Rensselaer Republican, Volume 19, Number 7, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 October 1886 — HOT SHOT. [ARTICLE]

HOT SHOT.

A Powerfill Arraignment of the Administration by Hon. D. B. Hen- „ f demon, of lowa. The False Pretenses and Broken Prom* ises of the Bourbon Democracy. [Speech delivered at Waverly. lowa.] What do we all want? What do Republicans, Democrats and Greenbackers, and all classes of citizens want? You want good order, good laws, and good times. These are the three things that we want. For one, I want each and all of these, and I want them, too, for every citizen of lowa and every citizen of America. I want such laws, so made and so executed that the poorest man in my State can deposit his ballot as safely and with as much potency as the richest man in New York or New Orleans. You want the same. We want such laws as will allow the poorest citizen, by intelligent industry, to carve out a home and independence, and when he has secured that home and independence, we want the law to protect both. The toiling man who has to live by his muscle should recognize the sacredness of law and of social order. The capitalist must also recognize that the labor ng man is entitled to his just share of the joint fruits of labor and of invested gold. We are all agreed upon these propositions, no matter what party we belong to. Those who favor good government, good laws and freedom to the people, ought to be able to meet upon a common platform. The question before us in this campaign is, which party in the House of Representatives at Washington will best promote these princiS les and these ideas? If you believe that the ’emocratic party will best do so, it is your duty to defeat the Republicans. If you believe that the Republican party will best promote these principles, will most earnestly and zealously labor for the interest of all, then .help to elect them. I will be pleased if you reach the latter judgment. What has been done by the Democratic Con-; gress that the people can approve? Little or nothing, if they had been left to themselves. I have watched it. A bill attracting the attention of the whole country—a bill to put down piracy; a bill to put down fraud and lies; a bill to stamp out bogus butter in this country. Who were its friends, and who were its foes, in the House of Representatives and in the Senate? This was a bill that attempted to secure the protection of one of the most sacred industries in America. A bill that sought to wrench power from the hands of a few millionaires, in the interests of millions of hard-working people all over this country. The very moment that bill came up for consideration in the House of Representatives, the great mass of the Democratic party stood side by side against it. Tillman, of South Carolina; Hammond, of Georgia; Reagan, of Texas, Col Morrison, of Hlinois, theleaderofthe House; all leaders in the Democratic House, stood side by side and fought and filibustered, trying to defeat the bill. The Republicans, wfili three or four exceptions, worked and voted for its passage. By reason of this filibustering, it seemed that the session would pass before _we could get it through. In spite of the Democratic chiefs, the bill finally passed the House. It went over to the Senate and was referred to the Committee on Agriculture. What was done by that committee? When it came to vote and report that bill favorably to the Senate, every Democrat on that committee recorded his vote against it, while every Republican voted for it, and it was brought back into the Senate for action. In the Senate of the United States, Senators on the Democratic side attacked it With every power they could bring, to defeat it. After a gallant fight, the bill was put through the Senate, the Republicans almost solidly voting for it, and the Democrats, in a great majority, voting against it. Now, there is a reason for this. That reason, gentleman, lies in this, that the old mistaken theory about State rights still lingers around the hearts of our brethren in the South, which controls the Democracy and ties every hand from doing justice to the people, and when the Federal Government attempted to put its hands upon this evil and relieve one of the leading industries of the country, they said: “No, you must leave that to the States. They are strong enongh to take care of it.” The old philosophy of State rights still lingers in their breasts, and to-day, gentlemen, the great body of the Democracy in the House of Representatives comes from that.quarter and controls the legislation largely of the House of Representatives. Let me give you one illustration, and it is a significant one. The great bulk of the business of Congress is done in what is termed “the Committee of the Whole.” The Speaker calls some member of Congress to take charge, and he leaves the chair and often the House of Representatives, and then, with freedom from the stringent rules, we can more easily proceed to the consideration of the bills before us. Now, my Democratic friends and my Republican friends will be anxious to know how Mr. Carlisle has been in the habit of shaping the legislation of this Union. _ I will tell you what you will find in the records of Congress. These are the men who presided over the Committee of the Whole during the last session: Blount, of Georgia; Hammond, of Georgia; Crisp, of Georgia ; Reagan, of Texas; Welborn, of Texas; Mills, of Texas; McCreary, Of Kentucky, and Hatch, of Missouri—all of them from the South. Among those who took the chair there was only one from the North, and that was William M. Springer, of Illinois,. and ho alone, of all the Democratic leaders of the North. Such men as Randall, Bragg, Hewitt, and Holman were never called to the chair, but only Mr. Springer, to preside over the Committee of the Whole. I mention these things, not so much for Republicans to know, but 1 want Northern Democrats, men as honest as you, to know that their party has lost its control in the North, and that their Southern Democratic friends have no use for them, and that to-day the legislation of this country has passed info the hands of the Southern States. Are you Democrats contented to have it bo? lam stating facts and history, and you must make up the verdict in your own mind. No. there are some other things that I want to call your attention to: Take, for instance, the interstate commerce bill. The lowa Legislature passed resolutions instructing