CONGRESS. (PENSIONS.) 



183 



as I have said, I take no stock in this patriotic 

 war-talk. I yield to no man in my devotion 

 to this country. Whenever I am called upon 

 I am ready to take my stand for the mainte- 

 nance of the sovereignty of the Government 

 of the United States, and for the protection of 

 our citizens in all their rights against every 

 enemy, foreign or domestic. But what is the 

 question presented here? It is a proposition 

 for retaliatory legislation, although it has not 

 been even charged much less successfully 

 maintained that there has been any violation 

 on the part of the British Government of any 

 stipulation in any existing treaty ; in fact, it is 

 admitted that the opposite is the truth. Ves- 

 sels not violating law have not been molested, 

 and being seized and the law complied with 

 they have been released. 



"The true way to settle this question is 

 through the diplomatic departments of the 

 two Governments ; or, failing a settlement 

 there, let us have a new treaty, taking care 

 to appoint as our representatives men who 

 will have sense enough not to yield to the 

 commissioners of the British Government all 

 they may demand, and get no advantageous 

 concessions in return. There is no necessity 

 for this haste, and no danger of any war ; it is 

 merely a matter of business, and such legisla- 

 tion is simply an effort to bring about by legis- 

 lation a remedy for difficulties which exist by 

 virtue of the incompetence of what are called 

 diplomats." 



The President approved the hill March 3, 

 1887. 



Pensions. Jan. 10, 1887, there was reported 

 from the House Committee on Invalid Pensions 

 a bill for '' the relief of dependent parents and 

 honorably discharged soldiers and sailors who 

 are now disabled and dependent on their labor 

 for support." January 17, Mr. Matson, of Indi- 

 ana, moved that the rules be suspended, and the 

 measure passed. In support of the bill he said : 

 "The first section provides simply that the rule 

 of evidence in claims filed by dependent par- 

 ents shall be changed so that hereafter those 

 Avho make such claims shall be required to 

 prove only a present dependence, instead of a 

 dependence existing at the time of the death 

 of the soldier. This section of the bill is an 

 exact copy of one section of a bill passed under 

 a suspension of the rules, on motion of the dis- 

 tinguished gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Warner), 

 on the 21st day of April, 1884. That bill, in 

 that form, passed the House and went to the 

 Senate. It is in precise accord with the recom- 

 mendations of the Secretary of the Interior, as 

 contained in his last annual report, to be found 

 on page 50 of that report. 



" As to the second proposition, the more im- 

 portant one, I desire to call the attention of 

 the House, in the first place, to the fact that 

 this provision embraces honorably discharged 

 soldiers of all the wars in which the United 

 States has been engaged; it embraces those 

 engaged in the Seminole, in the Black Hawk, 



in the Mexican, and in the last war. It is a 

 broad measure, and not confined to the soldiers 

 of any particular war. The gist of the propo- 

 sition, Mr. Speaker, is to take from the poor- 

 houses of the country the soldiers who have 

 honorably served their country during any war. 

 The proposition contained in this section of the 

 bill is simply that every man who is totally 

 unable to labor, and is in a dependent condition, 

 shall be pensioned at the rate of $12 per month. 

 There is no provision for pensioning any one 

 who has a less disability than a total inability 

 to labor; and in addition to that he must show 

 that he is dependent upon his daily labor for 

 his support, and has no property from which 

 to derive an income. It is a charity measure. 



" It will not be asserted by the friends or ene- 

 mies of the bill, I apprehend, that there is any- 

 thing in any contract made by the Government 

 that would call for this legislation ; but the 

 legislation itself is the outgrowth of a senti- 

 ment that I believe prevails, throughout the 

 length and breadth of this country, against 

 permitting the men who have defended the 

 Government to remain in the poor-houses to 

 be supported by charity ; and it is in obedience 

 to that sentiment that the committee deem it 

 proper to bring in a measure placing these men 

 upon the honorable roll of pensioners of the 

 United States. 



" Now, as to the matter of cost : I desire to 

 say that early in this Congress, in obedience to 

 a suggestion made to the Commissioner of Pen- 

 sions, when he was before the Committee on 

 Invalid Pensions, and was being examined in 

 connection with various matters relating to 

 the pension laws, he wrote to the authorities 

 in every county in the United States for the 

 purpose of ascertaining how many soldiers 

 and sailors who had been in the United States 

 service were then objects of public or private 

 charity throughout the land. He learned from 

 1,240 of the 2,583 counties in the United States 

 that in the 1,240 counties there are 5,172 cases 

 of soldiers and sailors who are new being sup- 

 ported in the public institutions of charity. So 

 that it is estimated, inasmuch as these reports 

 came in about equal proportions from all sec- 

 tions of the country, that there are an equal 

 number in the remaining counties, not quite 

 one half having been heard from, and so on 

 that basis it is assumed that there are now in 

 the United States a total of 10,344 persons de- 

 pendent upon organized charities in the several 

 States and Territories who would become pen- 

 sioners under this bill. 



" The report affords no exact information as 

 to the inmates of soldiers' homes, both State 

 and national, who may be entitled to the bene- 

 fits of the bill, but we are clearly of opinion, 

 from the best information obtainable, that the 

 number will not exceed 3,000. 



" The committee did not stop there. In ad- 

 dition to that, there has been added an estimate 

 as to those who are not supported hy public 

 charity, but who are the recipients of private 



