The Patton courier. (Patton, Cambria Co., Pa.) 1893-1936, March 29, 1894, Image 8
ther it became necessary for President Ld alist tas be titurinl govesmERUSS. The ol % WAY hil ' . House. Arriving there, he sent his name sc of the Venerable ‘Hon. George Ww. Jones — His Interview With President . deckson—How He Outwitted Jobs C. Calhoun—A Pleasant Sequel. : [Special Correspondence.] 3 _ CHICAGO, March 22.—The Hon, George , Jones, the first United States senator BLS Mato SE Iova 00 8 Jat oon delegate from the territory of , is yet living, and though now | in his ninetieth year his eye is still un- | dimmed and his riatural force scarcely so | thuch as abated. His political life began with the administration of Monroe and . did not end till the close of that of Buch- _anan—40 of the most interesting years in Ansarican history, Bomsof his manu- seript recollections have recently come “into my possession, and a few of them. sre availed of as a curious illustration of the political, methods under President Jackson. The territory of Michigan in 1835 cov- ered all the country that is now com: prised v-ithin the states of Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota and all the | otlifyr sti:tes and territories that lis north of Missouri and Califorpia and extend westward to the Pacific. Mr, Jones had no sooner taken his seat in congress than, give this westerly portion the benefit | orderly government, be drew up gud to the honse of ‘a bill to organize the territory of "Wis. consin. - The bill was made a law, and : Jackson to appoint the officials to ad- #0 called ‘“full tide of successful experi- ment.” and under it the ) "in the territories, both executive and judicial, had been filled by men from “the older states, whrse chief merit had been their service to the dominant party. . A Letter fo President Jackson. Mr Joneshad beer college mate with Stokley Donelson—President Jackson's adopted son-—and when a youth of 19 had served as sesguntiof he bodygnard of “Old Hickory on the occasion of his pug Sighs Resta yy won oh Ss ; ar elect from a RE — for. ‘tunes. Mr. Jones keenly felt the injus- tice that was being done to the west by jac syetent hci, usd he acs og : ties pid President Jackson I germs, offices | returned pep Loc $i To this Me, Jones rejolned; : mas who put an end to the Black war. {TF the Trost rement of the ! oolousl of the First 3 of the : United States cavalry.” “Oh,” be exclaimed, *is that the man that you want?” “Yes, sir; he is the man that my eon- | gtitnents want.” “Well, my son,” then said the dent, “make me a list of all the offices, | with the salary attached to each, and bring them to me. I will give you some of them, My cabinet will be opposed to it, but I will give you some of the other offices as weil as the governor,” Old Hickory’s Fiat. Mr. Jones then took his leave, mt ins day or two he returned with the list, : which he read to President Jackson, who ' thereupon remarked, “1 will allow you { to name the men to ill all these offices except the judges. My cabinet say that western men would take all the lands from us, and we should newer get any more lead rents from the mites. Bat; yon may go into the state department ' and select such Democrats as have been recommended from the states, and 1 will appoint them.” After thanking the president Mr, Jimes went direct to the state department, where he met John Forsyth, then the. secretary, who curtly declined to show him the lists. “But” remarked Mr. Jones, “President Jackson has just told me to come here and exvmine the lists and the recotamendationa.” To which the secretary replied, “Well, if Old Hickory says that you musi see them I cannot object.” The result was that all the offices, from that of governar down, were filled ou the recommendation of “the yomng man from Michigan.” This was strange, but stranger won the fact that this domi- | nation of the new man was submitted to with the greatest good natare yt the veteran politicians. - An Interview With Calhoan.: Early in the succeding year Michigan was admitted as a state into the Urion, and this act legislated Colonel Jones out of his position as delegate to congress. But he was promptly chosen as delegate from Wisconsin, and in this capacity he ‘was, in 1837, called upon to organize the territory of Iowa from so much of Wisconsin as lay west of the Mississippi river. This was no easy task, for John C. Calhoun, who was then all powerful in the United States senate, had set his face inflexibly against the formation of any more free territories, to be soom cre- ated “sbolition states” and thereby dis turb the balance of political power. ‘To every approach of Colonel Jones he a uniform answer, “I would be glad to serve you in any way except when you ask me to sacrifice a great po- litical principle.” Therefore to over- come his opposition Mr. Jones was forced ‘the pension A Visit 10 the United States Pension Office. Leceding—Averags Age at Which Vet. : postal Corieepondanes) WasamaroN, March 22.