Posted on 03/18/2010 8:52:04 PM PDT by grey_whiskers
One day in the House of Representatives a bill was taken up appropriating money for the benefit of a widow of a distinguished naval officer. Several beautiful speeches had been made in its support. The Speaker was just about to put the question when Crockett arose:
"Mr. Speaker--I have as much respect for the memory of the deceased, and as much sympathy for the sufferings of the living, if suffering there be, as any man in this House, but we must not permit our respect for the dead or our sympathy for a part of the living to lead us into an act of injustice to the balance of the living. I will not go into an argument to prove that Congress has not the power to appropriate this money as an act of charity. Every member upon this floor knows it. We have the right, as individuals, to give away as much of our own money as we please in charity; but as members of Congress we have no right so to appropriate a dollar of the public money. Some eloquent appeals have been made to us upon the ground that it is a debt due the deceased. Mr. Speaker, the deceased lived long after the close of the war; he was in office to the day of his death, and I have never heard that the government was in arrears to him.
(Excerpt) Read more at juntosociety.com ...
*PING* for a classic story.
If this is the ‘Sockdolager’ story, I love it...and have posted it here at least once albeit a LONG time ago.
Great read!
Alas, this state of affairs was only temporary.
(I hope they took up a private collection for the widow.)
Hear! Hear!
One of Crockett’s great moments while in congress
Oh dear me, I thought this was about Murtha.
March 18, 2010:
Thanks for the ping!
Fitting post what with the passing of Fess Parker.
Bookmark.
Bump.
A good and brave man and a handsome one too.
Thanks gw!
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