The National tribune., 1911-04-13
Mr.. Burton, Stand Up.
(Bellefontain, o.. Daily Index-Repub-
licano

| lican.)
| You say that lowing to the addi
! tional demand on the Federal Treasur,
of S45,000,000 annually of the pro
posed Sulloway pension bill, l do mo-
| feel that I can support the measure
! You know, or you ought to know
that when you made that statement
your constituents to understand that
If the Sulloway bill had become a law
all old soldiers who would have been
beneficiaries under that act, would
never die?
You know, or you ought to know
that more than $4,000 battle-scarred
veterans of the civil war answered
their last roll-call during the year 1910
and many more than that number will
be mustered out during the year 1911
and the rate of mortality will keep on
increasing as the years roll by. Within
the ten years from the close of this
year the soldiers who fought to pre-
serve the Union will be very few.
You know, or you ought to know,
that it would take s45,0O0,000 an
nually out of the United States Treas
ury to pay these old soldiers. that that
statement was not true and was not
founded on facts.
You know, or you ought to know,
l1ldl tIlS government spent SSNtTdi
millions of dollars last year to i'm
prove breeds of horses yet you were
not willing to vote fer measure that
would help thousands of old soldiers
to pass their last days in comfort.
You know, or you ought to know,
that this Government has spent $217,-
390,453 for public buildings through
out the United States. In many cases
there was no necessity for it. For ex-
ample: In Findlay, Ohio. the Govern
ment spent s54,730 for building to be
occupied by the postoffice exclusively.
The interest on the bonds at per
cent amounts to S2,1S9.20. A janitor
is paid $1,000 per year for taking care
of this building, making a total of
S3,3S920. Add to this the heating,
lighting and maintenance of the build
ing and you have pretty expensive
luxury. This extravaganza and useless
expense of public money has been going
on all over the United States, and in
the aggregate amount to many millions
of dollars. These appropriations have
largely been made at the request of
Congressman, for the sole purpose of
advancing their own personal ambi-
tions, or IN other words for political
pull
You know, or you ought to know,
(for the Lord only knows nobody else
knows) how much has been expended
by the Rivers and Harbors Commit
tee, of which you had the honor of
being chairman while in the House,
for cleaning out Goose Creek, Mud Run
and a thousand other unimportant
streams in order that the tadpoles and
catfish might have water enough to
keep alive during the Summer months;
also, TO furnish soft jobs to a lot of
and political buns around
the docks of Cleveland and hundred
other cities that they may be held in
line for political purposes.
You know, or you ought to know, |
that during the 61st Congress more
than 5000 special acts were passed
pensions to soldiers, a large |
per cent of them having been ignored |
oy the Pension Department. The prac- |
ice has been that when a soldier
,ould not get his claim through the
Pension Department, he, or his friends, |
would go to his Congressman, and for
bargain and sale for political capital, |
prevail upon him (the Congressman) !
o push through a Special Act" this, !
lfter Sherlock Holmes" of the Pen
zion Department, had thoroughly in
-estigated his case. There are some
cases, but the per cent is
mall. In many of these cases it made
10 difference whether the applicant had
my record as a soldier or not, and
n most cases where a pension was
granted under these special acts the
mount allowed was more than twice
IS much as that granted in the regu-
ar way to men who had served through
he entire war. Have you ever OBJ
ected, either by vote or protest, to
hese infamous outrages?
You know, or You ought to know.
What Abraham Lincoln said at one
ime: '"You can fool all the people
ONE of the time, and some of the
,eople all the time. but you can't fool
III of the people all of the time
Again we say: Remember Burton"