CLASH ON PENSIONS

Gen. John A. McClernand.

Cortland Evening Standard, Saturday, January 12, 1895.

CLASH ON PENSIONS.

DEBATE IN THE HOUSE TAKES ON A PARTISAN ASPECT.

Southern Members Sharply Rebuked by Their Fellow Democrats For Their Attitude on the Pension Question—Severe Lectures by Mr. Springer and Champ Clark—Lively Discussion of General McClernand's Military Career.

   WASHINGTON, Jan. 12.—It was private bill day in the house, but only one bill was considered—a claim of the heirs of William Johnson of Fayette county, Tenn., for $13,000 worth of stores confiscated during the war. Three hours were consumed in debate, but on account of the opposition the bill was finally withdrawn.

   Before the regular order was demanded nine bills were passed by unanimous consent. The most important was to amend the shipping act of Aug. 19, 1890, so as to eliminate some of the penal provisions of that act which had proved unduly harsh in their application to seamen on board vessels engaged in the coastwise [sic] and nearby foreign trade.

   Another bill was passed to protect the salmon fisheries of Alaska.

   At 4 o'clock the house took a recess until 8 o'clock, the evening session to be devoted to private pension bills.

   The feature of the night session was the debate which grew out of the attempt of Mr. Springer (Dem., Ills.) to pass a bill granting $100 per month to Major General John A. McClernand.

   Mr. Jones (Dem., Va.) insisted upon making the point of no quorum.

   Mr. Springer, in a heated speech, lectured those of his Southern Democratic colleagues who constantly assumed an attitude of hostility toward the pension of Union soldiers. He called attention to the fact that but 13 Democrats had been returned to the next house from the North. He warned them that if their course was persisted in, none would be returned the succeeding congress.

   Mr. Pence (Popular, Colo.) in an earnest speech appealing to Mr. Jones to withdraw his point, spoke of the well known distinguished patriotic service of General McClernand, when Mr. Waugh (Rep., Ind.) threw a bombshell into the discussion by asking if the beneficiary of this bill was not the same General John A. McClernand who was relieved from command before Vicksburg by General Grant for unsoldierly conduct and of whom General Halleck said it was premeditated murder to place him in command.

   The attack on General McClernand came from an unexpected source and Mr. Marsh (Rep., Ills.) and others hastened to his defense. Mr. Marsh declared hotly that General McClernand had never been guilty of unsoldierly conduct and the history of the transaction would show that he had not been removed by General Grant for that reason.

   "Didn't General Grant remove him for causes which he deemed proper?" persisted Mr. Waugh.

   "I do not desire to impugn the character of General Grant," replied Mr. Marsh sharply, "but I desire to say that his action in this case was a mistake."

   ''What reason did General Grant assign?" interrupted Mr. Cox (Dem., Tenn.) "Was it not because he was too quick at Vicksburg?"

   "I never heard it charged against Grant," replied Mr. Marsh, "that he criticized a soldier for going too quick." (Applause.)

   The discussion was prolonged for more than two hours and was marked by several sensational scenes, one of which was the hissing of Mr. Jones when he said that the widow of General John A. Logan, who received a pension of $2,000 a year, was living in social luxury in this city and annually spent more than her pension money for flowers displayed by her at her social functions.

   Later on, when he proclaimed his pride in the Confederate cause, that had gone down in defeat, the Republicans in chorus shouted, "We have doubt of it," but in the galleries many of the spectators applauded vigorously.

   Mr. Springer was finally forced to withdraw the bill, but even after the bill had been withdrawn Champ Clark (Dem., Mo.) got the floor, and in a characteristic speech scored Mr. Jones roundly, as he said, on behalf of his Democratic colleagues of the North. He began by saying that the Democratic party presented a dissolving view and would soon be lost to sight, though to memory dear. He attributed much of the Democratic disaster last fall to the course of Southern Democrats on the pension question, and caused the defeat of at least 60 Northern Democrats to speeches of Mr. Jones.

   He then paid a magnificent tribute to McClernand. "I saw him preside at the St. Louis convention which nominated Samuel J. Tilden, who was elected president of the United States, and whom the cowards on this floor allowed to be swindled out of his seat."

   He declared that the greatest martinet who ever ruined a great cause was Jeff Davis and next to him ranked Stanton. If McClernand had had a fair chance, he gave it as his opinion, that he would have been as great a soldier as Grant.

   After appealing to Mr. Jones to allow this meritorious bill to go through, he turned to him and said impressively that the Democrats of the North were sick and tired of having their Southern party associates come to congress and stab their party in the back. "We are through with you," Mr. Clark concluded.

   After passing two bills the house at 10:30 adjourned.

A NEW STATUE OF CALHOUN.

It Will Replace the Present Inartistic One That Stands In Charleston.

   The women of South Carolina composing the Calhoun association are dissatisfied with the statue of John C. Calhoun now standing in Charleston, and a new one will soon be erected in its stead. The present statue to the great southern statesman was unveiled with great pomp April 20, 1887, and Judge L. Q. C. Lamar was orator of the day.

   The history of the monument fund is an interesting one. Calhoun died in 1850, and the women raised $75,000 for the purpose of erecting a monument. When the war began, Mrs. Snowden, who had charge of the money, and who is still living in Charleston, invested the fund in United States bonds for its greater safety, and at the approach of the Federal troops she fled from the city with the bonds securely sewed in her clothing.

