CONFEDERATE CEMETERY, LITTLE ROCK, ARK.

JULY 11, 1912.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed.

Mr. TILSON, from the Committee on Military Affairs, submitted the following

REPORT.

[To accompany H. R. 24365.]

The Committee on Military Affairs, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 24365) providing for the taking over by the United States Government of the Confederate cemetery at Little Rock, Ark., having considered the same, report thereon with a recommendation that it do pass.

The Confederate cemetery adjoins the national cemetery on the west, is about one-fourth the size of the latter, and lies between it and the center of Little Rock. At the present time it is badly in need of repair, and if neglected will soon become an eyesore. The Quartermaster General of the Army has estimated that about $2,000 will be sufficient to put the cemetery in condition and make the changes needed to carry out the provisions of this bill.

A memorandum of the Quartermaster General appears in the indorsement, which is made a part of this report. The bill referred to in the indorsement (S. 6766) is similar to this bill.

A similar bill passed during the Sixty-first Congress, taking over the Confederate cemetery at Springfield, Mo.

Washington, July 3, 1912.

Respectfully returned to the Secretary of War. 1. This is bill S. 6766 (62d Cong., 2d sess.), introduced by Mr. Clarke May 9, 1912, providing for the taking over by the United States of the Confederate cemetery adjoining the national cemetery at Little Rock, Ark., referred to your office by the Committee on Military Affairs for any information relative to the measure in possession of the War Department.

2. The land comprising the Confederate cemetery was granted by an ordinance of the city of Little Rock to the Ladies' Memorial Aid Society, United Daughters of the

Confederacy, for the purpose of a cemetery and is now in charge of the Little Rock Memorial Chapter, United Daughters of the Confederacy, Mrs. George B. Gill, secretary, 612 East Capitol Avenue. The dimensions of this cemetery are 394 by 293 by 378 by 293 feet; inclosed on the south and west sides by sandstone and gray granite walls, 3 feet 4 inches high, 18 inches thick, with a sandstone coping, the north inclosure being an iron picket fence 34 feet high; double iron entrance gate with one passenger gate, a metal arch extending over both bearing the inscription "Confederate cemetery"; number of interments, 782, the record thereof being incomplete. The only building in the cemetery is a rostrum, which is reported in good repair; the ground, headstones, and inclosures are in poor condition and in need of repair, the estimated cost of which is as follows:

Construction of north wall of sandstone and gray granite with sandstone coping, in place of present iron fence in poor condition, so as to be uniform with the other portion of the inclosing wall...

Construction of entryway in the stone wall which now divides the two cemeteries...

Repair of entrance gates.

$750.00

50.00

15.00

56.25

75.00

45.00

1, 100.00

2,091.25

Grading.

Labor..

Aligning and cleaning monuments and headstones..

Water supply for irrigation by connection with city mains.

Total.....

3. A blue print of the Little Rock National Cemetery showing the location of the Confederate cemetery adjacent thereto is inclosed.

4. There is no objection on the part of this office to the favorable consideration of this bill, but if it becomes a law it will be necessary to make provision for placing it in proper repair by increasing the appropriation for the care and maintenance of national cemeteries, fiscal year 1914, provided for in the sundry civil appropriation act. 5. The delay in making report on this bill has been due to the necessary investigation. J. B. ALESHIRE, Quartermaster General United States Army.

[Second indorsement.]

WAR DEPARTMENT, July 5, 1912.

Respectfully returned to the chairman Committee on Military Affairs, House of Representatives, inviting attention to the foregoing report of the Quartermaster General of the Army and accompanying blue print referred to.

ROBERT SHAW OLIVER,
Acting Secretary of War.

VIEWS OF THE MINORITY.

In the Sixty-first Congress a bill that transferred the Confederate cemetery at Springfield, Mo., to the control of the United States Government became a law. While that bill was pending it was opposed for the reason that it would become a precedent for similar subsequent legislation. It was contended then that it could not become a precedent because there was no other situation in the whole country just like that at Springfield where the Confederate cemetery adjoined a national burial place. The precedent was made and has been invoked in the interest of the people of Little Rock who appear to be unable or unwilling to take care of a few Confederate graves. In this connection it may be stated that it cost $1,150 to put the Springfield cemetery in condition and for the current year will cost $250.

This broadening from precedent to precedent must end in the taking over of all Confederate cemeteries by the Federal Government, and it should if any one is to be a charge against the General Government.

So far only two communities have expressed a wish to have the care of Confederate graves assumed by the Federal Government. Some camps of ex-Confederate veterans have protested against the policy, but it is to be feared that under the temptation of appropriations this natural pride will gradually be broken down.

This particular bill, unlike the one that provided for the transfer of the Springfield cemetery, calls for an immediate outlay of about $2,100. How much the annual cost of upkeep will be no one can tell now, nor how far Congress may be carried by the precedent made by the Sixty-first Congress. Certainly there is no reason why if Confederate graves are to be cared for in Missouri and Arkansas they should not be in every other State in the country.

For these reasons it is not believed that this bill should pass.