The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1911-12-23
AND RHETORIC
ON THE NEW PENSION BILL

pate on the pension OIL III committee
of the whole, House of Representa-
tives. on December s:
Shed First Blood.
Mr.. Sims of Tennessee: Being an
orphan on this bill, being opposed to
the bin reported by the majority Of
the committee, and being opposed TO
the substitute which | understand will
be offered, | therefore accepted time in
any way ! could get it, and the gentle
man from Illinois most graciously
agreed to give me ten minutes, foy
which am very much Obliged. have
no prejudice or any ill-feeling in this
matter You will perhaps be sur
prised to learn that I shed the first
blood in Tennessee during the Civil
War; but | did. | was only nine years
old. At a little place in Wayne Coun-
ty, then called Martins Mill, where
my father lived My father had made
the mistake, from the view of mis-
neighbOrs, of casting the only vote for
separation cast in the box in which
he voted. | thought my father knew
how to vote and that he was on the
right side, so l put on a little blue
cockade that indicated l was on that
side, and l walked out in town and
marched around and honered, Hurrah
for Jeff Davis and the Southern Con
federacy, and about that time the
Union boys came there, without re-
spect to color, in very great force. |
had a Confederate flag raised over a
hollow stump, and they tore it into
tatters; they tore every insignia of the
Confederacy off me, and / got the
worst beating that any Confederate
ever got in battle, who survived it, |
went home, torn and disheveled, and
my mother advised me | had better
keep out of the war unless had some
body to fight on my side. Oaughter)
In Wayne County, where l was born,
and Hardin County, where | was
brought up, there were more soldiers
who fought on the federal side than on
the Confederate, and have never yet
failed to introduce a bill to increase a
federal pension in my district where
the affidavits accompanying the re,
quest showed that he was entitled 10
it, and l shall continue to do so.
His Family Were Divided.
Mr.. Austin of Tennessee: | repre-
sent on the floor of this House a dis
trict in Eastern Tennessee which fur
nished more soldiers to the Union
army in proportion to population thar
any district in the United States. In
that district some of the counties fur
nished more soldiers to the Unior
army than they had voters-hundreds
of boys enlisted. Tennessee furnished
$1,000 brave and gallant soldiers to the
Union cause. And here am |, half a
century after the beginning of that
great civil strife, the descendant of q
man who was devoted to the Union
and whose father and brothers be
lieved in the Confederacy. My wife's
parents hearts beat in sympathy with
the Southern Confederacy. ! repre-
set here a southern district that in
sixty years has not elected Democrat
to Congress. That great war long
long ago passed away, but well do
remember, as small boy way down in
the district so well represented by my
honored and esteemed friend, Judge
Richardson of Alabama, the coming OF
the Union soldiers. My father was
compelled to leave the Confederate ter
ritory and remain within the Union
lines, leaving his wife and children be-
hind We finally followed, sleeping in
box cars and camping out in the open
until the war was over. Now what a
great country we have-a united coun'
try! We have no North, no South, no
East no West-only America. CAP
plause.) There are no longer south
ern men or northern men. We are
free men of the greatest and richest
ana SIduueSI IepuDllC vi llS iuNS VI
the earth. (Applause) There is no
war prejudice or passion in our fair
land. That statement was more than
fully justified on the floor of this House
in the closing hours of the siXty-first
Congress, when the lamented and
loved General Gordon, representing
the tenth district of Tennessee, an eX'
Confederate soldier, and the gentleman
from Alabama, Judge Richardson, an
Fother brave and worthy ex-Confeder,
ate soldier, sat here all through the
long vigils of the night to aid in the
passage of a bill to repay the Union
people of the South for the losses they
incurred in that great struggle CAP
plauseJ
Debt Can Never Be Paid.
Now, the people who have honored
me with a seat in this great body did
not enlist and fight for the freedom OF