their Senators to vote for itj and also asking our Representatives to vote for it. The Senate considered it, and at great length and with great wisdom, and with great patience. They took hold of the great question of interstate commerce and put through the bill that was approved by lowa. It laid its hand upon every iron rail in America, and firmly inaugurated Government control. It came over to the House of Representatives. K one hour it could have become a law so far a»' legislation was concerned, but Mr. Reagan rallied his forces and put on amendments, without sufficient consideration or debate, and did not approach it with the wisdom that its merits deserved. He preferred a Reagan bill to Government control of railroads, and thus it was hung up in conference and it is in conference vet. This is the position they put the Cullom bill in; the bill that our State demanded in the interest of cheap transportation. Now, my friends, let me call your attention to another thing. The great National Republican Convention of this country in 1884 declared for just recognition of the soldiers and demanded the passage of the arrears bill. The State of lowa and nearly all the Republican State Conventions recommended the same thing. There is hardly a Republican convention throughout the North but demanded that this just act be passed for the soldiers of the country. The Senate passed a bill in obedience tp that demand of the people, a bill which has nothing but justice and right for its foundation, as. every man knows. This bill comes over to the House, and happening to be near the head of the list to be recognized under a suspension qf the rules, I was selected by the Republican side of the House to move a suspension of the rules upon the day when the suspension of the rules would be in order, and to pass this bill, A Democrat called up the Mexican pension bill, of which nine-tenths goes into the Southern States. There was no trouble about getting recognition for that. It was brought up and passed by a two-thirds vote. Just before mv name was to be recognized, Mr. Carlisle sent his clerk tp ask me what bill I was going to call up. I did not like to tell, because I might not be able to get up the Senate pension bill for Union soldiers. I was notified that Mr. Carlisle must know what bill I intended to call up. The Speaker is an honorable man, and has always treated me with the most distinguished consideration and fairness. I told the Speaker through the clerk the bill that I wanted to call up, and that it was at the request of the Republicans of the House, and -was the arrearage pension bill. When it was reported to the Speaker he instantly said that he would not recognize me to call up that bill. I went to Mr. Carlisle at his desk, and I told him the Mexican pension bill has passed here to-day. in the interest of the Southern soldiers, practically, and that the soldiers whom I represented wanted me to call up the arrears bill. If it wa». tf® lp jane case it was fair * •ai<Aie would on any other bill, a private bilt but he could not - recognize me ■ for the arrears bill, and I had to abandon it under those circumstances, and every effort that was made to bring up that bill, and also what was known as the. general disability bill, was absolutely frustrated, and no man in the chamber could set a recognition to move the passage of either, of these bill*. Some may approve of this, some may not. I give you the facta tor you to determine. » I will introduce, I will say, a private pension

bill for some soldier or some soldier’s widow. It is referred at once to the Committee on Invalid Tensions. They send to the Pension Office for all the papers and evidence, and they examine it with great care, and if they think ft worthy they report it back to the House with a report stating the facts and asking that it bo passed. Now the reason for the, passage of that class of bills is this: After the lapse of twenty years it is no easy matter for widows left alone by death to find the evidence and proofs necessary to get a pension. It is no easy matter for soldiers after the lapse of years when they find disease carrying them down and disabling them for work, to get from their scattering comrades the proof, showing that they are entitled to a pension. Congress has the absolute right to look up this class and pass a special bill granting pensions to deserving men and women. We have been tn the habit of doing thia on Friday night. On that night the House is never full.. You have got to have a quorum, 163 members, present in order to pass bills. None can pass if a quorum is demanded. It has been understood for years that no one would raise objections. The bills were investigated and discussed, and a majority of those present should determine whether they should pass or not. Everything was running along in this recognized way when suddenly we received a shock in the House—a message came from the White House saying that 155 pension bills had been allowed to become a law without the approving signature of the President. He did not veto them, which he said he enght to do. He spoke very sharply to the House of Representatives, and he gave us a very sharp lecture. From that moment a new state of things came into the House, and from that moment when the sharp satire of the White House began to be directed against these poor cripples and invalids and widows, an evil influence developed in the House of Representatives, and we found difficulties that we had not before experienced. About this time a message came from the President, vetoing and killing quite a number of pension claims, and at the same time some one was found upon the Democratic side of the House calling “no quorum,” and ever since the House has been blocked for passage of that class of bills, and when I took a Washington newspaper on the evening when the first veto message came, I saw it then announced when he had executed that act and killed those bills, depriving these poor fellows of eight dollars a month, that he and a number of genial spirits got into a steam yacht, the “Corsair,” and went down the Potomac on a jolly junket, and it was a strange combination of history. As I read that item that night, and wondered how he could go and walk off and enjoy him-elf after sending desolation and pain into the homes of the poor. I thought how that man had not been where those people had been. It he had been, those vetoes would never have been