—On the north side of Judiciary square, on the tract bounded east and west by Fifth and Sixth streets and north and south by F and G streets, stands the largest brick building in the world. It is 400 by 230 feet in extent, cortains, with the galler- jes, 198,000 square feet of standing room snd would serve as standing space for $0,000 soldiers in line. In its walls are 6,000,000 bricks. From the tiled floor to the odd looking roof (which was to: have been a dome; is 180 feet, and each ‘of the galleries surrounding the central court is hth of & mile in circuit. It is the best lighted, best heated, best ventilated and ugliest of all the public buildings in Washington and is known derisively as General Meigs’ red barn, It contains 2.009 regular officials and employees snd is the central point of more people's interest than any other place probably in the United States. From it more money is granted and to it come more applications for money ‘than froma or to amy other building in the workl, and the man who is at the head of it sees moro persons than any other official of this government except the president. This is the United States pension office, which has been under un- interrupted fire for ome year and still ‘has to run the gantiet of what promises to be one of the hottest political cara- paigus ever known in an off year. The Waning Femsion Rell. These facts and roany others in this article have been published bere and thero at different times and are extant in many documents, but it is well to summarize them occasionally for popu- lar reading, that the American people may realize how big and how generous their government has grown tobe. From floor to roof the building is full of curi- osities, living and documentary. And first it is to be noted that the current year marks the recession of a tide which has been constantly rising for 83 years, or since the civil war Bret begun to swell list. Only a little while ago experts gave it as their opinion that next year pension payments would reach $180,000,000 and ‘that the annual appropriation would amount to $200,000,000 before the decline bégan. But the highest expenditures were for the fiscal year 1898, when they were $156,740,46%.14. For the current year the appropriations were $185,000, 000, but it is now certain that not over $140,000,000 will be expended, and so to resort to 8 new order of tactics. He EF" was at the time a leader of Washington sociéty. He had a most attractive and | | accomplished wife and was himself--as | am’ told by an aged lady who was then one of the belles of Washington—-*‘ex- ceptionally fine looking, and with a high- ly cultivated intellect, and manners fit | to grace any court in Europe, and, 1more- over, the finest dancer on this continent.” It happened that Mr. Calhoun bad a daughter, beautiful and accomplished and the idol of her father. Colonel Jones got up a party at the house of Senator Linn of Missouri, and to it Miss |. Calhoun was invited. He was of course { very attentive to her at the party, and at Ronresi- its close he escorted her to her father's lowing a wher he was approach- or ed by Colonel Andrew Jackson Donel son, the private of General Jackson, with the remark that the. presi- dent desired to see him. Considerably ; Mr. Jones inquired for what he was wanted, and then Donelson, noting ‘hia Ee Eg a ot | Cc lied, id yon Jot S § a 0 call on him. He wants to seeif you | ay talk to him as you have written. 