CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



159 



give him that I would not be quite willing to 

 bestow on him. The ground on which I shall 

 vote against the bill is this, if the Senator de- 

 sires to know : I have always understood that 

 the retired list of the army was intended for 

 disabled soldiers, for officers who had served 

 their time out in the service of the country, 

 and were put there because they were unable 

 to discharge the duties of the military service. 

 I have heard no pretense if the Senator has 

 alleged it, it has escaped me that General 

 Grant in the first place desires retirement ; I 

 say in the second place that he does not need 

 it pecuniarily; and in the third place it can 

 certainly confer no honor upon him. 



"I oppose the bill, and shall vote against it 

 purely on those grounds, not for the reason 

 that I am not quite willing to recognize all the 

 services General Grant has done his country. 

 It is not that I am not quite willing to confer 

 upon him any honor on earth that we can give 

 him. If the Senator from Illinois will state 

 that General Grant needs $100,000 or $500,- 

 000 to prevent his suffering, I will vote for it 

 to-morrow ; but simply to vote to put him on 

 the retired list of the army is certainly no ad- 

 ditional honor, and it puts him, in my judg- 

 ment, in the attitude of a beggar before the 

 country, when he is not in necessitous circum- 

 stances." 



Mr. Logan : " Mr. President, the friends of 

 General Grant, I hope, will be permitted to be 

 the judges on that for themselves. Gentlemen 

 who are all the time afraid that General Grant 

 will be humiliated are so tender of him that 

 they do not want to humiliate him, and hence 

 they criticise his friends. But I say, as a friend 

 of General Grant, that General Grant would 

 consider it an honor to be put on the retired 

 list, and I should consider it an honor to put 

 any soldier on the retired list after he has 

 passed through such services as Grant has, to 

 show that the country still recognizes his 

 services ; and there is where the honor of the 

 thing is. It is not the amount of money in- 

 volved, but it is the fact that the country rec- 

 ognizes that he did great service for it." 



The President pro tempore: "The Senator 

 from Delaware now moves an amendment to 

 strike out all after the enacting clause and in- 

 sert what will be read." 



The acting Secretary read the words pro- 

 posed to be inserted, as follows : 



That hereafter there shall be paid to every Presi- 

 dent of the United States who shall have served or 

 may hereafter serve in said office, and who shall have 

 retired from the same, a sum annually during his life 

 equal to one quarter part of the annual salary paid 

 him while in said office : Provided, however - } That said 

 sum shall not be paid to any President while holding 

 said office by any re-election thereto. 



Mr. Bayard, of Delaware : "Mr. President, 

 this bill upon its face presents that which it 

 would seern ungracious for any American to 

 oppose. It seems to me, now, that there is no 

 need for additional recognition of the eminent 

 military services of General Grant. They are 



already recognized, not denied, but everywhere 

 accepted, approved by the American people. 

 Still I am not disposed to interpose objections 

 to further demonstrations of respect, honorable 

 to their recipient, entirely so to those who offer 

 them; but this is a law-making body. This 

 bill proposes in its terms to suspend, ' for this 

 purpose onlyj a general law of the United 

 States. Now, what is that law? As early as 

 1861 the policy was adopted of allowing offi- 

 cers of the army who had served well and 

 faithfully for a long time, who had been dis- 

 abled by wounds or disease from active serv- 

 ice, to be provided with an honorable and 

 fairly remunerative retirement. It was a wise, 

 beneficent act. It has been followed by amend- 

 ments. It was intended for a class of military 

 officers, and for that class only officers in the 

 Army of the United States, and none others. 

 By section 1,258 of the Revised Statutes, the 

 number of these beneficiaries honorably to be 

 retired is limited to three hundred. I under- 

 stand that, since the enactment of that law, 

 another hundred has been added to the list 

 by some amendment to an appropriation bill, 

 which has not as yet found its way into the 

 reprint of the Revised Statutes. So that there 

 is now a maximum of four hundred officers of 

 the army who may be upon this list, although 

 by the terms of the law ' any less number to 

 be allowed thereon may be fixed by the Presi- 

 dent at his discretion.' 



" This general law for the retirement of offi- 

 cers who have seen long service or have been 

 disabled, not only is a relief to them, but it is 

 a relief for their juniors in rank and service, 

 who in a time of profound peace have but two 

 avenues by which they are to escape from a 

 prolonged and painful retention in their former 

 rank. The death of a superior officer will cre- 

 ate a vacancy ; the placing of a superior officer 

 upon the retired list will create a vacancy, for 

 section 1,257 provides : 



When any officer in the line of promotion is retired 

 from active service, the next officer in rank shall be 

 promoted to his place, according to the established 

 rules of the service ; and the same rule of promotion 

 shall be applied, successively, to the vacancies conse- 

 quent upon such retirement. 



"Therefore two benefits are accomplished 

 by placing an officer upon the retired list. He 

 enjoys the repose that long and faithful service 

 has won for him, and his junior in rank has a 

 way opened to his legal and regular advance- 

 ment ' according to the established rules of the 

 service.' Now it is proposed, by an instance 

 of especial personal favor, to invade those 

 rules, to place in the way of just promotion 

 one more obstacle taken from civil life for this 

 purpose. As I said before " 



Mr. Logan: " Will the Senator allow me? " 



Mr. Bayard: "Pardon me. Let me state 

 my own case, and then I will hear my friend 

 with great pleasure." 



Mr. Logan: "I do not want to discuss it at 

 all." 



