The National tribune., 1911-01-19
DEBATE ON THE SULLOWAY BILL.
Great Speeches by Speaker Cannon Chairman Suoway and Others
Both Republicans and Democrats Support and Oppose the Bill

! ed, rich and prosperous country ar,
the ones that to-day we are proposing
TO honor and deal justly by. This none,
paid for pensions, Mr.. Speaker, doe
| more good than any other money tina
can be, or ever is, appropriated by Con
greSS.
1T goes all over the country; it goe
into the channels of trade and com
merce everywhere. 1t is expended TO
the necessities of life, in the communi
ties where the benefciaries reside, an,
| not dollar of it is wasted, and, Mr.
Speaker, as a measure of future defens,
to the Republic, l say that the treat
ment we give our soldiers, if we pas
this just legislation, is of more benefi
than all the forts and all the battle
ships that you could build in hundred
years. (Applause) A great Nation o
loyal and patriotic people can neveI
suffer defeat. And the patriotism o
our people stands, and forever vii
stand, as the one greatest bulwark o
defense against foreign or domestic ag
erosion. In this Republic there i!
nothing that stands between us ant
anarchy on the one side and despotisn
on the other but the written Constitu.
ton of the United States and the pa
triotism of the people. That patriotism
should be encouraged, and the Govern
ment should }et it be known once fol
all that no volunteer who offers his lif,
in defense of the Union shall ever suffer
want. (Applause.) Let the people OF
the country everywhere understand that
a grateful country VIII take care of its
defenders, will treat them literally and
justly, and when the country needs de-
tenders you will find the boys of the
future, with the knowledge that the
Government stands by its defenders
ready to volunteer. as they We're in
1861 to 1865, and in 1898, and to risk
their lives whenever need be in defense
of our country and its flag" applause
Mr.. Fuller was interrupted by Mr.
Wilson, of Pennsylvania, to ask thai
an amendment be agreed upon in line
H. Mr.. Fuller declined to agree to
any amendment.
Mr.. Wilson declared that the amend
ment he wanted to offer would be to
make the minimum pension s25 a
month.
Gillette i'm Opposition.
Mr.. Gillette, of New York, a very
wealthy old bachelor, declared that il
was pleasanter to vote for than agains:
any appropriation, and that it was
pleaSanter to give than to refuse, and
when the giving was at someone elses
expense the temptation is strong to be
ever, that if he were TO allow those mo-
tives to control his actions it would be
TO sacrifice the interests of the Govern
ment which he and his confreres were
there to protect, land now comes this
proposition TO spend s45,000,0 900 year,
not upon the needy but give indiscrim-
inately to the poor and to the rich. to
the sick and to the healthy alike. The
veterans of the war. arc not all needy
he said, and closed his remarks by
saying:
Il do not believe this indiscriminate
appropriation of $45, 00o, 900 is justified.
do not think it is the way to redeem
our pledges to care for the veterans
and ! hope it will not become law"
Mr.. Longworth's Opposition.
Mr. Longworth, of Ohio, spoke on
Democratic time. He declared that he
only asked for time in order to explain
why he would vote against the bill. He
said that the only information with re-
gard to the amount of expense that
would be incurred in the passage of
the committee, showing that it would
amount to more than s45,000,000 a
year. He declared that the bill came
up under a suspension of the rules,
where. no amendment was possible, and
that the bill must either be voted up
OF NOleO -uOWIf.- lie Salu Ihat he was
not ready to vote for bill that carried
the tremendous appropriation of s45,-
100000 year at this particular time.
He said that the complaint of the peo-
pie of the country to-day is that the
necessary cost of living already presses
heavily upon them, and he did not be-
lieye that we could afford to take the
risk of voting the equivalent of nearly
$50. 100000 year out of the Treasury.
Mr.. CaIderhead's Argument.
Mr. Calderhead, of Kansas, said:
Mr.. Speaker, in the three minutes
allowed me i will not undertake to
detail to this House the steps by which
the committee have come to the con-
clusion that this is the wisest legisla-
ton upon the subject of pensions
which the Congress can give to the
people of the country. l will not Un-
dertake now to go into detail of the
foundation upon which this pension
rests, but j must say in answer to the
gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr.
Gillett) that he has mistaken the foun-
the soldiers who gave their service and
offered their lives to maintain the life
of the Nation are not pauper pensions,
given 10 relieve from poverty. They
are not pensions granted to paupers
to save them from the County poor
house. This is not a pension to paup-
ers. This is the answer Of the Ma
ton TO the men who saved it alive.
There is no distinction to be made in
the rank of men who gave that serv-
ice in the degree Of this pension. 1t
is given in the honor of the Nation
At the time when this service was rem
dered the wealth of this country was
in the State of the gentleman from
Massachusetts and in the State of the
gentleman from Pennsylvania and in
the State of the gentleman from the
State of New York.
THE wealth of this country west of
the Mississippi River was so insignif-
cant that il was hardly worth count
ing in a battle for the preservation of
wealth. Ii was not battle for the
preservation of property; bur all the
property interests of this country were
the men who saved it gave their SER
vices voluntarily to perpetuate, not the
wealth OF Massachusetts or Pennsylva-
MIA or New York, to save not the aims
houses of Massachusetts or of New
England or of Pennsylvania or of New
York, but to save the Nation alive
amongst the Nations of the earth; a
Nation founded upon liberty and equal
ity for all men: and il is because by
their service they saved this Union and
this Nation that the honor of the Ma
ton, now richer than any other on the
face Of this habitable earth, now richer
in individual manhood. Nation tina,
owns one-half of the railroads of the
whole world, a Nation that now owns
one-half of the banking power of the
entire globe, a Nation that now owns
one-half of the manufacturing and pro-
ducing power of civilization, a Nation