3 Sugered 0 ans ake us wane? ci dneiking a Corneob Pipe. With no doubt the thought in his d that his whole political future was stake, Mr. Jones hurried into a hack was driven rapidly to the White up to the president and was told by the : , who soon returned, that he . was alone in his room. Entering this : sbode of n royalty, he found tt seated with his back to the both feet elevated upon a table nd y smoking a cornicob pipe witha | her "cane stem some Supe or four feet long. “Without changing hi position the smo | gaid, #Take a seat, my son,” and at this point Mr. Jones naively remarks, “1 did 80 becanse my knees trembled, and I ald scarcely stand upright, for Colo- | nel Donelson had made me believe that 1 had offended him.” Then Jackson went ! on: “I haveread your letter, my son, and | it does honor to your hiead and your heart, | Bat it has always been the custom to fill | "the offices in the new territories from citizens of the states. The office of gov- ernor is £'véry important and responsi- | ble one, for ‘he is nob only commander | in chief of the militia of the territory, } ‘but also ex-officio superintendent of In. dian affairs. Have yon any man quali- | fied to fill tHat “Yes, sir,” answered Mr, Jones. “I: : bave the best qualified man in the coun. | “What is his name?” asked Jackson. “Greneral Henry Dodge,” replied Mr. | Jones, Looking up to the cing nd poting | ] # house. As he was about to bid her good night at the doorway she thanked him for his great politeness and expressed in} the hope thas she might be able to in -| some way return his kindness, “You can,” he answered. “Yon can render m4 a most important service by putting yout lovely arm about your father's neck when he comes down to breakfast in the morning and 1 that he shal vote for my bill for the admission of Towa, It has passed the house and will come SF in the senate tomorrow.” “I'll do it,” she replied. - “I surely get his assent.” A ceessful Ruse. : Early on the following morning Mr, o| Jones called at the house to learn the re- sult but the young 1ady met him with a ate 1a Clonl Jom, “vofisenit to the creation of tion states and should do to defeat the organization of Towa. Be aint | of tactics, and “the young man from Michigan". arréinged with the young lady . a carriage to conduct her to the senate + before the Fows bill should come up for consideration. Arrived there, she was, on a given al from him, to invite her father into the library and to keep him there until the bill had passed the senate. She did so, and thus it was that Iowa became a territory and in due time an important state of this Union. A sequel to incident was the mar- riage of Miss Calhoun to Mr. Clemson— the messenger sent by Colonel Jones to ly died, the mother of 10 children. Jaxis R. Git.uon (Edmund Kirke). Only One Peduction Fosaible, A member of a well known elab in London Jost his umbrella in the club and was resolved to draw attention to i the circumstance. lowing notice to be put in the entrance ball, **The nobleman who took away « an umbrella not his own on such & date Tis requested to return it.’ The com- mittee took nmbrago at this statement and summoned the member who had composed it before them. ‘Why, sir,’ they said, ‘should you have supposed ' that a nobliman had taken your um- ' brella?’ ‘*Well,”" ho replied, “the first article in the club roles says that ‘this club is to be composed of noblemen and | gentlemen,’ and since the person who : | stole my umbrella conld not have been {8 gentleman he must have been a noble. | man." He caused the fol- THE PENSION BUILDING, thes ‘will be 8 surplus of $25,000,600, Every month there are fewer claims filed, .and for the last two ‘weeks the falling off has been noticeable daily by the excess of deaths and expirations over new claims allowed. And ail this, be it noted, in a natural result and nt that of any ruling or policy of the department. With in- creasing age soldiers and elderly widows | div in increasing proportion, younger figure om two or three occasions. ‘Deducting these and adding those now | in the District of Columbia, but origi | nally from the south, we have abont 84,000 for the lste olin states, Of these there are 16,342 in Tennessee, | which had 81,000 white men in the Un- ion army and has received & great many immigrant veterans from the north. Arkansas comes next with nearly 10,000; | then Texas and Virginia have today just | abotit 7,500 each: North Carolina sad | Louisiana, abont 4.500 each; Mississippd, | sometimen a iittle shove and sometimes | a ligtle below 4,000; Alabama and Gleor- gin, something over 3,000 each, and 80 On | down to South Carolina, which hasnever | quite got ap to 1 800. Of courses ma jority of those from the far south are colored, and the law in regard to colored widows is perhaps the most technical and difficult of any part of the general