Perth Amboy evening news., 1906-03-14
TANNERS HOT
SHOT THROWN
Gra@ Army Chief Vigorously Up,
holds Veterans Cause Sal,
airy Reduction Bill.

WASHINGTON. Mahcb 1i.-Corporal
Tanner, commander in Ihief Of the
Grand Army of the Republic, has writ
ten n letter TO Representative James
A. Tawney of Minnesota. chairman Of
the house committee on(appropriations.
protesting vigorously Against the nc
ton of Mr.. Tawney's committee in rec
ommending the enactuiept of a law re-
ducing the compensation Of govern
n.ent clerks after they have attained
the age of sixty-fve years. Corporal
Tanner writes particularly in behalf
of his comrades of the civil war.
Corporal Tanner ventures the asser-
ton TO Mr.. Tawney that you won't
find Il Confederate soldier behind your
bilr' and incidentally pays a tribute
to Il Confederate brigadier who refus-
cd to permit u single one of the Union
veterans to be disturbed when he had
the power to remove them.
$50 far as indicated by anything in
the report" continued Corporal Tanner.
this recommendation came from the
full committee OH appropriations, yet
Ntlt lut Sdtit Iutt W DE dDDlltu W
those in high AS well as low places
three members of your committee
would have been debarred from sign
ing it. The distinguished speaker of
the house. so active that many people
fear he must be reckoned with In 1908.
would have to withhold his approval
unless you hurry the bill through be-
rn,o NV,- : ..l.IN - 4hA tlit.tnnVa mann
bers of the senate committee on APP
preparations, who have the last guess
at this bill east of the White House
whose average age is slXty-seven. all
but four, two Democrats and two Re-
publicans, and they by a tight squeeze,
would be excused from consideration
Of your automatic time register upon
its arrival at the northern wing of the
capitol.
The operation of the proposed PEN
atty for loyal and faithful service
would fall so heavily upon those who
bore the burden of the battle in the
Union army that l must treat it as if
they were the sole beneficiaries. 1t is
for them. my comrades. speak. am
10 SllTk lniS uulN i oNc "
them and could not if would.
They stood with me. when to stand
meant victory then. that the congress
Of the United States should meet ever
since and now in Washington instead
of Richmond: that the stars and stripes
should float forever and a day over all,
emblematic of Il united, prosperous,
happy country.
You propose that the almshouse
alone shall be the veterans refuge III
- life and perhaps after you've kicked
him out to rattle his bones over the
stones will deny him burial in conse-
Grated ground. close against him the
gates of Arlington.
According to the best estimates we
are now living. Providence has blessed
these men with a vast aggregation of
sons and sons-in-law, and | cannot be
far out of the way when ] assert that
the survivors of the vanishing army
and their allied domestic relations ag-
gregate nearly or quite 100000 adults
in this land. Few of this number but
lIttti vi Willy Ncuio ~
by the proposed legislation.
You may pass this unjust, cruel,
monstrous law while the stars remain
in the flag and the memories of men
and ome are not stricken with pare
sis, but before you do | hope you'll
hear Whitcomb Riley recite 'Goodby,
jim: TEX Ker O. Yourself
This letter is. of course, you under
stand. wholly i%mpersonal. | happen to
be the official representative of my
comrades. as are you of the powerful
committee that, like the hand that
rocks the world dominates the affairs
of the nation.
II write not in anger. but in deep
sorrow, for it is my country and my
comrades with whom I've long since
touched elbows in whose name this
great wrong is being done. They
counted not the cost during the great
struggle. In the civil service, as in the
army or navy, it is the man behind the
gun upon whom we lean most heavily.
who fights the battles. who does the
things that get into general orders I'M
der some one else's name. But what
would we do without him.?
This subject is one by which the
very emphasis of our declining years
stands closer TO the representatives of
the vanishing army than any other
obligation on earth except to our God
and country. | shall be pardoned.
therefore, | am sure, for speaking long
and feelingly."