Congressional Record-· Senate. March 29
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3986 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-· SENATE. MARCH_ 29, .Also, petition of Cigar Makers' Joint_Unions of Greater New The VICE PRESIDENT. Sixty-four Senators have answered York, for enactment of House- bill 17253; to the Committee on to the roll call. A quorum of the Senate is present. [Ways and Means. 1\fr. SHIVELY. Mr. President, there have been various posi By Mr. TOWNER: Petition of citizens of Creston, Union tions assumed in the Senate on the question of general pension County, Iowa, favoring the passage of the Kenyon-Sheppard legislation. One is that there should be no further supplement interstate liquor shipment bill; to the Committee on the Judi to the general pension laws. Another is in favor of a measure ciary. that confessedly temporizes with the situation and leaves the By 1\fr. YOUNG of Texas: Petition of Lark M. Ward and question open to further agitation and subsequent action. ,An other citizens of Van Zandt, Tex., for parcel-post legislation; to other is that in fa-vor of a measure that meets the reasonable the Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads. expectations of the surviving veterans, removes in great part Also, petition of W. W. Perdue and other citizens of Upshnr the pressure for special legislation, and places the subject of County, Tex., in fa -vor of old-age pensions: to the Committee on general expenditure for pensions on account of the Civil War Pensions. in process of final settlement. The second position is illustrated by the Smoot substitute for the Sherwood bill, and the 1ast named is exhibited by the Sherwood bill, as it passed the House SENATE. and is supported by a minority· of the Committee on Pensions of the Senate. FRIDAY, M m·ch 29_, 1912. At tbe outset of this debate we are confronted with compara ( Oontimwtion of l egislativ e day of Thursday, March f8, 1912.) tive statistics of the cost of pensions as between European countries and our own. These do not impress me. The theory The Sena,te met, after the expiration of the recess, at 1 of our Government and the spirit of our institutions attach dif o'clock and 45 minutes p. m. ferent consequences to war in tbe matter of pensions than do _ MESSAGE FROM THE HOUSE. those of the Old Wol'ld. Whatever progress has been made, the theory still lingers in the average European Government that A message fi•om the House of Representatives, by D . K . the people were made for the government rather than the gov Hempstead, its enrolling clerk, announced that the House had ernment being made for the people. The rank and file of $01- pas ed the following bills, in which it requested the concurrence diers in the majority of European countries are still regarded • of the Senate: as the raw material of kingly glory and dynastic power. Recog H. R. 18849. An act for the relief of the Winnebago Indians nition still goes to heriditary rank or other favorites of power of Nebraska and Wisconsin; rather than to individual merit. The present Lord Nelson. of H. R. 19212. An act making appropriations for the Diplo England, now over 00 years of age, draws an annual pension of matic and Consular Service for the fiscal year ending June $25,000 on account of services rendered by his grandmother's 30, 1913 ; and brother at the battle of Copenhagen, and enjoys, besides, an . H. R. 20842. .An act to provide for a tax upon white phos estate granted to his ancestor under George III, which was at phorus matches and for other purposes. that time valued at $450.000. ENROLLED BILLS A D JOINT RESOLUTIONS SIGNED. The men who baptized this Republic into the family of nations withdrew sovereignty from kings and nobles and reposed it in The message also announced that the Speaker of the House the people. The old relations of men to government were here had signed the following enro1Ied bill and joint resolutions, and changed. The individual citizen became the unit of political they were thereupon simed by the Vice President: and civil power. With the rights of citizenship came the duties S. 36 6. An act authorizing the Secretary of the Interior to and obligations of citizenship. These duties and obligations permit the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Coal Co. and the Eastern extend equally to all on the theory that all are equal under the Coal & Mining Co. to exchange certain lands embraced within law and have equal stake in government. When, in response to their existing coal leases in the Choctaw and Chickasaw Na these obligations, the citizen in time of stress and storm bares tions for other lands within said nations; his breast to danger under the standard of the law, the obliga H. J .