   After the war Albert E. Hanrish designed the statue in Rome, where it was also cast. Its cost was about $44,000, but it seemed so inartistic to the majority of South Carolina people that some fertile brain conceived the idea of erecting another with the substantial sum still remaining to the credit of the Calhoun association. The new statue is being designed by J. Massey Rhind, sculptor of the proposed monument to John C. Fremont. It will be his aim to produce a statue that will accurately represent Calhoun as he appeared when in the height of his fame as a United States senator and when his debates with Daniel Webster thrilled the entire country. It is believed that the dedication will occur late in the fall of 1895.

   South Carolina promises to fairly eclipse her previous effort when the new statue is presented to the public. The old statue will be demolished, but the pedestal will be utilized. From the pedestal will rise a column 64 1/2 feet in height, at the top of which, some 90 feet above the street, will be placed the new statue. On either side of the pedestal will be two bronze palmetto trees.

Japan's Reported Military Stroke.

   WASHINGTON, Jan. 12—Mr. Kurino, the Japanese minister, said that the legation was without information of any intention on the part of Japan to move against Shanghai or to attempt to ascend the Yang-Tse-Kiang river, and that it, of course, also knew nothing of the reported orders to Admiral Freemantle of the British navy to prevent Japanese forces ascending the river named. It is believed here that Japan will not attempt any such move and hence there is no occasion for action on Admiral Fremantle's part.

PAGE TWO—EDITORIALS.

A City Pay Roll.

   The cost of municipal government in New York city is $12,000,000 a year, $1,000,000 a month. That of Chicago is not so very much less. The mayor of New York receives $10,000 a year, the same salary as the governor of the state. The city has on its pay roll more than 17,000 employees. These include, of course, policemen and schoolteachers. The mayor has at his disposal already $325,000 of public patronage. Certain changes in the state laws may be made by the new legislature, which will place $1,737,000 worth of patronage in the hands of the mayor. One of the proposed changes is the abolishment of the much abused system of police justices. Next to being president, therefore, the best thing is apparently to be mayor of New York.

   The mayor has the appointment of several officers whose salaries are larger than his own. One of these is the city chamberlain, who gets $25,000 a year. Another is the corporation counsel, who has $12,000. The police justices, made famous and infamous through the investigations of the Lexow committee, receive $8,000 a year each, and there are 15 of them. The innumerable host of commissioners, fire, police, dock, health aqueduct and otherwise, which New York carries, get $5,000 a year each. Some of them have managed to turn a penny or two outside of their salaries. There are in New York city 20 police matrons, who get each $720 a year.

  

   "It would be hard to find a more degraded body of men," says Prosecutor Goff, concerning the New York city police department. What interests other parts of the country is the question, whether the police of New York are alone in their degradation?

                                   Vital Statistics of 1894.

A Warning.

   Mrs. Francis J. Cheney desires us to warn the people in this vicinity against a woman who claims to be soliciting and collecting money and clothing for the King's Daughters. The woman is not authorized to do so and Mrs. Cheney advises those who desire to make donations to make them to some one whom they are well assured is connected with the work of the King's Daughters.

   The society are in need of bedding and clothing, especially clothing for boys. All donations will be thankfully received.

An Honorable Record.

   The average term of continuous service of the comrades of Cortland encampment, Union Veteran legion, is over forty months. Some of the members served continuously in the last war over four years and we learn that the average service of the members of this encampment is the largest of any in this military order which requires at least two years continuous service, unless discharged by reason of wounds.

BREVITIES.

   —Five lodgers spent last night in t he cooler.

   —The Y. M. C. A. Bible class will meet to-night at 8 o'clock.

   —The A class at the Normal sat to-day for a picture at Hyatt & Tooke's.

   —There are now seventy-nine inmates at the Cortland county almshouse.

   —Mr. R. G. Lewis has greatly improved the interior of his well-stocked feed store on Tompkins-st. by a fresh coat of paint.

   —The grand jury this morning adjourned its session until next Monday morning when the business before it will be continued.

   —Rice's Marine band will give a concert in front of D. F. Wallace's from 12 to 1 Monday noon also from 7 to 7:30 in front of the Opera House at night.

   —Mr. James Gilmartin of Hamilton, who is well-known to a large number of Cortland and Homer people, died at Utica Thursday, Jan. 10, of pneumonia.

   —The funeral of Mrs. Christopher Mulvany, who died on Thursday of cancer, was held at St. Mary's church this morning. The burial was in St. Mary's Catholic cemetery.

   —Reserved seat tickets for the concert by the New York Philharmonic club which occurs next Thursday night in the Congregational church, are now on sale at the store of D. F. Wallace & Co.

   —It is reported that the railroad suspension bridge at Niagara Falls, which is one of the oldest railroad bridges in the country, and probably the first large suspension bridge ever built, will soon be taken down, and will be replaced by an arched cantilever bridge.

Sleighride and Dance.

   About thirty young people left Cortland at 8 o'clock last evening in a large sleigh and in private conveyances for a ride to McLean. On arriving at the Elm Tree House, an orchestra from Freeville furnished music for dancing, which was enjoyed till midnight, when a fine oyster supper was served. Afterwards dancing was continued and it proved so fascinating that it was nearly 5 o'clock this morning when they returned to Cortland.