Year: 1878

the House demanded the previous question,


and passed 1t with O'ConnOr's vote and a


wild huzza. These are bitter facts. Yet


after passing such an infamous bill they
dare not enforce it. Why? Because If
they sent those four hundred and fifty help


less children of our poor dead and wound
ed comrades home, some to every county


OF Ohio, as the bill provides they shall,


then these little ones would be sent to the
county intirmaries, and then there would 90


up all over Ohio the moan of the widow


and the cry Of the orphan, and the curse,


wild and damning, Ofevery true soldier and
soldiers friend, till such a storm would be


raised as would make Ohio Republican by
100000.


'The Democrats see it, and tremble.
And that is why they dare not enforce this
internal, damnable law till the October
election is over.


But they are sneakingly, quiet by and


unObserved, enforcing that part Of the
law which is not so well known yet by the


public. mean that part which provides
that no child, no matter how helpless and
poor and distressed, can be received into


the Home till 1t is u years Of age. Now,
| was Chairman Of the Committee on Mill
tary Affairs and Soldiers and Sailors Or
phans' Home in the first and second sess-
ions Of the SiXty-secOnd General Assembly,
and was also a member Of the same COM
mittee in the present Legislature. I have
made the subject a study. l know l under
stand it. And l undertake to say that not
one out Of twenty applications Is ever made
for a child over y years of age. 1t can
sustain itself, then, in a majority Of cases.
The Home was built by the Grand Army
Of the Republic, especially for infants Of
tender age. Not one of these now get it.


"In Noble county there we're three chill
dren-and so that any one may Join issue
if he will, / give him the benefit Of the
name-three children Of Ezra Davis, gal
liant soldier Of the old Twenty-6fth Ohio.
The oldest child is but nine years Of age,
the youngest four. The father is a physi-
cal and mental wreck, and unable to sup
port these little ones. The mother is poor
and in Wretched health. They are a pub
lie charge, all of them So, last spring, ap-
plicatiOn was made for the admission of
these three children, and after careful in
YestigatiOn notice was sent to the mother
to have them ready for admission June 1,
when transportation would be secured for
them to the Home. The mother, by hook
and by crook, by working like a slave and
by actually denying herself sleep and food,
for the most part, had managed to get a
cheap suit Of clothes, shoes, stockings, ETC.,
for the poor little ones, and had them ready
to 90 to the Home June 1, when she was
notified that they never, viii be admitted,
for two reasons, namely, their father is liv-
ing, and he never drew a pension. 1t has
nearly killed the poor mother, and after
all her labor of love and sorrow, her hope
of educating and saving her children from
the poor-hOuse are blasted and they have
become a charge upon the township Of
Olive!


''These are facts. I could give many
such cases from actual observation. ANY
one who questions 1t can easily have the
proofs There are doubtless many such
cases in every county of Ohio. As a mat
ter Of fact, there are nearly 600 applica-
tions Of the sort on file at the Soldiers Or
phans' Home now. But these cases occur
at such wide intervals Of space, these par
ties are so poor and quiet, and obscure, that
there is not much talk about them. They
are denied admission to the Home, and
there is no more said about it. That part
of the law is safely enforced without dam
aging the Democratic party.


"And that is the only part that Is enfOrc-
ed yet. But no sooner will the October
election be over than they will commence
ejecting from the Home, first, Superinten-
dent Shaw, then all the children under
twelve years Of age, all children whose
fathers are alive, all children whose moth
ers refuse to give up their pensions, and all
children over twelve years Of age whose
fathers die unPensioned The edict Of
Herod was not as cruel. That aimed only
to strike down the youngest children, but
the OCOnnOr law aims to strike down not
only all the little children of our soldiers,
but the poor widowed mothers as well at
the same cruel blow. 1t is no wonder that
soldiers all over Ohio are unable to speak
of this law Of blood with composure or
without curses upon the Democratic party
that enacted it."