The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-11-22
UNDER COE,TITUTION Pens n Bill Failed of wo-thirds Vote. SENATOR'S FORCED TO VOTE
  Doors Are Closed and Absent Members Are Sent For. Discussion Takes Much Tine and Final Vote Does Not Come UntiI o'cloek--wids Diner-
 ences of opinion.
 

After members of the Senate by main strength and awkwardness had been forced to stay in the Senate for the
 vote. the Teasley bill to recompense the | old soldiers for their loss of nine
 months pension money was beaten be- cause 1t did not get the necessary two- thirds vote, required under the consti- tuition. The vote came a long time after darkness had settled. The Senators somehow displayed an eager desire to get away before the final vote was ta-i
 ken. The majority seemed to want the bill to pass and what was more it
 seemed determined Stc have vote on | the bill. a But the Senators kept slipping out the door one by one. President Pro Tenn Thomas at length ordered the doors tofbe closed and he ordered the | Sergeant at Arms to go out in the cor
 riders and bring back all absent Sena-s | tors.
 Senator Blackmon was named as q l deputy sergeant at arms and he proved most zealous in the discharge of his duty. He arrested four Sehators in one
 bunch and brought them in triumph to the Senate chamber. 4 Senator Overton came very near cre- ating a scene because he had a fnes- sage from some one in the hall and had
 to go out. By a, compromise he was permitted to go. accompanied by the l Sergeant at Arms.
 Majority Favor 1t. l The final vote on the bill. after the | truants had been overhauled and
 brought back to the Senate was as fol- | lows.
 For the bill: Blackmon. Glenn. Hayes.
 Heacock, Jones. King. Moody. Teasfey. Against the bill; Gum. LusIs, Hinson,
 Merritt. Miller. overton. Reid. Rey- | noIds--S.
 The measure has been one of the live wires Of the extra session. Such a | measure was expected to come before | the session met as number of the old | soldiers had claimed that a severe
 hardship was worked upon them in in- | augurating the chahge from the old to | the new pension law. The biIl was adversed by the Senate
 Committee on Appropriations, but
 Senator Teasley carried the fight to the floor of the Senate and had the bill taken from the adverse calendar by
 close vote.
 Chairman Miller of the Appropria- tions Committee again opposed the bill on the floor yesterday. He took a position radically different from that
 of Senator iTeasley. He said he would
 be willing to support any measure for
 the old soldiers that the treasury would stand. He denied that the old
 soldiers had been paid pensions on the first of each October for the previous year. The pension paid on October 1, were for the ensuing year, Senator
 Miller contended.
 -It's the old question of State book keeping that has been threshed over
 and over for the past twenty years" said Senator Miller.
 
 Discussion of BiII. | But Senator Teasley would not have | it that way. He had devoted time and | care to the study of the subject, and
 he made an eloquent appeal for jus tice to the old soldiers. He went on l to explain to his hearers that the pen
 sion money was assessed on October 1.
 1906, and collected. during the year.
 It was therefore due t4e old soldiers on October 1. 1907.
 But the old soldiers did not get the money this year as they should. In- | stead of receiving their pay for the past year they were given a quarter of | their pay for the coming year Senator Teasley said that the old | soldiers had been promised much but
 had been given little. The legislature
 was not meeting it's duty to thu gall
 lant old heroes who fought for their | homes and their state from '61 to '65. 1 Senator White declared, he, would vote for any bill to help any old sol I dier, dead or alive. 1t was enough for him to know that the bill under consideration was for the benefit of
 the Confederate soldier. He was
 ready to vote for 1t. He explained the keen disappoint-
 ment that some of the old soldiers had I experienced when, after making arr arrangements dependent upon their pen-
 sion money. they found on going to the Probate office that they were going
 to get only a portion of it. History repeats itself in this bilL" | said Senator Blackmon. "I have been
 in several Legislatures and after the
 salaries have been raised the cry of | 'Retrenchment goes up when some
 meritorious measures like this is pre- | sented."
 Hasn't this Legislature done more
 for the old soldiers than any other Leg
 islature that ever sat in Alabama?"
 asked Senator Reid.
 For Veterans--On Paper.
 "On paper. yes" said Senator Black | mon. but in reality, no. We have
 promised them enough but we have not | given it to them yet.
 We are paying them like the banks
 are paying their depositors. They will
 get 1t in the sweet bye and bye, if they | live long enongh. But hundreds of them will not be alive on next October
 and if they get their rewards they.
 will get it in heaven.
 "I tell you you can't go over the State bragging about what you have done for the old soldiers unless you pay them their just dues" ! Senator Jones, himself Confederate
 veteran. spoke in favorsof the measure. | He contrasted the parade which moved along Dexter avenue few days ago to | one which he saw at the close of the war. As a mere boy, ragged, hungry and barefooted, he had been marched along with other soldiers as prisoners | of war.
 l The money was due the old soldiers He had personally looked into the mat ter. He had learned from the Auditor
 that there was actually in the State | Treasury the sum of $360,00O It was
 there idle in the Treasury and the old soldiers were in many instances suf-. fering for the money due them. Senator Gum did not see the justice of the argument of those in favor of
 the bill. The only change made was in