act. This grew out of the social condi tion of the colored people in slavery, ro quiring a peculiar adjustment of the laws as to proof of marringe. Curious Facts. And how many men, excinding reen- listments, wera there in the Union army, and how many men wers in battle, and what are the chances for the future of those not now ~All these things can bs and sre calculated with much greater exactness than is generally | apposed. Taking counties here and | there over the United! States, the percent. age of re-eplistments can be calculated to a minnte fraction. Thus it is kaown bow many of the three month mien re- eniisted; how many of the otie year met:; bow many of the. three year men who were disabled early in the war and re-enlisted; bow many of the 90 day men of the emergency calls and of the six montE men and 100 dey men had served before or afterward enlisted. Taking the percentage th it isshown that, excluding re-enlistments, the number of actual men in the Union army was not far from 1,550,000. Of these it is estimated that nearly or quite one-third never saw a battle. It is als estimated that between 1 and 2 por cent of the entire riumber never stood a picket guard or fired a gun even at & target, and a surprisingly large number, but of course less than 1 per cent, never did any kind of military daty at all. Of course it was not the fault of these, either of the third or the lesser per cent, that their case was as it was, It appears from the rion that regi- ments began to Jose men by actual disa- bility immediately after they were sworn ‘in, and of thess losses the percentage of kinds of accidents can be estimated. Thus a few men were accidentally shot and disabled when the raw companies first drew their arma. A few were shot by nervous sentinels om gnard for the first time; a few more were thrown or i kicked by army mules, run over by ar- tillery wagons, run down by escapal horses, knockod off bridges or disabled: in any ome of 50 ways too numercas 1 to mentioh. Some men lost toes or fin- gers by the queerest possible of acci- dents. A few bad an eye put out, and othérs bad their teeth knocked cut by the awkwardness of men who were han- dling cannon or other arms. : ; ‘Havoe of the Maasles. But as near as can be determined by examination of a few hundred cases at random, it seems that the measles played more havoc at the start than anything | widows marry again. and young children | gq Along with the measles were oth- | rench the age of self support. It is there- | fore figured that by the close of this ad- | ministration the annual expenditure will but Kttle, if any, exceed §130,000,000. At the head of this concern is Commis sicmer William Lochrén, a veteran of the First Minnesota and one of the few sar vivors of that famous charge at Gettys- burg, where his regiment lost 213 in killed and wounded out of 262. His two deputy commissioners are Dominick L Murphy, wi wis too young for a sol- dier, and H. C. Bell of Clark county, Ills, who jan away from homie at the age of 15 and volunteered in the Twenty- ninth Indisna infantry. Cases Put Through Quickly. Therv sre 12 chiefs of divisions, each with two assistagts and enough clerks to mak» nearly two regiments, their pay ranging from $000 to $2,000 per year, so the total payroll of the office is over §2,- 000,000 per year. It isa treat to see a new application come in and watch it through all its changes. I can compare it only to the exhibit occasionally made at the Chicago stockyards, where a fat ‘bullock is put in in the morning, his car- | cass in out meat shipped soon after noon and his hide turned out in boots late in the evening. First the application is classed, for there are 22 kinds of certificates, ranging from those known as “old war widows” | down to the latest from the regular army. | Then the expert of that class goes hnr- | bring her to the senate chamber—and -riedly through the case, and if any nec- her long and happy life with him on his | estate near Baltimore, where she recent- i = . the applicant's attorney notified at once ! of the point of proof thatis lacking. But ' should the case be a good one and all the »ssary proof under the law is lacking the pase ia ‘‘jacketsd,” as they call it, and proof ready, it goes trough not quite so {ast as the hide anid carcass of the bul- lock before mentioned, but still with re- warkable speed. The recent apd pres- ent slowness of the department is very | largely due