The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-04-02
SENATOR JOHNSTON
 ON PENSION BILL
ay WALTER HARPER

Washington, April 1.-(Special) )-Sena
 tor Johnston of Alabama has been wide ly complimented on the speech he mad on the floor of the Senate last Frida.
 afternoon on the question of pensions.
 The speech was very short. but 1t wa:
 witty and full of meat.
 | It came at the close of a very hard ano
 busy day The pension bill had beer
 under consideration continuously for two
 days and the sessions had been long and
 tiresome. Senator Johnson got the floor
 just before the close of the final debate
 and just before the vote on the bill was
 taken
 l Following is the speech in full MT. President I served four years in
 the Confederate army. l was wounded
 four times. 1 am very glad 1 not | killed. It is good for me and for my country that 1 survived. l am glad that l survived to support and aid the gov | ernment that my forefathers helped 10 | esta blish.
 T did not enter the Confederate army | for pay or pension. If 1 had l would have made a prievous mistake. because
 l have received no pension and l received very little pay My pay as a captain of infantry during the last years of the war, a months pay would not have pur- chased me a pair of pants. and needed them sometimes sorey in order to appear in respectable society.
 "Mr President. I have the kindest feel ing for the gallant men who met us on the field of battle l would vote to give
 every one of them a pension not only to
 meet the necessities of life but to pro- vide the comforts of life in old age. But MT President, that is not what we are asked in this bill to do. We are asked to grant indscriminately a service pension. Whilst l have that kindly feel ing for the men who met us on the bat tie field and I feel drawn toward them every time I meet them. and they have
 nothing but kindly feelings for the old Confederate soldiers, 1t is reserved for the men who never saw an armed Confeder-
 ate and never heard the rebel yell on he battle field when it meant death to many on both sides to harbor resentment
 against the soldiers of the south. | MT President. the south has contrib
 uted without a murmur to paying pensions
 in all these years until they have paid
 over s40Oo, ,0o0, ,0o0 and we are willing to | 70 on, but when II comes to proposal | 10 increase that by sl5.U0,Oco a year | think we have the right to stand up and
 say that it Is getting a little irksome. Tn the eouth there are thousands of men who fought Tor four years Tn the ! Confederate army who are not getting a
 dollar of pension. In my state there are | thousands of them who are getting less than $50 a year They were as patriotic
 as the men of the north. They fought | for what they believed to be right and
 they offered up their lives in testimony
 of their faith.
 "No man who entered that army had been paid a bounty We volunteered, and the nay of the Confederate soldier at the | close of the war, when resolved into gold. ] was less than sl a month We saw all
 inc priyations of our friends on the otller
 side We saw all the hunger and starva- | ton. I remember. Mir. President that
 I went the last two years of the war
 hungry all the time. The main opportuid- ties which we had to gratify our appe- | lite were by capturing something from | our opponents the enemy. and but foi l that we would have suffered grievously. 1 ''I believe that the government ought to he fair and liberal to the men Of the l north who fought the battles Of the | country 1 am willing to vote to pension | every gallant man who met US on the bf;t- He field and stood facing death. a pen sion that will not only provide for the 1 necessities of life. but for the comforts | Of life in his old age. Not one can make l an appeal here that will not have t re- | sponstve throb in my heart But for this l indiscriminate service pension l am not l disposed 10 vote and l shall vote for the 1 Mc(,unber bill as substitute for the 1 Sherwood bill because I think it infinitely | more just and reasonable than the for mer''