The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-01-15
FOLLOWERS OF MIR. ~RIXEY Gardner and { >ArmOnd Make S,< Ines.
 -S AID FoRExSS GFEDERATEs
 ;
 s Their / .lssi0n to Soldiers Homes is Favored. Michigan Republican Declares the Time Has Come for Such Action
 On the Part of Congress
Michigan Republican Declares the


 Washington. Jan. A-The House con tinued the debate on the pension appro- priation bill today and devoted much time to the proposition advanced by Mir. Rixey Cva.) yesterday to open the doors of the, soldiers homes to ex-Confederate veterans. Two notable speeches were made in support of the proposition, one by Mir. Gardner, a Michigan Republican, and the other by MT. DeArmond, Mis- souri Democrat.
 Mir. DeArmond's eloqucnce aroused both sides of the House. The Republi- cans, with the exception of MT Gardner, took no part in the discussion of the Rixey suggestion, which met with must opposition on the Democratic side on the ground that it. was utterly impracticable. Mir. Lamb Va.) read e number of tele- grams from prominent ex-Confederates of Richmond protesting against 1t.
 In the House today MT. Gardner (Ndich.), reverting to the speech of MT. Rixey yes- terday in favor of opening the doors of national soldiers homes to ex-Confeder- ates, said he approved the suggestion. As an ex-Unon soldier. he sympathized with the spirit that sought to take care of our own and predicted that the time would come, and at no distant day, when the homes for disabled veterans, built and maintained by the common Govern ment, would be opened alike to needy soldiers whether of the Union or the Confectionery His expression of the sem timent that it was better to care for the destitute than to care for the graves or the dead though immortal 1t might be- was greeted with round of applause on the Democratic side. He said that since the Spanish war; whatever difference ex- isted among the people of the country had ceased to exist as sectional differences and notices had been served on the -civh world that in any future war with the United States the whole country must be- reckoned with.
 Before the House resumed the debate on the pension appropriation bill today, the Speaker announced the appointment of Mir. Stewart (N. Y) and MT. Livings- ton as directors of the Columbia Hospi- tai for Women, and MT. Russell oConn.) and Mir. Lanham (Tex.) as directors of the Columbian Institution for the In- struction of Deaf and Dumb. Both in- stitutions are in the District of Colum- bia.
 The House then went into committee of the whole, and resumed the considera- tion of the pension appropriation bill.
 MT. Gibson (Tenn) speaking or the Philippines policy of the administration said that the Republicans believed in re- taining the archipelago and questioned the loyalty of every Amercan who desired to relinquish it.
 MT. Wheeler (Ky.) interposed to say that he questioned not only the loyalty, but the intelligence of any one who would utter such a sentiment on the floor of Congress.
 Tt has been the favorite practice of the Democratic party in the South" re- piled MT. Gibson ito charge every man who loved his country with ignorance"
 With some display of heat. he said he would huri the epithet back into the face of the gentleman from Kentucky.
 MT. Wheeler explained that he did not mean to charge those ip the South who had followed the Union flag with ignorance. He had only meant to brand as ignorant those who charged dis loyalty to men who believed 1t bad policy to retain the Philippine islands.
 MT. DeArmond, Mo-, approved the sug- gestion of MT. Rixey Wa.) to open the doors of soldiers homes to ex-Confederate veterans. He took issue with those who had declared that the Confederate sol diers had sought to destroy the govern ment of the United States. The leaders of the lost cause, he said, believed im- plicitly in the theory of secession and the rank and file, not indulging in fine spun theories, finding that war had come, fought for their homes and firesides. This suggestion to allow those on the losing side to enter the homes for the winners were worthy to be considered III calmness and charity.
 He paid a high tribute to MT. ktxey who had made the suggestion and tS MT. Gardner the Michigan Republican who had endorsed it. Those two men, said he, were typical of the better sense and the better sentiment of American statesmanship.
 When a man like Mir. Gardner could rise above the petty bickerings of today and forgetting the animosities of the past remembered only the valor of his coun- tryrnen and express such sentiments as he had, Mir. DeArmond said he ,,hailed 1t as the dawning of a brighter and better day.
 Mfr Chairman" said MT. DeArmond, 'I think the time has already arrived when in the North and the South there Is a common sentiment of pride in the glory and manhood of the American sol dier of the war of the sixties and even if we do nothing to realize it, our children will, when some of the leaders of tine South will be pointed to. North and South. East and West as the brightest ornaments of our time.
 ''I believe that in all the Christian era there has not arisen a leader of men with all the better clements of manhood, nobler and more magnificent specimen or the best that manhood can do in It's proudest and most glorious and success ful moments, than General Robert F.. Lee (applause.) l am perfectly willing to stand by the bill and the adNocacy and support of it. There can be no greater charity to the federal soldier, there can be nothing better for the sol dier of the North or the South than to furnish him a home when there is no horne elsewhere Far better than to dis pense the pensions with lavish hand or deal them out sparingly. 1t IS to furnish these old soldiers with the sur rounding of the household where the blasts of winter have no terror for them and where they may prepare for the final