Jeffersonian Republican. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1840-1853, 1851-11-06

tho heln of two or three Wing boilers from
mo regular Wing nomination, and is about
baleand- half in politics, so that halfof his pile
ought To be CHARGED to the Locofoco side, redu-
cino the Whip slice to less than one-twen- |
tietb of the whole. We would have cheer
fnllv raised this amount to keep the wing !
party wholly clear of this unclean business
And should any Wing Congressman be 'hard
up henceforth we insist that he shall appear
first to his constituents before joining IN any
such raid on the Treasury.
Let us call the attention to few facts,
by way of enforcing our view OF the atroclty
OF this Constructive Mileage.
There is now standing unrepealed on the
records of Congress a law which prescrlbes
that no Member shall receive for Mileage at
dny Session more than eight dollars per day
from the close Of the preceding 10 the begin
/ ning of that Session for ,ohich The Mileage
as receiUed. The justice and reasonableness
of this provision are manifest. A. B. says,
Il want 81, 90 from the Treasury for my ex-
I penses going home after the Session and re-
turning for this'' ''Stop!" says the law;
"there was but an interval of forty days be-
tween the two Sessions; prefer to pay you
/ SO per day for that interval, as though you
had served straight through from the begin
ming of the former to the end of the latter
session !''-Had this law been respected in
the case under consideration, no Senator could
have received more than SS for Constructive
/ Mileage even if such Mileage were Justly
chargeable at all. aa-a.
--The proper accounting officer of the
Treasury, elisha Whittlesey, First Control
ler,) rejected the charge for Constructive
IN fbD m
the accession of Gen. Taylor TO the Presiden-
cy, adjudglng it authorized by 40 law but
prohibited by several, (Which he quoted,) and
utterly unprecedented till l645, save in sin
gle doubtful instance, (where a new Senator
transferred from the House demanded Mile
age as if he had come from home expressly to
attend the Senate, and was allowed it) In
March, 1645, Constructive Mileage, as a gen.
eral rule, was first authorized by Vice-Presi-
dent Dallas and Secretary Dickens; but full
half of the Senators refused it some of the
residue expressed in taking it they did so in
accordance with the Vice-President's decis-
ion rather than their own convictions.
The House has repeatedly and undoubtedly
voted new and express obstructions to the
Constructive Mileage rapacity, which the
Senate has in no case voted down, but has f.
only taking care to post tpone its operation.
We have thus the Senate ltself--this last
Senate-voting against the principle Of Con-
structive Mileage.
Mr. Fillmore, now President, was Vice
President when Constructive Mileage was
charged for the second time in ls49 He was
dead against it, and would have crushed it if
the opportunity had been afforded him. But
! ba fret
tained his opinion informally, held bach the
accounts until after Mr. Fillmore had vacated
the Chair of the Senate to give that body
chance to choose a President pro tenn. $50
that the Government would not be left with
out legal head in case of the death OF both
the elected President and Vice. -President,) }
when Dir. Atchison of Mo. was chosen Presi-
ident pro tenn. and at once put through the
accounts. Constructive Mileage included,
thereby constituting 81, ,696 into his own pock-
eft The accounts were not thus held back
when Geo. NJ. Dallas was Vice-President.
Hon. VIM. NJ. Gwin, Senator from Cal
ifornia, was paid his 50 per day and S4,009
Mileage for attending the late regular Sess-
sion of Congress- and SS per day likewise
for his attendance on the short Executive Ses-
sion which followed He here pockets S4,-
this Executive Session, though he did not
traveI one mile for this purpose. That S4,-
00S is equal to the average earnings oftwelve
energetic, Industrious mechanics through a
whole year Was it right for Gwin to take
that money from the Treasury What enti-
tied him to it
Stephen A. Douglass, Sam. Houston
and Isaac p. Walker, are all candidates for
| hn ncJ, bo
strong friends who hope to see hIm nominated.
These four gentlemen have together taken
So, 74S of Constructive Mileage at this one
haul Is not that rather " piling up the ago
ny % If either of them should happen to
have Testament we respectfully advise him
to study the passage Luke XIX which speaks
of the ''good servant who having been faith
ful in a little was elevated to "power O.
yer ten cities'' The converse of this re-
ward of true integrity we leave to their own
reflections
Hannibal Hamlin is a Senator whose
name we were both surprised and greved to
| find Oh the Constructive list. By the trans
cript of the official schedule which has been
sent US, it seems that Mr. H. served 2 days at
the late Called Session, a nd received his daily
stipend there for, leaving the Senate on the
W Olh vi 1hdICI, anu we presume ne SldIteu
for home, or whatever else his business called
him, either that night or next morning
Practically, therefore, he did not attend
the Called Session at all, but merely staid O.
yer day or two after the close of the regu-
lar Session. Yet he walks up to the trough,
and takes his $500 40 of Constructive Mile
age! Is not this quite too bad ! Several
others likewise left some days before the
the Called Session was brought to close
but they did not forego the Constructive grab
on that account
We should hike to add something on the
general subject Of Congressional Mileage, in
favor of Straight and opposed to Circular
Routes; but this article is already too long
One or two instances we will notice, hoWey-
er merely to keep the subject fresh in the