Norwich bulletin., 1918-07-02
Especial to The Bulletin,

record breaking WS6K III C0lSF6SS. Billions of dollars have been voted for the conduct of the war, for forti- fications. and other wartime needs and every third word heard in debate was of soldiers or sailors. The great fertilization bill carrying more than five billion dollars was passed by the house after five hours debate and without roll call. There was up- roarious applause when the speaker raRped his desk and announced and the bill is passed Congressman Foss of Ohio shouted We have passed ap- propriations for making war on Ger
 many at the rate of a billion and 8
 quarter of dollars an hour This is something Germany should know" Then Speaker Clark shouted back, Its something this country should know" and again the house eheered wildly.
 Congress acted on bills aegrega ting more than tWentv-two billion dollars in one day in order to prevent the lapse of appropriation necessary for the fiscal year beginning July 1st and to clear the way for the recess. That l same day the president vetoed the postomce bill, sustaining Postmaster ] pneumatic tubes. In less than an
 hour the bill had been shorn of the l tube clause by the house and again l put before it in otherwise the same 1 form. It passed in the twnkling of i an eve and without roll call. But ] the days of the past week have been i full of exciting incidents. Suffrage, prohibition, pneumatic tubes and war measures have shared the honors of 1 stirring up hot debate and in one in- stance a hand to hand fght between lol ! 1,1 1 charged each other with a breach of | liGuor vote.
 i The volume Of business transa cted has been immense. The eight million | dollar bond bill. the fortification bill, rivers and harbors and the great mili- 1 tary and naval bills swept through l coneress in one or both branches with whirlwind sneed. Lets go home" was the watchword of the week and the hot and tired members worked l full F hours a day and often far into 1 the night, cleaning up the slate. Here are some Of the measures which went through the senate in one day: Con-
 ferring the rank of lieutenant general on Provost Marshal General Crowder 1 for the neriod of the war: an amend ment which would bar forever from 3U. S. citizenship neutrals who claim exemption from military service; the providing of a special badge OF but ton for men honora blv discharged OF i rejected: many measures regarding the war and uniforms for officers and l other important war n7ea sIres in ad- dition to the nassage of the army ap= propriation bill carrying s10,os9. 900 . ono. And that sarnr dsv the house did
 an equal amount of work,
 
 1 And not only the soldier of today 1 but the soldiers of the Civil war have come in for share of attention and ladded protection. The Shoot amend ment to the pension bill which has be- come law gives added pensions to all Civil war veterans whose present pen sion does not amount to sS0 a month There was considerable opposition from democrats of southern states but the republicans of the north led 2 | splendid fight for the old veterans an6
 won out.
 In urging the passage of his amend ment Senator Smoot called attention to the increased cost of living anc said that the veterans could no longer support themselves and families or
 what the government had allotte! them under other conditions. The cos of maintaining a man in the soldiers l homes has increased from S240 veal
 to S400 and the increase of maintain ing a family has increased in tht same proportion MT. Shoot argue: that the pension should be said just the same to men in homes and also t( the few veterans whose income reach
 cd $1,000 d year. For. said he, nt
 veteran ought to be compelled to an
 nounce himself q pauper iM order tC
 1 fo, which he risked his life years ago Mir. Shoot predicted his amendmen
 would greatly reduce the number O private pension bills, and reduce tht number of inmates in soldiers homes as it will make it possible for man!
 of those men to re52in their families He also called attention to the grea
 benefits provided for the troops o today which the soldiers of the Civi
 war lacked. There was nc Red Cross
 no war risk insurance or other fl
 naneial aid given the men of the CiVi
 war" said he. and while the Unitet
 States is now insuring its soldiers a the rate of s7.50 2 thousand dollar no other country is issuing war risl insurance less than $50 a thousand.
 In connection with the present pay
 ments it is interesting to note tha the first pensions issued by the gov ernment were for but s4 a month an when later on they were raised to 5
 ii was thought to be large amount Now the minimum is to be $Se, wit
 9 rising scale based on age and ser
 vice up to SAP a month.
 The commissioner of pensions state that 268.000 Civil war veterans vii
 receive pensions under the act passe
 this session.