CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. (INCREASE OF PENSIONS.) 



249 



ive the pension of the Government if they 

 desire it." 



Mr. Call, of Florida, said : " Mr. President, 

 I do not propose to detain the Senate with any 

 discussion on this question. For four years I 

 have been endeavoring to get some little tardy 

 justice done to the veterans of the Indian wars 

 and to those of the war with Mexico. Bill after 

 bill, resolution after resolution, has been re- 

 ferred to the Committee on Pensions, but no 

 report has ever been obtained, either favorable 

 or unfavorable. 



" I apprehend that nobody can deny, upon 

 the principles upon which this bill is proposed 

 to be voted for, that the survivors of the Mexi- 

 can War and the survivors of the Indian wars, 

 that conquered the territory from the savages 

 and acquired it from foreign countries, ought 

 to be pensioned, especially those who are in 

 destitution, those who are a disgrace to the 

 country, because they are left to strive in ab- 

 solute penury and want, as time after time, 

 year after year, bill after bill, resolution of 

 legislature after legislature are brought to 

 Congress appealing for this small meed of jus- 

 tice to men who have served their country gal- 

 lantly and well, and who are in absolute need 

 and destitution. I therefore think that there 

 can be no question that as a matter of doing jus- 

 tice to soldiers of another war this is a proper 

 amendment to be attached to this bill. 



" There never has been an occasion when I 

 have not aided in granting reasonable pensions 

 through the system of special bills, which is 

 the appropriate and proper system of relief, 

 because a man may have lost one leg or one 

 arm or some other member of the body and 

 still be a capable and an efficient man, able to 

 take care of himself and to acquire a living. 

 A remedy has always been afforded, and it is 

 the proper way to afford relief by special bill 

 in Congress for a special case. I have never 

 refused and I have voted time and again upon 

 special bills for the relief of pensioners whose 

 cases were special, and who required a larger 

 amount than the amount appropriated by the 

 general bill. In my judgment that is the 

 proper system. No man who has been a sol- 

 dier and who has done his duty gallantly and 

 well and is in a state of suffering, should be al- 

 lowed to want for the adequate means of sub- 

 sistence and comfortable support. The system 

 of special bills is the only mode in which his 

 particular case can be reached ; it can not be 

 done by a general bill. 



'" As I said, it does not follow because a 

 man has lost one arm or one leg that he is not 

 a more capable and efficient man than those 

 not so wounded. He may have lost none, and 

 yet be the victim of the most severe and ex- 

 treme suffering and incapacity. 



u In my opinion the bill does not meet the 

 necessities of the soldiers. I for one have al- 

 ways voted and I am always willing to vote to 

 the full extent of the capacity of this country 

 to pay, and to pay liberally, every soldier who 



is in need that amount which is necessary for 

 his comfortable support. That is the reason 

 why this amendment should pass, pensioning 

 the survivors, now but few in number, of the 

 Mexican War and of the Indian wars. The 

 legislature, I believe, of every State at differ- 

 ent times has passed resolutions recommend- 

 ing it. 



" If the Senator from Massachusetts can see 

 in the present condition of the country, twen- 

 ty years after the war of the rebellion, a neces- 

 sity for putting upon the amendment some 

 condition which shall attach to persons who 

 have not applied for and received an amnesty, 

 let the amendment be proposed, and if it is 

 the pleasure of a majority of the Senate that 

 it shall be passed, let it be done. There is no 

 reason why this amendment should not be 

 passed. If he wishes to apply to it terms which 

 shall limit it to the indigent soldiers, to those 

 who are in absolute destitution, let such an 

 amendment be proposed." 



Mr. Morgan, of Alabama, said : " It is true 

 that the veterans of the Mexican War have 

 been a long time lingering here, petitioning 

 the Congress of the United States for some 

 recognition of their services. They perish one 

 by one. A great many of them are living 

 now in the last remnants of their lives in ab- 

 ject poverty. I know some of them myself 

 who are in extreme necessity. The Congress 

 of the United States refuses to allow them an 

 opportunity even to prove that they are in a 

 necessitous condition, and, while doing that, 

 Congress is adding by this bill more than twice 

 the amount of money which the Senator from 

 Florida proposes to pay them by way of addi- 

 tion to men who are already receiving pen- 

 sions and have been enjoying the bounty of 

 this Government for years together. 



"This is a crying, shocking injustice. It 

 is an outrage upon the respectability of the 

 American character. It is an act of base in- 

 gratitude, and it is done by men who received 

 and have in their possession a domain brought 

 as a dower to the people of the United States 

 greater than Caesar ever brought to Rome. 



" No set of men have ever suffered in the 

 cause of their country so heroically, so pa- 

 triotically as the soldiers of the Mexican War, 

 for the reason that they are the only class of 

 men who have been called to invade a foreign 

 country. All the other men who have fought 

 and bled and suffered on this continent have 

 done so in defense of their own homes and 

 firesides; they have done so in respect to a 

 principle which animates every honorable man 

 in the world. A man who will not fight for 

 his own homestead and for his own family 

 and his own fireside is not worthy of the re- 

 spect of mankind ; he is not worthy of their 

 confidence or of their bounty. When he has 

 done so I am willing that the country shall be 

 liberal and generous toward him. When you 

 carry your flag into a foreign country, and it 

 is followed by the brave men who volunteer 