to the fact that it is dealing with the micst diffienlt cases under the law, the guick cases, uieaning those vasy of determindtion, having been made spe- cial anid put through rapidly under the former administration, Border State Pensions. After standing soine time in the neigh borhood of #68;000, the number on the rolls has receded a little within a fow days. It will, however, increase again in the next stage of the work, but will probally never again equal its maximum last year. Another very interesting fact, and to me 8 vTy great surprise, is the number of pensioners i in the south, which at first calculation appears to be a little | er “seasoning” sic] knesses, and thes came the regular carp sickness, winter fever, mumps, whooping cough and a variety of cortagions ailments. Numerous cases are shown of recruits who were fine speci- mens of perfect physical manhood just from the farm and acenstomed. tothe so verest labor who were taken sick in s few days after reaching camp and never entirely recovered. Add to these the 100 A guarded railroads, and it is easy to be lieve that one-third of all he enlisted men never fired a shot in batth It further appears that the average age at which veteran soldiers have died | is a fraction less than 57 years, and asap overwhelming majority of the survivors | have either passed that age or are very near it the ratio of deaths must increase rapidly. It is darkly hinted about Wash- ington that the departinent has & great in store for the country, and it ‘is occasionally alleged by the opposition that they will spring such surprise abous the time the campaign of this year gets heated. It is said that this surprise is to consist of a general series of prosecutions which will rival those of the whisky frauds of 1876 and create a sensation equal to that created by the Credit Mobilier. It is probable, however, that this is only talk. But since the beginning of this year 7 persons have been convicted of fraud, and many indictments are being found | and convictions secured every week, A large majority of these are attorneys, ‘who are the chief sinners, the pensioner | in such cases being generally a mers pase s instrument, -The Nution’s Liberality. An amusing feature of the case is that under the recent order forbidd ing any guspension witho ut 80 days’ notice and restoring dll the pensions so far suspend. ed some men will get back pay on two pensions which they have been drawing illezally, ard in a few cases pensions will be paid to men who are 1a the peni- tentiary. But to the honor of the veteran it is also a well established fact that the’ percentage of such criminals is exceed: ingly small—sinaller perhaps than that of criminals in any other ¢lase. Iashort, there is nothing in the records of the pension office but what is well calculated to herzhien the patriotism of Agpericans, to justify the nation’s liberality to the soldiers and make every veleran more proud than ever that he was one of those who ¢ 1:u2 to the rescue of his country when it was bagirt on every side. by ite foes. J. H. PrapLx, obtained, mir Ko ; i “It is & singular ‘people who visit our r & [curious questions they ask with regard to railroad rates, ofc., | they have no notion whatever of the city and as a matter of fact | traveled any worth years there has been a very séter who has made an sanual visit fo ' thin office. | have no ides from whenoe | he cometh or whither he goeth, but be | always asks the selfsame questions and I goes away spparently satisfied with the|| information he has received. always} | expect him in the springtime, generally {about the Ist of April, when the san's rays grirw wirmer.. “Then my quaint old friend comes to © manner. He invariably Spel SY With) “What's the rate to Boston? 1 tell him, anil his eves light up ss be waddies out GAPRABRB ANNIE O HeRBasneSEeng | with always the same observation. “Well, | by gum, that's cheap! cheap? If theold man would tell his story, it might have a tings of pity in it son or danghterin the Hub City whom it i hast been hia cherished hope to see for thise years. kEave todgal with ars persons who bere with no other intention than £6 col lect all the railroad literatures they can, They have no notion of going sway, but of time tables and other inf bearing on tourists’ poiats in the east, south and west, lets treating on climate snd resources, I don't know what these collectors do them mast have a prize