CONGRESS. (MEXICAN WAE PENSIONS.) 



" How can purchases of one money metal re- 

 pair the lack of legal correlation of ihe two 

 money metulsf Whence could come a rated 

 purity of Ixith save by competent conjoined live 

 OOJnjkffe of lM)th, to wit, free bimetallic coinage 1 



" Kxoept ing a comparatively small amount in 

 the arts and industries, all this gold is in mone- 

 tary use and has free coinage somewhere. Like- 

 \\i-eall this silver is in monetary use, and has 

 free coinage somewhere 1 . 



" Wherever free coinage of either metal exists, 

 the metal of the coin loses nothing in the cruci- 

 ble. It can be recoined into the same money 

 with no loss. This is just as true of silver as o( 

 gold, under free-coinage regimes. Liquid in the 

 crucible or solid in the coin, the weight and 

 worth of the money metal remain identical. 



" But what, have silver purchases to do with 

 that effect of free coinage f 



" Nothing. 



" What have silver purchases to dp with that 

 effect of free bimetallic coinage, which, besides 

 establishing equality in crucible or coin for each 

 of the two metals separately, also in all pay- 

 ments, establishes, at a ratio of weight, parity for 

 both! 



" Nothing. 



" It is for these reasons that I would respect- 

 fully ask the Senators of the silver-producing 

 States to consider whether a just view of the par- 

 ticular interest of their constituents, whom they 

 so loyally represent, will not be soonest reached 

 among all who do not mine silver, by the disas- 

 sociation of that money-metal output from every 

 Government relation first, and, finally, from every 

 Government relation except that which, as with 

 gold, should alone subsist in the United States, 

 namely, free bimetallic coinage." 



Mr. Hill's motion to take up the bill for con- 

 sideration was put to a vote and defeated, as fol- 

 lows : 



YEAS Brice, Cafferv, Davis, Dawes, Dixon, Faulk- 

 ner, Frye, Gallinger, Gibson, Gorman, Hale, Hawley, 

 Hill, Hoar, McPherson, Mills, Morrill, Palmer, Proc- 

 tor, Sherman, Vest, Vilas, White 23. 



NAYS Bate, Berry, Blackburn, Blodgett, Call, 

 Carey, Cockrell, Coke, Cullom, Daniel, Dolph, Du- 

 I'ois, Fclton, George, Gordon, Hansbrough, Harris, 

 Hunton, Irby, Jones of Nevada, Kvle, McMillan, Man- 

 dereon, Mitchell, Morgan, Pasco, Peffer, Perkins, Pet- 

 tigrew, Platt, Power, Pugh, Ransom, Shoup, Squire, 

 Stewart, Stockbridge, Teller, Turpie, Vance, Voor- 

 hees, Wolcott 42. 



NOT VOTING Aldrich, Allen, Allison, Butler, Cam- 

 den, Cameron, Casey, Chandler, Colquitt, Gray, lliir- 

 j_ r 'ms, Ilix-ock, Jones of Arkansas, Paddock, Quay, 

 Sanders, Sawyer, Stanford, Walthall, Warren, Wash- 

 burn, Wilson 22. 



And so the measure fell by the way in both 

 Houses of Congress. 



Mexican-War Pensions. The Senate passed 

 at the first session the following bill increasing 

 the rate of pensions for certain persons who had 

 served in the war with Mexico : 



Be it enacted, ttc., That the Secretary of the Inte- 

 rior be, and he is hereby, authorized to increase the 

 I'eiiMon of every pensioner who is now on the rolls at 

 |8 per month on account of services in the Mexican 

 War, and who is wholly disabled for manual labor and 

 is in such destitute circumstances that $8 per month 

 arc insufficient to provide him the necessaries of life, 

 to $12 per month. 



Dec. 19, 1892, Mr. Wilson, of Missouri, moved, 

 in the House of Representatives, that the rule* 

 be suspended and the following substitute for 

 (he Senate bill be passed : 



Strike out all after the enacting clause and in-< rt : 

 "That Ox- Secretary of the. Interior lie, and lie is 

 hereby, Mltboriied unl directed t<> in<reu*etothesuni 

 of $12 per month the pension of every pensioner, in- 

 cluding widows and the officers and enlisted men of 

 Powell's Battalion of Missouri Mounted Volunteers, 

 who is now on the rolls or entitled to be pensioned at 

 $8 per month under the act of Congress entitled ' An 



ingress 



granting pensions to Powell's Battalion of Missouri 

 Mounted Volunteers,' approved March 3, 1891 : /">- 

 videcl, That the increase of pension provided herein 

 shall begin from and after the date of the passage of 

 this act'' 



Mr. Wilson said, in answer to an inquiry as to 

 the increased expenditure which such a measure 

 would entail, bv reading from the report of the 

 Committee on Pensions : " From figures submit- 

 ted to your committee by the Commissioner of 

 Pensions, it appears that the number of survivors 

 of said war now on the pension roll is 15,398, and 

 the number of widows 7,286, making a total of 

 22,684. If all of these pensioners were to re- 

 ceive an increase of $4 per month pension, the 

 aggregate additional expenditures for the first 

 year would be $1,088,832 ; but, as is well known, 

 the beneficiaries are all now greatly advanced in 

 years, and the number of pensioners is being rap- 

 idly reduced by death, so that if this bill becomes 

 a law the annual cost will not be so great as to 

 add to any very appreciable extent to the pen- 

 sion expenditure." 



In explanation of the peculiar character of the 

 proposed amendment, Mr. Wilson said, in answer 

 to a question from Mr. Dingley, of Maine : 



"The gentleman from Maine will perhaps re- 

 member that the act granting a pension to 

 Powell's battalion was passed on March 3, 1891. 

 This battalion was raised for service in the 

 Mexican War, and were en route to the scene of 

 war when they were stopped on the way, and 

 orders were issued countermanding the original 

 order sending them to the seat of war, and they 

 were sent out on the plains to replace the regu- 

 lars who were operating there against the In- 

 dians. This battalion was sent out on what was 

 known as the Oregon trail, and were there en- 

 gaged while the regulars were sent to Mexico." 



Mr. Heard, of Missouri, added a word on this 

 curious topic : 



" If my colleague will allow me a moment, I 

 will state for the information of the gentleman 

 from Maine, and any one else who has any diffi- 

 culty in his mind upon this subject, that there 

 were several other military organizations which 

 were in exactly the same condition as these 

 Mexican troops. Morgan's Iowa battalion, for 

 instance, enlisted just like this Missouri bat- 

 talion for service in the Mexican War, but in 

 place of being sent into Mexico they were sent 

 out on the frontier to hold the forts, while the 

 regulars, who had been performing this service 

 before, were sent into Mexico. 



"The gentleman will remember the language 

 of the general act provided for pensioning the 

 Mexican volunteers who had served for sixty 



