr.. Littlefeld offered the fol-
lowing as substitute: "The sale of or
dea ling in heer wilma or any ;ntoxic,f;no
liquors by any person in any post ex-
change or cantecn or army transport, or
upon any premises used for military pur-
po. IS by the United States, is hereby pro-
hibited. The Secretary of War is hereby
direated to carry the provisions of this
section into full! force and effect
Mr.. Littlefeld briefly recited the efforts
made to accomplish the prohibition of the
sale OF liquors in army posts. The present
law had been passed to secure this, but it
had failed Much criticism had been made
of the Attorney General for his ruling
on the question, but 1t was due that Of
ficial to say that he was not Justly SUBJ
ject to it. The judgment of the War De-
partment. as enunciated by Adjutant Cen
erai Corbin this year. that the canteen
system as now practiced was beneficial in
its results, Mr.. Littlefeld said, had been
formed upon the reports of about LOCO
officers. when there were over twice that
number in the service. AS against that
expression Of General Corbins opinion. he
placed an opinion delivered by him in
1892 directly opposite 20 that of 1900 an
opinion which he repeated in 1899. He
had no criticism to make OF Corbin. be-
cause the question under consideration
was one upon which men might reason
ably change their minds.
The substitute Mr.. Littleiield offered. he
said. was in substance the Bowersock bill, |
which the Committee on Military Affairs, |
with two exceptions, reported should be |
passed.
The substitute was opposed by Mr. Fitz-
gerald, who pleaded that the House act |
upon the question honestly, and not az
fypocrites- The substitute was offered by |
a gentleman from Maine. where prohi- |
bition law had been upon the statute books |
for years, and there liquor was sold as |
openly as in any State in the country.
Nj. Grosvenor, announcing his intention |
to vote for the substitute, said the at |
titude he had assumed was one the pro- |
priety OF which he seriously doubted. He |
had but little faith in the suppression OF |
intemperarce by law. But a great ma |
jority of the people of this country had |
ccne to such stage OF mind that no tes- |
timony, though one rose from the dead, |
would satisfy them on this question. |
They have come to believe that by the |
abolition of the canteen the army will be-
come temperate and virtuous body of |
men. They will not hear the evidence of |
men competent to judge that the canteen
is great modification of the saloon. And |
there is not a saloon-keeper in the coun-
try who does not favor the abolition OF the
canteen. With all my fears and misgivings
in the face Of this great moral uprising, /
am willing to vote for this substitute"
Mr.. Slayden, one of the opponents of the
Bowersock bill. In the Committee on Mill
tary Affairs, said that the subject should |
be settled without Mysteries and without
fear. II every member who had not been
made coward by the ". C. T. u. and who
believed that the canteen contributed to
the comfort and discipline of the army |
voted his honest convictions. the pending
substitute would go down under an over |
vote
Mr.. Pearce said he was one of these who
had the courage Of his convictions, and he
would vote against the substitute.
The substitute was advocated by Mr..
Hay. There was nothing hysterical, he
said, in its consideration. He favored it
because he thought 1t wrong for the United
States TO engage in the sale of liquor on
property or transport owned by it. The
young men of the country who came into
the army ought not to have temptation
thrust at them in the post where they are |
by the Government which they
serve.
Mr.. Parker vigorously protested on be-
half OF the soldier against the proposed
substitute. He did not sympathize with
gentlemen who submit to q public senti- |
ment grown up in ignorance.