CONGRESS. (PENSIONS.) 



257 



being to secure justice to those who deserve a 

 pension, a motive as strong as that, I would 

 say stronger, is to bid for the soldiers' votes, 

 and to pay the money of the tax-payers of this 

 country as the price of political supremacy. 

 We proceed here as if there were no tax-pay- 

 ers in this country. We proceed here as if 

 there were a great fund of money collected to- 

 gether, and we were engaged in its distribu- 

 tion. But, Mr. Chairman, there are millions of 

 toilers in this land, poor, afflicted, with fami- 

 lies to support, earning their bread from day 

 to day by their sweat, who have to pay taxes 

 for every appropriation which we make. And 

 I assume to warn members that we may reach 

 the point at which the public judgment will 

 revolt against this outrage of giving the public 

 money for political supremacy, of taxing the 

 people's sweat and toil, and giving away their 

 money in this manner. 



" Who has ever known one of these bills 

 come up for consideration who has not seen 

 this same thing enacted and re-enacted here ? 

 I will repeat, sir, what I said before, that the 

 soldiers who are disabled in war ought to be 

 pensioned, and I will vote as cheerfully as any 

 man for every reasonable and proper pension 

 for them, and also that those who are the 

 widows of such soldiers, and were their wives 

 when they were soldiers, or where the soldier 

 lost his life in the public service, should be 

 pensioned. No man will vote more cheerfully 

 or readily than I a proper pension for such 

 service; but I would drive the thousands who 

 come here to these halls into the Pension-Office 

 to make there the proof required by law to en- 

 able them to secure their pensions. I would 

 not allow them to come here upon ex-parte 

 statements to play upon political feelings and 

 obtain pensions in the name or on account of 

 those who have really rendered service to the 

 country. There is not a man here who does 

 not know, I presume, that there are numbers 

 of men receiving pensions to-day, I think I 

 may safely say thousands, who are no more 

 entitled to it than I am." 



Feb. 1, Mr. Matson moved to take the bill 

 out of Committee of the Whole and pass it 

 with an amendment, limiting its application to 

 widows married to a deceased soldier or sailor, 

 prior to the passage of the act, or prior to or 

 during his service. The motion was adopted 

 by the following vote : 



YEAS G. E. Adams, C. H. Allen, C. M. Anderson, 

 J. A. Anderson, Arnot, Atkinson, Baker, Bayne, 

 Beach Bland, Bound, Boutelle, Brady, T. M. Browne, 

 C. E. Brown, W. W. Bro\vn, Buchanan, Buck, Bun- 

 nell, Burleigh, Burrows, Butterworth, Bynum, J. M. 

 Campbell, J. E. Campbell. T. J. Campbell, Cannon, 

 Carleton, Caswell, Catchings, Clardy, Cobb, Cole, 

 Compton, Comstock, Conger, Cooper, Curtin, Cut- 

 cheon, Davis, Dineley, Dockery, Dorsey, Dowdney, 

 Dunham, Eden, Eldredge, Ellsberry. Ely, Ermen- 

 trout, Evans, Evcrhart, Farquhar, Findlay, Fisher, 

 Fleeger, Foran, Ford, Frederick, Fuller, Funston, 

 Gallinger, Gay, Geddes, Gilfillan, Glover, Goff, R. S. 

 Green, Grout, Hahn, Hale, Hall, Halsell, Hanback, 

 Harmer, Hatch, Hayden, Haynes, Heard, D. B. Hen- 

 VOL. xxvi. 17 A 



derson, T. J. Henderson, Hepburn, Herman, Hie- 

 stand, Hill, Hires, Holinan, Holmes, Hopkins, Houk. 

