That was tlie object of all debate, of all bid
ding for the soldier vote of the country in tho
coming contest. Whou the senator from Ne
braska took bis seat ho (Vest) had thought
that tho bid was in his favor; but that the
present occupant of the chair, the senator from
Maine (Frye) had caught tho eye of tlie auc
tioneer —the Grand Army of the Republic—
ami had “gone one better." That sen
ator was prepared to veto a pension
to every man who had served a
day in the federal army. He (Vest) was about
to knock down the prize to the senator from
Maine, when his friend from Kansas (Plumb)
came to the front and outbid the senator from
Maine by an amendment to the bill which
would increase tlie expenditure under it fifty
or seventy-five million dollars. He (Vest) hail
then been strongly of the opinion that the auc
tion should close and the prize lai given to tho
senator from Kansas. But then tlie senator
from Illinois (Cullom) had come to tho front
ami made a bid from that prairie state which
bad staggered his (Vest’s) conviction as to the ■
propriety of closing the sale. Since that time
be had been iu a condition of anxiety waiting
to hear from other bidders in the great
national auction. The senate had not yet
heard from his dulcet-toned friend from lowa
(Allison), who had kept his scat ami merely
nodded acquiescence to the most extreme
propositions for tlie benefit of soldiers. Nor had
the senate yet heard from tho distinguished
senator from Ohio (Sherman), who, in such a
contest, ought certainly to come to the front
and bid something for" tho vote which, the
candidates thought, was to determine the con
test. Neither had the senate yet heard from
the presiding officer (Ingalls), who had been
nominated by tho District of Columbia, and
every one knew that Hie District of Columbia
acted from tlie most disinterested and unsel
fish motives. Ho (Vest) would rather have a
nomination from the Districtof Columbia than
any state in the union, because, as every one
knew, it came from the heart and never from
the pocket. 