The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1916-05-12
Strong Argument
by Mr.. Hensley

TO Jle Dill TO auLnOflZe ana empower
officers and enlisted men of the navy
and marine corps to serve under the
Government of the Republic of Haiti.
From the Congressional Record Of
that date, The Times takes the fol-
lowing report of his speech:
Mr.. Speaker and gentlemen of the
House, it was not my intention to sub
nit any observations concerning this
bill, but after listening to the argu-
ments made by both those who are
favorable to it and those who are
against it, feel inclined to say some
thing. / cannot quite understand how
the members of the House can make
such arguments in connection with
this matter as l have heard made here
today. | have faith in the intelligence
and the honesty of the membership
of this body and | can not believe that
they, if they fully understood the
meaning of this measure, would sup
port it.
1t is said by the chairman of the
Committee on Naval Affairs and
others that it is necessary to pass
this bill in order to put into force and
effect the treaty which has already
been ratified by the Senate between
this country and Haiti. There cannot
be any connection whatsoever be-
tween this bill and the treaty. The
provisions of the treaty can be put
into force and effect without this bill,
which has for its purpose wholly the
increase in pay of the men and offic-
ers in the marine service of this Gov
eminent. The Good Book says that
one cannot serve two masters, and
yet in the very terms of this bill there
is a divided allegiance and divided
authority. The marines in the service
of this Government, enjoying full pay
from this Government with 20 per cent
additional for the enlisted men and
10 per cent additional for the officers
for foreign service, are, under the
provision of this bill, to receive sal
airy from the Haitian Government,
fixed by certain officers.
The first bill submitted by the
chairman of the committee provided
explicitly that in addition to the pay
from this country they are to receive
the same pay of native men and Of
ficers of the Haitian Government in
similar positions. stated before the
committee and | say now that if it
necessary for these men and officers
to receive additional pay and above
what the law provides at the present
time that upon proper showing of
that fact | am perfectly willing to
vote for an increase, and | have no
doubt but that they are entitled to an
lint hn oh No
recovered from the Haitian Govern
ment by some means or other and the
whole pay of our officers and men
should be chargeable against the
Treasury of this Government. In
other words, they should be the serv-
ants of this Government even though
portion of the money they receive is
first gotten from Haitian Government.
| think it is bad principle We bear
the same relation to several other
small Republics south of us that we
bear to Haiti. Now, this will be used
as a precedent in case this bill be-
comes law, and we will find that
bills on the same basis will be intro
duced to take care of our men and
officers in these other countries. If
Chio 10 bSSSoSdly " why ohoulu IlOI tHcES
be a general law to cover all such cas-
es as this?
Then, too, Mr.. Speaker, this Govern !
ment must of necessity depend upon
our representatives in these countries
for information; and upon the ques-
ton as to when our relations with
these Governments should be changed
information must come from, these |
people, and it is as natural as the |
night follows the day that these peo- |
pie will be considering their own in
dividual interests in reporting to this
Government. | am informed now that |
several members of the House have
friends in the service besieging them
for their influence in being detailed
for this constabulary service at Hal
ii; and, in addition to this, there is
another point that | wish to call your
attention to. Peculiar and extraordi-
nary conditions prevail throughout our
country concerning the question of |
military preparedness. / have not
the time to present to you my views
with reference to the causes for this
but we all know that in this
plea of patriotism, if we make mill
tary increases, the burden must rest
somewhere. Patriotism necessarily
requires service. The duty devolves
upon the people to render that SER
vice, and say here and now, Mr..
Speaker, that my observations thus
far during this session of Congress
convince me that the military people,
who are most instrumental in this
for preparedness, are
urging increases in every way they
can. / appreciate that l should be
more definite and certain in my state
ment. I should point out to you in
stances where officers and men are
asking and receiving increases in pro-
visions contained in different bills
from time to time, but | warn you
here and now that you viii find from
time to time as we progress with this
that these people will be
in their demands for in
,reases simply because the people,
hey believe, are willing to stand for :
t now under the present stress OF
conditions.
In conclusion, Mr.. Speaker, desire
again to say that | can not subscribe
o this divided allegiance and divided
want our people who are