The free lance. (Fredericksburg, Va.) 1885-1926, 1902-01-02
AGAINST INCREASE OF PENSIONS
Minority Rspor. of inc Senate Committee

Minority Rep0rl Of inc Senate COMMITTEES.
State Senators Carter Glass and Geo.
B. Keezel are making hard fight
against the proposition TO increase the
appropriation for Confederate pensions
from $l35. 900 per annum 70 $500, 900
The proposition TO increase will proba-
bly, carry, but only after hard fight.
Here is the full text fthe minority argu-
ment:
To the Senate of virginia.
A minority Of your committee on
finance and banks respectfully submit
that, in their judgment. it would be con
trary to the public interest for the Cen
eral Assembly to pass the general ap-
propriation bill in the haste and hurry OF
the three days remaining before the re-
cess. The bill as reported on Saturday
carries appropriations aggregating three
million. three hundred and seventy-siN
thousand. eight hundred and forty eight
dollars and hfty-three cents and while II
ia true that the greater part OF this large
sum relates TO standing expenditures, al
terations such gravity have been made
a. to require the serious consideration oi
this body. This consideration cannot
be had by the two houses between now
and next Friday Moreover, we respect
fully insist that there is no public neces-
s;,v for haste IL has not been the Gus
,om of the General Assembly to pass on
appropriations until near the close oil the
session which il obviously the sale
nolicv for il cannot be anticipated what
laws will be enacted involving either the
increase or diminution Of existing ex-
penditures or their multiplication. The
General Assembly having resolved to re-
assemble on February nineteenth. nine
teen hundred and two, it would simply
he following the precedent OF other years
to defer action on the appropriation Dill
until all the members, new and DID, ex
perienced and inexperienced, shall have
had ample opportunity to famillarlIe
Themselves with the requirements OF the
state government and the various I'M
portant items OF expenditure.
We particularly object to undue haste
In disposing OF the appropriation bill re-
ported from the finance committee Oh tne
Senate. for the reason that it carries an
extraordinary item for pensions and CON
tains a provision which, as we conceive
involves the perpetuation OF a system
that il utterly unjust to the deserving
veterans OF the civil war, and which, IN
short order, will exhaust the public
revenues and seriously cripple the public
service. This may seem strong state
ment of the case, but in our opinion 1t If
fully warranted by the facts. We would
not be understood as, in any sense or ne-
gree, objecting to as ample and generous
aid to worthy soldiers RS the revenues OF
the state will justify. On the contrary
we are cheerfully ready to go to the
limit of the states ability in dealing with
the men who fought the battles oil their
country. and who, in consequence, are
now Justly entitled to our care and
bounty: but we think this can best be
accomplished by discarding a system
which has proven positively injurious TO
those who most deserve assistance, ana
which, confessedly, has multiplied ana
intensified the very inequalities and IN
iustices which the Parks pension law
was designed to correct. This observa'
tion ia not the mere opinion OF those OF
your committee who decline to unite IN
the majority report. 1t is the deliberate
Judgment OF the distinguished craftsman
of the law. brave and honored soldier,
who has, within the past twenty-four
hours. declared TO US that the results
have deplorably disappointed him; that
the purpose which he had in view was
totally defeated, and that, ii a member
of the present General Assembly, he
would not vote to appropriate another
dollar under the existing law, but would
repeal it.
The author OF the law apprehends, as
we do, that TO appropriate the large sum
of three hundred thousand dollars, under
the existing method redistribution, would
result in little, II any, increased aid to
deserving soldiers, but would simply
swell the lists under the process which
seems to have prevailed In many portions
of the state OF getting as much out oil
the general fund as possible. An exami-
nation OF the auditors report discloses a
multiplicity OF startling inequalities. One
great county OF Piedmont Virginia, for
example, gets but five shundred and
twenty-five dollars and thirty-6ve cents
for it's pensioners, while county with
approximately the same white popula-
ton In a different section receives three
thousand, nine hundred and ifty-four
dollars and seventy-Ave cents. Again, a
great county Of the Valley gets but one
thousand, four hundred aud forty-seven
dollars, while county in different sec.
ton with six thousand less white popu.
lation receives six thousand, five hundred
and fifteen dollars. The county OF Page,
In which resides the author OF the pen
sion act. scruDtinised its rolls OF honor
with such fidelity to the public interest
and to the spirit OF tbelaw, as to list but
thirteen new names, making total fol
the county Of buttwenty-four, while an
other county Of like size and population
listed one hundred and ninety-nine new