written. Let me tell you an illustration. I received a petition from Blackhawk County asking me to put through a private bill for David T. Elderkin. It was signed by many of the best citizens of Waterloo, of Cedar Rapids, and of Finchford. The facts were written to me. I drew up a bill. I introduced it and it was referred to the Committee on Invalid Pensions, and every member of that committee said that man should have a pension. The bill was reported back to the House with a full report on the facts. When the case was stated every member of the House of Representatives present that night said “that is right,” and voted for the passage of the bill. Not a dissenting voice neither on the left nor on the right. Let me tell you briefly the facts of the case, and you know something of them, too; David T. Elderkin entered the army from Waterloo, and at the battle of Murfreesboro, wnere a shell took off the head of a friend of his, and whose blood was spattered over him, and at the same time he was wounded in the neck, which destroyed his hearing—it destroyed more than that, it struck a blow that dethroned the intelligence of David T. Elderkin. He was taken prisoner, and lay long in Libby prison. The proofs which went to the House of Representatives showed that the Commissioners of Insanity of the county, composed of Dr. W. D. Crouse, E. T. Corwin, and the Clerk of Blackhawk County—and no citizen of Blackhawk County will question the ability or the character of these gentlemen—that Board of Insanity examined him and brought in a verdict of insane, and the proof showed that from the moment that deadly shell struck him his mind began to fail, and when the citizens of this county petitioned me to get relief, and that he was living near the town of Finchford and had a wife and seven children and very little means, struggling with his disease and poverty and his shattered mind, the burden of the whole family resting upon the widow, these petitions and proofs were supplemented by letter from this poor widow (she is worse than a widow). These letters would wring tears from a heart of steel. That bill went over to the Senate, and the Senate referred it to the Pension Committee. It was unanimously reported back to the Senate, and they unanimously voted that he should have a pension. The Congress of the United States under the Constitution said 88 a month was due him by patriotism, by every form of justice to the home of this poor family jn Blackhawk. That bill went to the White House and the President put his veto upon it and sent it back as unworthy of his approval. Let me draw you to another picture: There is a poor woman in Ohio by the name of Sally Ann Bradley. She had a husband by her side when the war broke out and four sons, who - all went into the army, and she said, “Go and I will stay at home, and help to save the country." Gentlemen, two of those boys fell dead upon the field, one of them had his arm torn off, and has been at the Soldier’s Home ever since, helpless and unable to support her; the other boy had a ball tear through his eye, making him useless, and he lives at the Soldier's Home, and a few years ago her husband died, as was shown, from disease contracted in his long service. Sally Ann Bradley, with one foot in the grave and the other in the poor house, turning to Congress of the United States with her withe red. bonds and sno w/oovered head, said,. "I gave my country my all; must I enter (.the poor house?” Congress said “No,” and gave her a pension. The President of the United States vetoed that bill, too, and on the same day, with the same pen, and at the same time, when denying justice to this dying saint, he approved the Fitz John Porter bill and elevated him to the pay and emoluments of a Colonel in the United States army. I want my Democratic friends to know these facts and toll me if they approve of them. He vetoed 102 private pension bills, thus giving you some samples of Democratic economy by saving $10,200 a year, and his own administration asked appropriations for $39,000 for a conservatory and flower house and ornamentation to the White House in which he lived, rent free, when he vetoed these poor pension bills. These are facts. It is all very well for a man drawing a salary of $50,000 a year, but I say that a voice will come from the people that will call a halt and end such abuse of power. Catholics Against the Saloon Party. Bishop Ireland, of the Boman Catholic Church in Minnesota, has long been famous for his deeds of charity and love, and particularly for nis earnest work for temperance. The Northwestern Chronicle, of St. Paul, the church paper, which directly expresses his views, publishes in its last issue a strong editorial indorsing the Republican platforms of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Dakota, and virtually pledging the support of the church for the Republican candidates. It does this on the broad and high ground of morality and the public good, as in each of those States the Democratic party has taken the side of the saloons against any attempt to control the liquor traffic. In each of the States the Republican party has indorsed the strictest measures of control of the traffic that public sentiment at present will support, and has declared its hostility to the saloons. So says the Bishop through the Chronicle. “The Democratic party prefers low license to high license—a ‘wide open’ policy to legislative control of the liquor traffic. It has made its choice. It appeals to the friends of these measures to suppbrTits tickets, and as we are not and never have been in sympathy with such a political programme, it evidently does not desire our support, and it will not be disappointed when it fails to get it.” This is a bold and noble stand to take, but one that might have been expected from so devoted a friend of temperance as Bishop Ireland, It shows the disposition of the Catholic Chnrch, whose position on the temperance question is well known, to exert its great moral strength and power in favor of the partv of moral ideas and against the party that allies itself with the saloons. — Des Moines Register. A Barnet man “points with pride” to the fact that his wife nas worn oneJbonnet for twenty-five years. The feeling with which the wife points to the husband has not been described. “Kiss the baby while you can,” admonishes a poet. We can kiss her just as well fifteen or twenty years from now—if she’s that kind of a baby.