Democratic Sentinel, Volume 14, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 March 1890 — LYING TO THE SOLDIERS. [ARTICLE]

LYING TO THE SOLDIERS.

-ALL PLEDGES MADE BY THE REPUBLICANS IGNORED. f The Surploe Giyen Away to Subsidy Lobbyists—No Effort Made to Pass the Service Pension Bill—Mr. Bynum Calls Attention to tho Republican Bad Faith. (Washington special to Indianapolis Sentinel.] In an interview had by me with BepreAeutative Bynum, regarding pension legislation during the present session, Mr. Bynum said: “I have been satisfied ever since the President delivered his first message that the Republicans did not intend to redeem their x promises to the soldiers. They were very profuse in promises, but ■when it comes to performance they are faithful only to the moneyed interests, from whence comes campaign boodle. Mr. Peters, of Kansas, in oppos ng the world’s fair bill, said the estimated revenue the coming year was, in round numbers, $450,000,000, and the regular expenditures would be $406,000,000, to ■which must be added $25,000,000 for deficiencies and $10,000,000 for miscellaneous, making a total necessary expenditure of $441,000,000, leaving a surplus for next year of only $9,000,000. Now, if they repeal the tobacco tax, a deficiency of $20,000,000 will exist; but, in addition, they propose to refund to the States $17,000,000 of direct tax collected from people who could afford to pay the same during the war; grant from five to ten millions to steamship lines, as subsidies, and appropriate from twenty to forty millions for public buildings, and pay ten millions French spoil ition claims. Now, where is the money to come from to pay additional pensions? The tariff is already above ihe revenue standard, and every increase on most articles will reduce instead of increase the revenue. I observe that Gen Alger stated to the soldiers at Columbus that ‘a service pension bill will not lie passed by this Congress; that the East and South are opposed to it.’ No effort has been made to pass such a bill. The -committee hr.d never considered, much less reported a service bill. Under the new rules it can report at anytime, and tie measures reported can be t ken up at once, aud yet, w.th these advantages, no efforts are being made to carry out the ] r >mises made to the soldiers. “The above bills of which I have spoken—such as the direct’tax bill, public building bills and French spoliation claims -have either been reportel or favorably considered by the committees having them in charge, and will be pressed before the House at an early date, but no pension bills of any consequence are even heard of. The Republicans have complete control. They have devised rules and forced their adoption, by which •they can turn out a Democrat or piss a subsidy bill in thirty minutes; and yet they are silent upon pension bills. The dependent bill, which they denounced as a pauper bill and an insult to the old Soldiers, when passed by a Democratic House, is all the Presidtnt recommended in his message, and, with a few minor bills of no consequence to tho great body -of the soldiers, is all th it the Republicans will permit to come before this Congress. They are never enthusiastic in beJhalf of the veterans, except when in the minority in Congress, or seeking votes. “v onscious that there would be no money to pay the soldiers, when the Refublic 'ps get their pet schemes through, proposed the amendjnent I offered to the rules, allowing amendments or provisions bnjgeijei'al pension bills granting new pensions, for raising the money to p.y the same. Gen. Alger exposed the opposition to my amendment when he said that the East was opposed to further pension legislation. It is clearly •evident that without additional revenues ®d lit ioml pensiori legislation cannot be had. The East is opposed to additional pensions, because it fears that a graduated income tax will have to be levied to Tay the same. The amendment I offered •did not require that bills for new pensions should contain provisions for raising the revenue. It only provided that such a provision could be ordered. If there was plenty of money to pay such proposed increase, no such provis on would be necessary, and would not be offered. -Without some appropriation the bill would not likely be reported to the House. The Committee on Invalid Pensions would say we must not pass b Ils until the Committee on Ways and Means provided the revenue, and the Committee on Ways end Means, when asked to increase the revenues, would say that we already have a sufficient income to meet all our demands, and that tb increase ■taxes in anticipation of new expenditures not yet created would be unwise. The -amendment was broad enough to allow •the means necessary to be raised in any manner. If an income tax could not be provided, a provision for the issuance of bonds, or greenbacks could be incorporated, and if it had been adopted, the Committee on Invalid Pensions could have reported any of the bills promised to the soldiers with an estimate •of the amount required to pay the same, and we could have provided the means in the bill, and passed it in a single day. Not a single Republican, however, supported my amendment, and it was defeated. The East was opposed to it. The .Eastern Republicans don’t propose that any more money shall go to the West, even in the way of pensions. "The invitations given to the soldiers last campaign inviting them to the feast .that was to be prepared by the Republican party have been recalle 1. and they ■will not be seated at the banquet tables which are being spread by this Congress. "They will be given a few crumbs, after the corporations and rings have been pampered to their satisfaction. They can come to Washington later, on and look into the empty vaults of the treasury after the surplus has been carted away by the lobbyists, who are now rejoicing that a Congress has been organized for action upon the millions of dollars of State claims and fraudulent schemes that could not stand the scrutiny of Democratic Congresses.” (Jerrymandering and Republican Pharisaism. It is touching to witness the holy horror •of • the Republican leaders over the threatened action of the Democracy in Ohio respecting the redistricting of that f Btate. A correspondent of the New York World thus exposes their Pharisaism: In the Congressional election of 1868, the following Northern States cast votes

