Alexandria gazette, commercial and political. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1812-1817, 1817-01-18
ALEXANDRIA.
SATURDAY, January 10,
FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT
AT WASHINGTON.
January II


Yesterday the compensation law be-
came. once more, the subject OF dis
cussion IN a committee of the House
Of REPRESENTATIVES. The first ques-
tinn was on filing the blank left fol
the daily compensation with EIGHT
aollars. which was ultimately mega
ti,ed. NINE was also proposed and
paeatiyed. and SIX was at last agreed
u3.n., Now nothing can be more
clearly domonstrable than this; that
Min the wear 1889, when the compen-
sarion If Six Dollars was appointed
by the Congress of that day. six dol
lars would purchase more Of the ne.
crssalirs Of life than six dollars woak'
NV, and if six be aa adequate com
q ,sation now, the Congress of 1873
m 81 have wrongcd their constituents
In Giving the mcmbecs 50 mach. Bat
II sIpears that that Congress was
s,rictiy frugal; for the pay Of The
members had been eight dollars, and
they. out If parsimohv, reduced 1t Ia
six. 1t is but justice however. to sup
nosr, that the allowance was discreet
T. adjusted; ard admitting that to be
III, rase. what must canaOur. what
naSt truth. honor aud justice say, OF
Glazing it nov at the SAME rtte. waen
the vah,a of money has Fatlen 50 ex-
tr,a~ly. II member Of that day
y,atril a cat he cOald CT the best
r,r 90 lrlla,'s whist is the price now
at the cheapest tailors in Phila'lci-
phia s5-:n Georgetown AZ or So
iTbe hat Shieh ne could then get for
A,-5is n;w s or 10. And the boot
m .;cr Who wnnld then ask Is dollars
Cor A pair uH bsots would De treated as
amatl:uan. -Four and all the articles
Of ta,d are more than twice the price
they were then The inference then
is Irresistible. that either tbs Con-
s,.ess Of 1899 wrongrd the Deapir. Or
that the Congress ~ 1871. are wrong.
inc thepseIves. b.. the people are
dissatisfied ,-9aiy mark the reason,
ingl The people, residing in places
where a family can I've in iIln:ss all.
lx,n.v. on an income. on which ~
Washington or Georgetown, a single
man would starve-in Indiana, taI
instance. where corn. which IN this
District is more than. two dollars a
busbel. can be hodght for one dollar
es cents barrel--penplc who live On
their farms mostly aud from consr-
u,,ent habits ofthiakmS. can ~ more
form a distinct conception OF boarding,
of 10. IGOR Is dollars than they can
of inan;te space--these people. SAL,
the lords and masters o. the sOSe-
reisntv Of the land. say that SIX dot
lars a day is enough. and wnuld fini
SOM man to say it If beef w"re two
dollars a pound. NJ. Wright urged
This with considerable force. At the
tine Congress settled their compen-
sation ut six d,Iisrs too. (said he) viz.
muse. the attorney general had Bat
500 dollars wear, aud he has had his
salary raised to 5000 toAars. and
some of the very men who denounced
thc increase of compensation had
themselves 20 dollars a day.
Mr.. Randolph rontcndei that il the
house thought thcm>ehcs baamd {,
give up the Increased compensation.
in obedience tn t,e public will, tae5
did not 60 lag enough in simply re-
storing the old six dollars per dism'
bit were b0uGd TO restore the excess
+ Of what the, hail received over taa'
sly dollars ilay from the beginaing.
2They owed it to their own honor,
dignity and consistency, either t" LET
! she matter rest, or to refund the sur
8 Plus when they repealed the la%.--
y How could they account to their con-
stitucnts fer retaining the money
which BY their own legislative act
thoy had themselves pronounced To be
Improperly obtained He made a
motion To that effect. the result oil
$ (which will be known this day.
An expression of Mr.. Randolph's.
(which he had used long time since,
were taken in high dudscon by some
kf the gentlemen. When the law was
fore the house last session it was
rew,Ily suspected that in the bosoms
Pf some Of the dissentients there was
troublesome conflict. And as thcre
Sas only Is against the bill on one
', and on the next 90, Ill nature
SS'Sted that of some. tire wishes
nd TIE Votes ran in opposite dlrec-