The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1911-01-26
: DEBATE ON The SULLOWAY BILL.
Speeches For and Against Its Passage in the House of Repre-
senatves by Both Republican and Democratic Members.

! be perpetual charge against the rev.
enues, members might well hesitate tc
| impose it upon the Government. This
! bill if it becomes a law, will undoubt-
eddy carry pensions to the maximum fig
| ure of expense, but in the very course
! OF nature it will be but temporary.
| Already IS out of every 100 men who
made up the Federal army during the
civil war are in their graves. Time and
death are depicting the ranks of the
survivors more rapidly than did battles
| and disease and prisons in the days
of the war What remains of that once
mighty host is rapidly vanishing away
The places that know them now will
| soon know them no more forever
| Great as the amount is, for the brief
time that remains to them, the Gov
eminent can afford to pay it to the men
who redeemed and preserved 1t.
Fifty years ago the ill-omened proph-
cts on both sides the sea proclaimed
with one accord that the American Re-
public was doomed; that against the
experiment of self-goyernment tried
under the most favorable conditions
there must be written the word fail
ure"; even while the figure of him who
had already passed from the cabin of
the lowly poor to the Executive Mansion
of Nation was slowly but surely
ascending to the zenith of worldwide
and enduring fame as the emancipation
OF q race and the perpetuator of Ma
ton there were those who declared
that only under Kings and Queens
born of the blood royal could govern
ment long endure. Those who proph-
esied thus and declared thus had not
reckoned upon the patriotic spirit, the
reserve power, and determined purpose
of the common people of the Republic.
Fifty years ago Lincoln began calling
upon the young men to volunteer for
the defense of the Nation, and ceased
not until more than 100000 had re-
sponded. Here am L; send me-" Dur
ing those perilous years every country
schoolhouse, every public hall and every
church in the loyal portions of our
country rang with patriotic songs and
echoed fervent appeals to go forth and
defend the Nations life. Then, there
was no price the people were not will
ing to pay in treasure and in blood. 1t
is written IAN that man hath will he
give for his life and yet even this SUI
preme sacrifice the people counted not
dear unto themselves while the Nations
life hung doubtful in the balance.
When, SO years ago, the hilltops that
girdle this city frowned with batteries
of artillery and glistened with rifles
and bayonets in the hands of brave
men who were set to the task of defend
ing the Capital, the Congress did not
hesitate to pour out from the Treasury
every dollar deemed necessary to keep
the Flag from being lowered into the
hands of the enemy. Fifty years ago,
when the battle line extended from the
Atlantic thousand miles to the west
ward, on either side OF which were
ranged the sons of a common country
in the death grapple to settle great
questions where Congresses and courts
and Cabinets and Presidents had fail
ed, when again and again the awful
shock of battle filed the Nation with
sorrow and the world with horror when
not only the hospitals and churches of
Washington, but even this legislative
Chamber, were filled with the wounded
from the adjacent battiefields, the
Congress did not then hesitate to ex-
haust the Nations revenues nor mort
gage the Nations future, nor pledge the
Nations sacred honor to save the Re-
public. Thru all the war there were
heard midst the lamentations for the
dead praise for the heroic living and
promises of beneficent care to those
who should survive. The solemn pledge
of the people to her volunteer soldiery
was made by their then Representatives
in Congress. While unconsciously
standing in the shadow of his impend-
ing death, Lincoln's last appeal to the
Congress was to care for him who
shall have borne the battle and for
his widow and his orphan" How well
that pledge and that appeal have been
needed the records abundantly show.
1t is a record that will stir the Nations
pride and patriotism in the troubious
times that may yet come.
Generous as the Government has
hitherto been, may not the Congress
commemorate the rounding out of the
first full half century since the great
struggle for National existence began
by initiating the Congress that so years
after the Revolution greatly liberalized
the pensions of all the soldiers, officers
and men who fought under Warren and
Washington and Lafayette from Bunker
Hill to Yorktown?
Speech OF Hon. Otto G. FOelker.