Year: 1878




service of the United States since March 4,
1861, for payment of arrears of pensions and
for restoration to the rolls of |
the names of invalid pensioners stricken
therefrom on account of disloyalty. Re-
ferred to committee of the whole. and made |
the special order for this afternoon two
weeks.


The House then went into committee of
the whole, Mr.. Blackburn in the chair, on
the military academy appropriation bill, the
pending amendment being to strike out the
section prohibiting the appointment of civil
lans to the rank of second ieutenants when
no more vancancies occur than can be filed
by the next graduating class of the academy.


Mr.. White offered amendment that moth
ing in the bill should prevent appointment
for commissions in the army of meritorious
commissioned officers or priyates.
Adopted.


A motion to strike out was then defeated


The section which provides when a cadet
becomes once matriculated at West Point,
no other appointment from the same district
shall be made during the term for which
such cadet was appointed, if vacancy
should occur from any cause other than
death or physical disability, was stricken
out.


Mr.. Clymer offered an amendment pro-
viding only that such number of graduates
of the military academy in one year, shall
be entitled to appointment to second ieuten-
ants, as are required to fill vacancies in that
grade existing the first year, those entitled
to such appointments to be determined on
the basis of the standing of the graduating
class, and hereafter no supernumerary Off
GERS shall be attached to any corps of the
army and all graduates of the academy not
attached to any corps under the provisions
of this act shall be discharged in graduations
from the academy.


Mr.. Regan offered as a substitute an
amendment providing that as vacancies occur
in the academy every alternate vacancy shall
remain vacant for one academic term, so
there shall be for the future half the present
number of cadets.


Mr.. Southland in supporting Mr.. Clymer's
amendment referred to the evil of large
standing army. It was the history of the
world that standing armies sapped the liber-
ties of the people. This country had seen
instances Of the tyranny and oppression of
the standing army, notably in the last cleo
ton. Ten thousand men would be sufficient
to protect our border, while Congress had
hepU oil dl1uy VI UWoAGy-APt tuOuSduu I'LL
these years for the purpose of harrassing the
people and for the purpose of overriding
constitutional privileges.


Mr.. Conger said he did not know why his
friends on the other side were bound on de-
stroying the army, and kept nibbling at it on
all occasions. He had often asked what the
hidden motive was, but no man had answered
him, but sheltered themselves behind the
| beautiful cries of economy. His friend
| from Ohio, Southland, has let out the secret
q little way, and said it was because the army
had been used in the South in presidential
elections. Under the pretense of economy,
the Democratic party were cutting down the
army.


Mr.. Humphrey opposed cutting down the
army. He thought large standing army
protected the liberties of the people. Where
would these liberties have been last summer
| if it had not been for the standing army.


Mr.. Hall reiterated the charge made by
Conger that the Democratic party was deter
mined to cut down the army.


Mr.. Atkins-There is no such motion. It
is false assumption on the part of the
gentleman from Michigan, that there is
hidden motive on his side of the House to
destroy the army.


Mr.. Hale said he had listened day by day
/
was certainly the current of things The
gentleman from Ohio. Southland, had OBJ
! jected to the army because it had been used
in the South. Those troops had been with
drawn as a measure of reconciliation. and
the answer to that measure of reconciliation
was that the knife was put into the army.


MIR. Chalmers said he had hoped the war
was over. He believed this was day of re-
conciliation. He believed the government
could afford to do justice to its citizens on


both sides, in the firm conviction that both
sides were welded together in the strong


bond of union. Gentlemen on his side
had come back to the union bearing on


their bosoms no malice, no lingering feeling
no ill-win to the gallant gentlemen whom


they had met on the field of battle. He saw


those gallant men before, behind and around
him. The men who had fought on til,


Southern side were not jealous Of th'
wreaths of fame which were worn by thes,


gentlemen who had fought on the other side
> He contrasted the honor done to the mel
7 who had been killed on the other side but b
: did not grieve about that.


| Gentlemen on his side did not have th
= slightest feeling OF disloyalty towards tn
r union, and


t Mr. Conger, amid contemptuous laughte


OA Uuc DcuOC1dUCbAuOSo oUuUou dt SOuc louSG
: that the real motive which the Democrat
d had in cutting down the army was in orde


that when it got the appointing power tn
+ army might be filed with old officers VIII
0 had left the army for reasons of their owr
o Mr.. Hewitt, of New York, sent to th
!. clerks desk and had read the remarks b
q had made last Monday in regard to the Sc
l. ling of West Point. and the charge whic
IS had been made against him by House, {


Tennessee, that he had slandered the peop
l of the South. He had felt deeply grieved
d the language of that gentleman. He ha
n arisen at the moment and attempted to g
s. the floor in order to correct the misappr
ID hension under which the gentleman fro
10 Tennessee, House, was evidently laborin
it If there was anything in the language whit
n he had used which could be construed in
n any slandering of the representatives of Il
I'd Southern States, he would take it back. B
ne he insisted his motives we're to defend Il
in representatives of the South from the sla
e- der which had been uttered against tht


good name by the gentleman from Sou
IL Carolina, Aiken, when he declared that W.
It's Point was an incubus on the country
i'm Mr.. House replied to Mr.. Hewitt if Il
he gentleman intended no reflection on Southe
re- representatives he, House, was glad to ht
en- it. The remarks which he had made
'u- been based on his understanding of /
to gentleman's remarks. If he had misund
Of stood it then justice compelled him to ,