The National tribune., 1911-01-19

to $45,4ss,46s A few less battleship
or a reduction in our military and pava
| expenses will make up this extra eX
penditure. These veterans, weakened
and diseased from their army suffer
ings and hardsIlips, are dying at tin,
rate of $4,000 per year, nearly 100 PEI
day. This per cent will increase eacf
year. as more than ona third of thes,
soldiers are now over 20 years of age
These older veterans cannot live man!
years longer. Let them have the mos
generous support of the Government
they preserved, and the love and re-
spect of the people who enjoy the bless
| ings of that Government
! Mr.. Dixon then spoke of the fac
that since he had been q member oi
Congress he had voted for every bill
| increasing the pensions of widows ant
veterans, and that he expected rs LONG
as he Vas Il member of Congress to Use
his efforts to secure for these old sol
! diers the generous support they SO rich
| " deserve. He closed his speech amids
prolonged applause.
Hobson Opposes.
Mr.. Hobson, of Alabama, who is fol
big battleships and a bigger Navy. OPP.
posed the BILL. He declared that the
country had gone too far in its pension
policy ir including the deserving with
the undeserying, and that the eXpendi'
turc for unworthy cases is going 10 i'm
peril the cause of the deserving, and
closed by saying: This bill does not
fulfill the requirements of principle OF
of sound public policy. and in my indg'
ment should not prevail In reply tC
a question MIR. Hobson said that he
would rather take up legitimate, cases
in special bills than to put the legiti-
mate cases in a general bill along with
illegitimate cases.
Mr.. Kendall Supports.
Mr.. Kendall, of Iowa, after stating
that he had introduced bill allowing
10 every honorably discharged soldier
who had served 80 days or more in the
civil war dollar day, gave il as his
judgment that it was impossible to pass
bill of that character at this session
of Congress. and that he therefore was
very glad to support the present bill
which he believed was the best possible
at the present time. Mr.. Kendall then
went on to say:
Il have done whatsoever I might
properly do as Representative in Con-
gress to create a public sentiment de-
n1anding more liberal legislation for the
disabled veterans, and | am proud to
believe that to the agitation in which
we have been engaged may be attribut-
ed the measure which is now engaging
the attention of the House. These men,
young and vigorous when they enlisted,
are old and broken now. They are en-
titled TO the most generous considera-
ton by their grateful Government.
When the perpetuity of the Republic
was imperiied. when the dissolution of
the Union was threatened, when the
permanence of free institutions was
jeopardized, they listened only to the
voice of patriotism and offered them
oil
of their country. No ina gination can
describe the dangers which they con-
fronted, nor the privations which they
endured. Their achievements are I'M
precedented in the history OF civiliza-
ton, and the record of their valor Of
fers an illustration of heroism unap-
preached in the annals of the world.
To indulge in paraphrase: of all that
is good. they are entitled to the best.
/ vote for this bill because ] am appre-
hensive that If it is defeated no legisla-
ton whatever Will be possible during
the 61st Congress
Mr.. Clark. of Florida, declared that
he would vote against the bill because
in the first place 1t was an enormous
drag upon the Treasury. and, in the sec
ond place, the bill was called up at a
time when there was no opportunity to
offer any amendment, no opportunity to
discuss it and no opportunity to dissect
it at all. He declared that he thought
the bill was unjust, because 1t placed
the soldiers of the civil war and the
Mexican War OH a basis not accorded
to the few hundred old veterans of the
Seminole Indian wars in Florida.
Weeks, Of Massachusetts, in Opposition.
Mr.. Weeks, of Massachusetts. de-
ciared that there is no doubt as to the
proposition that the least justifable of
al. III L. Lii
which provides for all classes of service.
That is the character of the bill now
pending before the House" Mr.. Weeks
then declared that Congress had passed
a service pension act, but that it did
not get it's initiative in Congress, but
was the result of an executive act and
that the bill (known as the McCnmber
bill) passed Congress very largely TO
satisfy the scruples of many who be-
lieved that the executive act was not
legal Mr.. Weeks then declared that
men "go into such service as existed
during our civil war, first, because men
like excitement and because they wish
to be of service to their country; sec
ondly, because they were paid special
bounty for entering the service" He
said that while great stress is laid on
the fact that volunteers were promised
that they should receive care and pro-
lection, that he does not find anything
which iustifies one in believing any
thing else than that these men were to
be treated like Regulars during the SER
vice, and il they suffered on account of
the service, as far as possible they
should be provided for Mr.. Weeks then
said:
Neither do I place any reliance in
the frequently advanced statement that
army service puts men back so that
they are unable to recover themselves
and provide for their own future. My
own Judgment is that military service,
in the militia or elsewhere, makes a
better equipped man than he otherwise
would be, and I have no doubt that
those young men who went into the
civil war and came out physically sound
were as far ahead in the civil affairs of
life five years after the close of the war
as they would have been if they had
not gone into the service at ALL"
NJ. Weeks then declared that there
are thousands and tens of thousands of
men who do not need pension. He
then cited the case of four or five multi
miliionaires who are veterans, but who
would have a right to pensions under
this, law or any other general pension
law Mr.. Weeks in closing said:
Il do not believe that the men who
defended and protected the Treasury
in the civil war days are going to join
in rsiding it now when tits in sore dis
tress"
Mr.. Madden I'm Favor.
Dir. Madden, of Illinois, declared that
when the Nation enacts legislation for
the relief of men who fought to save
ing a simple measure of Justice, and to
nYn ic in lie mi,