•Res. 232. Joint resolution extending the operations of the tions of his fellow citizens are not canceled by his sacrifices. act for the control and regulation of the waters of Niagara Here either none or all are kings and nobles, and no true prin River and for the preservation of Niagara Falls, and for other ciple of patriotism requires the soldier to be content with merely purposes ; and harvesting the hardships of war, however long he may postpone H. J. Res. 263. Joint resolution to authorize allotments to his rightful claim on the gratitude of his country. Indians of the Fort Berthold Indian Ref\ervation, N. Dak., of Moreover, even in Europe the entire story of pensions is not lands valuable for coal. disclo ed by the European pension lists. The Lord Nelson SERVICE PENSIONS. pension is a charge on the civil list. In Germany, where the The VICE PRESIDENT. The Secretary will announce the Government owns and operates the railroads, will be found vet pending business, House bill No. 1. eran soldiers in numerous positions the duties of which are The Senate, as in Committee of the Whole, resumed the con merely nominal; widows of deceased soldiers will be seen along sideration of the bill (H. R. 1) granting service pensions to the line near their little gardens, and incidentally rendering certain defined veterans of the Civil War and the War with some service. The names of these soldiers and $Oldiers' widows l\Iexico. are borne on the civil roll of the Government, and the allowances The VICE PRESIDENT. The pending question is on agree to them do not appear iil the expenditmes for pensions. In ing to the amendment of the Senator from New Hampshire many other European countries more or less substantial allow [Mr. GALLINGER] to the amendment of the committee. ances are made in recognition of military service, the accounts Mr. SMOOT. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a of which are submerged in the records of disbursements in the civil service. quorum. Those who dwell on the magnitude of present and proposed The VICE PRESIDENT. The Senator from Utah suggests pension expenditure o;n account of the Ci\il War should not for the absence of a quorurri. The Secretary will call the roll. get that it was an enormous war and entailed correspondingly The Secretary called the roll, and the following Senators enormous consequences. The length of time it lasted, the area answered to their names : of territory over which it extended, the number of troops en Bacon Cullom Lodge Richardson Borah Cummins Lorimer Root gaged, and the loss of life and treasure attending it are familiar Bourne Cmtis Mccumber Shively history which there is here no occasion to repeat. But there Brandegee Dillingham Martine, N, J . Simmons were certain features of that straggle so exceptional in character Bdggs du Pont Myers Smith, Ga. Bristbw Fletcher Nixon Smith, S. C. and which so well illustrate the mettle and spirit of the American Brown Gamble O'Gorman Smoot soldier from whatever section of the country he comes that, Bryan Gardner Oliver Stephenson however familiar, I venture to recall. In the long series of Burnham Gronna Overman Sutherland Burton Heyburn Page Thornton great battles contested, the casualties attencUng certnin regi Chamberlain Johnson, Me. Penrose Townsend ments engaged, and the incomparable valor exhibited on both Chi! ton Johnston, .Ala. Percy Warren sides, that war has no parallel in history since the invention of Clapp Jones Perkins Watson Clark, Wyo. Kenyon Poindexter Wetmore gunpowder. Neither side had the easy and inglorious tnsk of Crane Kern Pomerene Williams confronting weaklings or cowards. Crawford Lea Rayner Works Alfred Tennyson emblazoned in his well-known heroic verse Mr. BURNHAM. The senior Senator from ew Ham~shlre and sent around the world the story of the a-Jory of the Light [Mr. GALLINGER] is unavoidably absent. Brigade in its charge at Balaklava. in which it Jost in killed l\Ir. LEA. The senior Senator from Tennessee [Mr. T AYLOR) and wounded 36.7 per <.!ent of the officers and men engaged in is detained from the Chamber by serious illness. the charge. At Gettysburg the First Minnesota Regiment lost 1912. OONGRESSION AL RECORD- SEN ATE. 3987 82 per cent, and at Antietam the First Texas lost 82.3 per cent. grateful people to men who faced danger in the service of their At Gettysburg the One hundred and forty-first Pennsylvania lost country. This demonstration of gratitude came soon after the 75.7 per cent, and at l\Ianassas the 'rwenty-first Georgia lost 76 service was rendered and in that ungrudging way that made per cent. Here were two Federal and two Confederate regi the patent to the land a badge of honor to the soldier who ments, each of which in a single battle lost more than twice as received it.