 Hutton, Jackson, James, F. A. Johnson, J. T. John- 

 ston, Ketcham, King, Kleiner, La Follette, Laird, 

 Landes, Le Fevre, Lehlbach, Little, Long, Louttit, 

 Levering, Lowry, Lyman, Markham, Matson, May- 

 bury, McAdoo, McComas, McCreary, McKenna, Mc- 

 Kinley, Millard, Milliken, Mitchell, Moffatt, Morrill, 

 Morrison, Morrow, Murphy, Neal, Neece, Negley, 

 Nelson, O'Donnell, O'Hara, Osborne, Outhwaite, 

 Owen, Payne, Payson, Perkins, Peters, Pindar, 

 Pirce, Plumb, Price, Eandall, Ranney, T. B. Eeed, 

 Rice, Riggs, Robertson, Rockwell, Romeis, Rowell, 

 Ryan, Sawyer, Scott. Scranton, Sessions, Seymour, 

 Shaw, Snyder, Sowden, Spooner, Springer, Stahl- 

 necker, Steele, E. F. Stone, W. J. Stone of Missouri, 

 Storm,, Strait, Struble, Swope, Symes, Tarsney, Taul- 

 bee, E. B. Taylor, Zachary Taylor, J. R. Thomas 0. 



B. Thomas, Thompson, Van Eaton, Viele, Wads- 

 worth, Wait, Wakefield, J. H. Ward, William War- 

 ner, A. J. Weaver, J. B. Weaver, Weber, West, A. 



C. White, Milo White, Whiting, Wilkins, Willis 

 Wilson, Winans, Wolford, Worthmgton 198. 



NAYS J. M. Allen, Ballentine, Barnes, Bennett, 

 Blanchard, Blount, Bragg, C. R. Breckinridge, W. C. 

 P. Breckinridge, Cabell, Clements, Cowles, Cox, Crain, 

 Crisp. Croxton, Culberson, Daniel, Dargan, A. C. 

 Davidson, R. H. M. Davidson, Dibble, Dougherty, 

 Forney, Glass, Hammond, Harris, Hemphill, J. S. 

 Henderson, Herbert, Hewitt, Irion, T. D. Johnston, 

 J. H. Jones, J. T. Jones, Laffoon, Lanham, Martin, 

 McMillin, McRae, Miller, .Mills, Morgan, Gates, O'Fer- 

 rall, Peel, Perry, Reagan, J. W. Reid. Reese, Rich- 

 ardson, Sadler, Sayers, Singleton, Skinner. Charles 

 Stewart, St. Martin, W. J. Stone of Kentucky, J. M. 

 Taylor, Throckmorton, Tillman, Trigg, Tucker, Tur- 

 ner, Wellborn, Wheeler 66. 



NOT VOTING J. J. Adams, Aiken, Barbour, Barks- 

 dale, Barry, Belmont, Bingham, Bliss, Bovle, Brumm, 

 Burnes, Caldwell, Felix Campbell, Candler, Collins, 

 Davenport, Dawson, Dunn, Felton, C. H. Gibson, 

 Eustace Gibson, W. J. Green, Grosvenor, Guenther, 

 Henley 2 Hiscock, Hitt, Howard, Kelly, Lawler, Lib- 

 bey, Lmdsley, Lore, Mahoney, Merriman, Muller, 

 Norwood, Charles O'Neill, J. J. O'Neill, Parker, 



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T. B. Ward, A. J. Warner, Wise, Woodburn 59. 



The text of the measure as passed is as 

 follows : 



Be it enacted, etc., That from and after the passage 

 of this act the rate of pension for widows, minor 

 children, and dependent relatives now on the pension- 

 roll, or hereafter to be placed on the pension-roll, and 

 entitled to receive a less rate than hereinafter pro- 

 vided, shall be $12" per month ; and nothing herein 

 shall be construed to affect the existing allowance of 

 $2 per month for each child under the age of sixteen 

 years. Provided,, That this act shall apply only to 

 widows who were married to the deceased soldier or 

 sailor prior to its passage and to those who may here- 

 after marry prior to or during the service of the soldier 

 or sailor. And all acts or parts of acts inconsistent 

 with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed. 



SECTION 2. That no claim agent or attorney shall be 

 recognized in the adjudication of claims under this act, 

 nor shall any such person be entitled to receive any 

 compensation whatever for services or pretended serv- 

 ices in making applications thereunder. 



In the Senate the bill was reported by Mr. 

 Van Wyck, of Nebraska, from the Committee 

 on Pensions, with an amendment increasing the 

 allowance to minor children to four dollars per 

 month. In Committee of the Whole, March 15 

 and 16, this amendment and another proposed 

 by Mr. Van Wyck, pensioning an insane, idiotic, 