assortment. | “Then the man who travels from one end of the country to the other is the person who invariably pushes into office and in a brusk manner asks for time table of the line he is about take. It is given him, of course, schedule it is stuffed into his pocket, and his next question is, “When does my first train leave” It never seema to cur to bim to look on the time table. it goes. Sometimes péople ask me tions until I'm afraid ths buttons will drop off my coat, but after all we ‘age to get along with our markably well,” —Pittabarg I of English clergyman. He was on ag ovcasion to meet the bishop L at dinner, and as it was able that a favorable § pod pple tm orden and do kis best to draw kim out, as he was anusnally ‘strony in Biblical lore. Durty the Jsuzly gust of the pany was afl attention be thus the bishop: t 1 vetomy to ask your opdabi 5 goede relative to a pint men in the me 3 good deal “Oh, certainly —quite happy.” n the dignitary, feeling quite in his went i “Then 1 should be glad to have your lovdship’s dpinion as to how long it took Nebuchadnezzar ‘to get into econditi after he had been outro grad . : Elerald. z Nervous fingern RE ‘The effects of nervousness are snd snusing. One young mezzo was preventud just in time from walki ou to the platform in a huge pair of lined overshoes, which were pat on ber slippers, and which contrasted com: jeally with her dainty gown. Another songstress, who was with a good verbal memory, was without note. Duiring a rather ber song FA chanced fly to glance the book of words which she was bh ing. Confusion followed. She could link the melody with the poem. It a terrible moment, but she stepped ly to the piano, glanced at the accu panist’s copy and finished her song co smore. It appeared on at Dy 8 printer's error two lines of ber ng had been left cat of the book of word This had confused her and was the cas of her failure to blend words and mus together.— Atalanta. i The Young Moon. | The editor of The Popular Scie ' Monthly talres certain imaginative wri ers to task for their unscientific and. surd stateppents regarding *‘the youn oon” and “the cresewnt moon” and ad: vises them to leave it slone, because the so often contrive to get it in the wrung place. In a story which has come under lis motive ke finds two friends described ns sitting ons one suxaner evening look lng over the Thames, and the writer on to say, “By this time the young moc had arisen, and its cold light shimmen over Jie misty river,” nfuded that the young woon goes to ed early and can never be seen in the process of rising. Co FPulmy Days Fox Cats. The paltuy days fir cats were in the times of Egypt's power as a nation, sole 500 vears B, C. They were held then a4 nacred as Jugs ur crocodiles, and death | BE a: for killing them, From their nocturnal habits and glossy: fur, the Egyptians deemed them symbolical of the moon, and a golden cat was worshiped 3% Syene. ~New York Sun. bohass | “The bizgest out and out nuisance we | thay grab everything i gent in the way : They greedily | gather pamphlets, circnlars and bookd | with the st: they get bere, but some of | without so much as glancing at the | a foot ttre. | d rE symphony jreceding the second verse z AAPL, : It The Tribune has the In any Weekly Such writers are + : The fa Rory. will be sent to every oie J wim 38 hl 1h} Bl 3 FEES EERE mmr 2 I aasnannasuesyey Li Jmpnnionantuenn Suey ens SHEE Sassassusaussusst is suv gRRANRENR 5 i: 5 he silniuageae: i EEN ER YE Sova veveen seRzaisy SED Oh GO WAT Fon ah in od SESE ES |BEnEsnARERReALRS ARNEEHNS |ERuRE REE SYRELY dae GLEN. CAMPRELT, BRANCH. 1335 Junction 1158 po : en ii us BR C June. 115 Iu Glen Campbell 158 SUSQUEHANNA BRANCH. ne ‘us 11-98 Road 1045 Jamction WD wien — RUES eo ‘BREESE | MR aw auhgs fRaa tUean | i Eel or F 2 ou ! o Hi San » guEztf Pp sisasuzsei Geiuasesaaasenepl Wiaslow Canoe Pungretawney i rg wat tae dn nm Er EEEEEEESevennal iT iieeese ann BURESRUBEEASAE RNS] -w ; SEpnEeeew STAND BY THE POLICY, Sublime, Patriotic nd Nous, oy A for toe estinte ETE Hx Them wins ful 3 The a National a OL LILA Jour oun Reseive the Publie Lands fise actual settlers snd save then: from ManoP olives and speculators! Pron ant rneoarags the sctunl settler! No Intesiaretes with the rogressive party natty 4 te nw) of ) a New Navy; Protecting the Sean Pensioning U Union veferans; Sxcibding the € InterStaw evive your spetion? 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