: for candidates for Representatives of the I two great political parties as follows: State. Rep. vote. Dem. \ote. Connecticut 74, 74,990 California 124,816 117,729 I lowa 211.598 179,887 I Illinois 379,473 348,278 ' Michigan 233,370 213,449 Minnesota. 142,492 104,381 Massachusetts 183,892 151,855 Nebraskaloß,42s 89,552 New Y0rk648,759 635,757 Now Jersey 144,344 151,493 0hi0416,‘>51 396,455 l eansylvania 526, Z>l 446,633 linode Island 21,958 17,530 Wisconsinl76,s3l 155,232 T0ta153,386,399 3,074,165 The 3,386,399 Republican votes elected 126 Republican Congressmen. This whs an average of not quite 26,900 votes per Congressman. The 3,074,165 Democratic votes elected only forty-seven Congressmen. This was an uverage of 65,408 votes per Congressman. The net Republican plurality in these fourteen Northern States of 312,234 is represented in the present Congress by a net Republican majority of seventy-nine members. Of these seventy-nine extra members the election of seventy-four is due to the remarkable gerrymandering skill of those most holy, Puritanical politicians, who stand aghast when they contemplate the suppression of the vo.es of their brethren at the South. If the Democrats of these fourteen Northern States are adequately and fairly represented in the lower house of Congress by forty-seven members a proportionate representation of the Republicans of the same States would allow them only fifty-one instead of their 126 members. If the Republicans are only fairly and adequately represented by their 126 members, a proportionate representation of the Democrats of these States would give them 114 members instead of the paltry number of forty-seven. If a constituency of 26,900 Republican voters is entitled to one Representative, what good and sufficient reason can these monopolists of morality give for limiting the representation of their Democratic neighbors to one member for every 65,408 voters?

If the will of the people of these fourteen Northern States were not stifled by the most infamous gerrymandering, if this will were permitted to find expression fairly and honestly in the lower house of Congress, the Republicans would have only ninety instead of 126 of the 173 members from the above States, while the L‘mc;rats would have eightythree instead of forty-seven. While enjoying the products of this c’ean-cut steal our Republican brethren, almost of one accord, stand on the public highways and on the street corners with outstretched arms thanking God that they are not as other men are. Their representatives in Congress propose to perpetuate this steal by the passage of the Wickham or Hoar bill to keep in full form for another Congress the present Republican gerrymanders. They propose to retain the present districts of Ohio, by which 26,000 Republican voters can elect a member, while it will require 79,291 Democratic voters to do the same thing.